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Apologies if there is already a thread - I tried searching but ... well ... you know.
As our evil tyrannical government is now preventing us from accessing things it doesn't like I guess we'll all be needing VPNs soon. My go to would be Proton as they seem to take privacy seriously, but as always I need to check here first. Honestly, I can barely make toast without checking here first.
Any recommendations?
Apologies if there is already a thread - I tried searching but ... well ... you know.
As our evil tyrannical government is now preventing us from accessing things it doesn't like I guess we'll all be needing VPNs soon. My go to would be Proton as they seem to take privacy seriously, but as always I need to check here first. Honestly, I can barely make toast without checking here first.
Any recommendations?
You don't need to pay for a VPN, any decent browser will have it built in, or free extensions you can add.
So when you want to watch some 'gentlemans cinematography' you can just open a private tab set your location to mongolia or something.
It will make buffering your grot take a bit longer, but that's the price you pay for it being free.
Proton seems to work OK for me.
I've used windscribe for years. Was some random deal eons ago so I pay nothing and get 50GB on the free plan!
Looking now you can get 2GB for free and 10GB if you register with an email address.
So watching grot will be a bit like beat the clock or dialup but limited by total GB allowance 🙂
Opera GX also has a built in free VPN. Not sure how it stacks up to Proton as I haven't used either.
I use proton - it is my go to for watching the UCI WS and now it is my go to for everything.
Obviously grot will be everyone’s first priority (beating the clock indeed!), but there are other things I am concerned about
https://www.spiked-online.com/2025/07/28/a-safe-internet-is-an-unfree-internet/
I imagine there will also be a Streisand Effect about these things - most people don’t care until you tell them they CANNOT read something …
edit - I’ve also heard that the kiddies have already found their way around the block, using characters from video games to fool the age verifying software.
edit - I’ve also heard that the kiddies have already found their way around the block, using characters from video games to fool the age verifying software.
Norman Reedus from the game 'Death Strandings' mad interactive photo mode, no less 🤣
You probably know the actor as his character 'daryl dixon' from the 'walking dead' TV series 🤣
The poor guys gonna end up with a really bad reputation for watching grot!!!!!
Isn’t it just a case of proving you’re old enough to send yourself blind … no VPN required?
“Isn’t it just a case of proving you’re old enough to send yourself blind … no VPN required?”
Take a look at the Spike article linked, it has examples of legitimate discussions which have been censored - including a speech by an mp in the House of Commons. The Uk seems to be challenging Australia for the ‘most censorious democracy’ title.
Isn’t it just a case of proving you’re old enough to send yourself blind … no VPN required?
Kind of yes but do you really want to give your personal details to the opticians friends?
apologies for the stupid question but what guarantees does the govt give for all our data if there is a data breach? am guessing they have a clause to exempt them from any blame (the government)?
am guessing they have a clause to exempt them from any blame (the government)?
No clause needed since the government isnt actually involved in the process.
They are just requiring websites to check but havent actually defined any technical standard how or provided a tool to do so. As such they can shrug their shoulders and say "well that website was clearly wrong".
Depending on your brand of tinfoil hat this handing all responsibility to the companies involved might be deliberate precisely for this reason.
Of course if you put the hat on the other way then its a cunning plan by the government since they know someone will screw up at which point they can use it to put in place a government system to do, well, something.
BBC Article - https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cn72ydj70g5o seems to suggest free or very cheap vpn have their security issues...
"Many of these free VPNs are riddled with issues," said Daniel Card, a cyber-security expert with the Chartered Institute for IT (BCS).
"Some act as traffic brokers for data harvesting firms, others are so poorly built they expose users to attacks."
He may of course be an expert in the 'talking for those wanting to make money from you buying the $$$ options' kind of expert, I don't know, but it gave me pause for thought.
Personally, I'm struggling to know what I do currently (I don't have a grot habit) that would be enhanced by having a VPN but it comes up in conversation often enough I keep thinking I 'should'.
Ignoring vpn’s for a moment, wouldn’t it be easier for established websites like Amazon, eBay, Disney, Netflix, etc to provide a rolling passkey on the user account page that’s updated every 10 mins?
that’s proof that you’re over 18, and eliminates the chance that the code could fall into the wrong hands.
seems simpler than all the other options that were presented by the bbc.
and aren’t the yoof of today moving over to smar****ches?
Who's laughing now naysayers. No VPN, no browser history, no awkward selfies. You can't beat the late 90's early 00's Vivid stars.
that’s proof that you’re over 18, and eliminates the chance that the code could fall into the wrong hands.
Whats in it for them and do you want to be sitting next to your partner when Amazon pops up:
- Adverts people have paid to show to people look at this item.
- Adverts people have paid because you recently use Amazon to authenticate your age for "tractors and milkmaids"
- People who brought this item looked at these as well
Now there are ways round this and in some countries banks, for example, do provide verification services but it needs the relevant companies to agree to it and then some rather strong laws around stopping them doing anything with the information which again leads to why exactly they should provide this service.
There are some interesting technical approaches with zero knowledge proofs but they are rather complex (I happily admit I struggle with the ideas) and still require a lot of faith from the average user.
On the toast question.....obviously peanut butter....with marmite a close second.....with the kink that you can mix the two as long as you don't tell the content verification gods
with the kink that you can mix the two as long
Which is a strong argument that everyone should use government provided identifiers on the internet including current location and hellfire equipped drones should be able to reach any part of the UK within 25 minutes.
Is this a thing these days ?
Interweb has always had things like 'virus' pop up scams, to hacking et all. So has anything really changed that they need to do this ? or is intercontinental hacking now so much of a thing that everyone now needs a new level of protection.
Just get the govt to make it compulsory for any website (utilities, banks, bbc iPlayer, supermarkets) that requires age verification to generate a six digit code every ten minutes.
doesn’t need to be blatant…”honey, I’m just updating the iPlayer passwords (cough)”.
is it really that friggin simple?
Actually, making it compulsory for any website that uses your bank details or verifies your dob (chemists, nhs) to generate a six digit passkey, will actually encourage more people to explore online pron.
this is a good thing, whether for a reduction in prostate cancer or just to encourage greater transparency within the pron industry.
some people find pron to be exploitative. That may be because not enough people are watching it and flagging up the dodgier stuff to the govts pron ombudsman.
The scope definition for the Online Safety Act is so broadly worded that it includes any kind of forum, so age verification may be required for STW once Ofcom get their enforcement running...
so age verification may be required for STW once Ofcom get their enforcement running...
Would that mean we could get rid of the swear filter? 🙂
Nord VPN seems to be the big boy according to various pod casts I listen to?
On another note, the bloke who fitted our Virgin Cable said if you use a dodgy stick without a VPN they will throttle your internet speed.
Personally, I'm struggling to know what I do currently (I don't have a grot habit) that would be enhanced by having a VPN but it comes up in conversation often enough I keep thinking I 'should'.
I used a VPN for first time recently so I could watch ITV coverage of TDF whilst in Spain. I purchased z1 month of NordVPN, it was really good, worked reliably and easily. I just selected a UK based router and ITVX was happy. I'll probably buy an annual plan now, going through Rest Is Politics route offers a pretty good extended deal for 24 months with another 4 months for free, I think about £65 for basic plan.
Apologies if there is already a thread - I tried searching but ... well ... you know.
It was a bit of cryptic title but there was one.
Anyway Free VPN on iOS allows you to have a time limited VPN after watching a few adds.
This has made me giggle. Nothing says pander to middle age men (who are sufficiently dullard to sort a vpn) who are currently "inconvenienced" by the recent change than this. Getting between the old, male and stale and their need to view young ladies in a state of undress at your peril!
will actually encourage more people to explore online pron.
this is a good thing, whether for a reduction in prostate cancer
Say what now? As someone on active surveillance due to a PC diagnosis, this is very much news to me! Are you saying more Frankie Vaughan may have prevented it? I'd be very keen to see any sources for that!
I used a VPN for first time recently so I could watch ITV coverage of TDF whilst in Spain.
Surf Shark here. Whichever UK location I set it to, BBC sees through it. It does work for other stuff, I watch some content on S4C (welsh language) which is geo blocked outside UK, it works okay.
will actually encourage more people to explore online pron.
this is a good thing, whether for a reduction in prostate cancer
Say what now? As someone on active surveillance due to a PC diagnosis, this is very much news to me! Are you saying more Frankie Vaughan may have prevented it? I'd be very keen to see any sources for that!
Not sure what the PB toast:PC risk relationship is tho
https://www.health.harvard.edu/mens-health/ejaculation_frequency_and_prostate_cancer
OK, thanks. Interesting, I'd not seen that before, though I note there's nothing in it about porn specifically! It seems my ahem "frequency" is within the range attributed to a reduced risk, so not particularly useful in my specific case. I think it's a bit of a leap though, to go from that kind of study to implying as the earlier poster seemed to, that porn in general may reduce cases of prostate cancer.
Nord VPN seems to be the big boy according to various pod casts I listen to?
They're certainly one of the most well advertised.
On another note, the bloke who fitted our Virgin Cable said if you use a dodgy stick without a VPN they will throttle your internet speed.
I'd wager that the bloke who fitted your Virgin Cable was talking out of the top of his head.
There are many reasons why you shouldn't use a 'dodgy stick' without a VPN (or indeed, at all), and many reasons why VM may throttle your connection. But I'd hazard that the Venn diagram here would be two discrete circles.
As the prostate fluids are so rich in nutrients, they can boost metastasis? of any nascent tumours.
doctors recommend ‘draining’ the pc, three times a day if you’re 21 years old. Slightly less if you’re Nigel garages age.
i think the problem with the proposed age verification is that it adds stigma to looking at pron.
Ideally, we would like to make it easier for the rest of the adult population who do not watch pron on a regular basis to dip into these channels now and again to make sure that nobody is being exploited.
maybe the current regulations are designed to allow AI to identify and remove Prince Royale from any compromising footage before the public gets a chance to view it.
As our evil tyrannical government is now preventing us from accessing things it doesn't like I guess we'll all be needing VPNs soon.
Whilst I appreciate that the comment might have been said mostly in jest I think for the sake of clarity that it might be worth pointing out that the current government is not responsible for the legislation behind the Online Safety Act 2023.
In fact I think the date of the age verification was delayed until last week by the previous government due to technical issues or sumfink.
Obviously the current government isn't opposed to the legislation but I'm not convinced that might be a valid criticism.
The problem here is that everyone is focusing on the red herring that is the pr0n aspect and having a good giggle while missing the fact that as someone above pointed out. This covers ANY website or forum which contains material which could now be classed as restricted.
For example there are forums and websites provide help and advice around suicide prevention, trans issues, depression/self harm and a myriad of other areas which people may wish to seek out valid help but are then put in the same bracket as pr0n. This may cause people to either not seek advice where needed or to feel they are vilified for searching for something which is now classed as restricted and needing verification.
This catch all approach is good for the Governments headline of being seen to be doing something but will cause more harm beyond not being able to have a good tug.
but are then put in the same bracket as pr0n.
Surely if it isn't suitable to be viewed by children then restricting its access to children shouldn't be seen as a problem ?
Obviously I appreciate that it creates ease of access issues for adults but protection of minors should be the priority IMHO.
Now if you think the definition of what is unsuitable for children is wrong then that is a completely different issue imo.
For example there are forums and websites provide help and advice around suicide prevention, trans issues, depression/self harm and a myriad of other areas which people may wish to seek out valid help but are then put in the same bracket as pr0n. This may cause people to either not seek advice where needed or to feel they are vilified for searching for something which is now classed as restricted and needing verification.
Are there any current examples of this? Or is this theoretical hand wringing?
The point of the verification is to ensure people are over the age of 18 is it not? Are there any websites out there that specifically would not want to have under 18's accessing the material say on assistance with self harming thoughts? Given a very significant proportion of self harm is carried out by those under 18 most help sites I've visited on the subject (in a professional, pastoral capacity) are geared very much for the under 18 year old age group it seems unlikely. It's practically their reason for existing.
Surely the threshold for if verification is needed is if it is reasonable not to want minors to view it. Clearly there are some dark (in every sense) corners of the internet where there is material that glorifies self harm/suicidal thoughts etc which to be honest no one should be visiting, let alone minors, but genuinely 'healthy', helpful sites on these subjects (like say the Samaritans) put behind a verification on these subjects- I'll believe it when I see it.
i think the problem with the proposed age verification is that it adds stigma to looking at pron.
I don't care about porn. I'm not a particular fan of spectator sports in general, I'd rather be taking part in something.
I do care that sex is stigmatised. If people hadn't been sticking things in other things since time immemorial then we wouldn't be here today to be lectured about it or be judged by it. There shouldn't be any shame in having sexual proclivities so long as it involves consenting adults, so if say you want a threesome or a 68 or to go dogging then more power to your elbow (you'll likely need it). Some people believe that sex should be reserved exclusively for procreation, others believe that the party hasn't even got started without six metres of sisal, a can of alphabetti spaghetti and a riding crop. Most fall somewhere in between (and some fall outside). It shouldn't matter. There's all manner of tastes and kinks out there. Foot fetishists are wildly common for instance - I don't see the attraction myself but that's kind of the point, I don't have to, what business is it of mine?
I care a great deal about grown adults being treated like children. I don't want Internet filters enforced on me, not because I want to view illicit content but because I haven't spent half a century on this planet to have what I can look at be dictated to me unless I hand over biometric data to a private company in the US. We're stumbling from 1984 to Fahrenheit 451. No-one should be required to verify their age before being allowed to buy a stick of butter just on the off-chance that they might be tempted to shove it up their arse.
Obviously I appreciate that it creates ease of access issues for adults but protection of minors should be the priority IMHO.
It took me less than 1 minute to get around it. Installed Opera, switched on VPN and went to site that requires UK Age verification but as I appear to be in Sweden it didn't trigger it. If it takes me 60 seconds to do that then it will take a 14 year old 30 seconds.
So it basically will protect minors who have the computer skills of my mother which won't be many.
Surely if it isn't suitable to be viewed by children then restricting its access to children shouldn't be seen as a problem ?
Obviously I appreciate that it creates ease of access issues for adults but protection of minors should be the priority IMHO.
Who decides what is suitable? Would you consider a suicide prevention help page to be something minors should be protected from seeing?
That's a rhetorical question, the point is that it's Not That Simple. Eg, the post ten minutes before yours (you probably missed it whilst typing) mentioned subjects such as trans issues. There are many who would say that's an adults-only topic; there are more still who would like to pretend that it doesn't exist.
Who watches the watchers?
Nord VPN seems to be the big boy according to various pod casts I listen to?
They're certainly one of the most well advertised.
On another note, the bloke who fitted our Virgin Cable said if you use a dodgy stick without a VPN they will throttle your internet speed.
I'd wager that the bloke who fitted your Virgin Cable was talking out of the top of his head.
There are many reasons why you shouldn't use a 'dodgy stick' without a VPN (or indeed, at all), and many reasons why VM may throttle your connection. But I'd hazard that the Venn diagram here would be two discrete circles.
You may well be right but he worked for Virgin and had no reason to either offer me the information or lie about it. The discussion was around the fact I didn’t have a dodgy stick because I’d got a good deal. He said even with employee discount he still did and said he used a vpn.
It took me less than 1 minute to get around it. Installed Opera, switched on VPN
Which is precisely why there are discussions about banning VPNs
It doesn't undermine the moral argument behind restriction of access with regards to minors
doctors recommend ‘draining’ the pc, three times a day if you’re 21 years old.
Sorry, back to this - 3 times a DAY?!
Surely if it isn't suitable to be viewed by children then restricting its access to children shouldn't be seen as a problem ?
The issue is that Wikipedia is currently in this bracket. The last government (or senior leaders within it)'s obsession with what people get up to in the privacy of their own home is fairly infamous - Theresa May fought for years as home secretary to get some sort of censorship in place for the internet, presumably because running around in fields is as frisky as she could ever understand one wanting to be. What's disappointing, as with a number of things right now, is the extent to which the current government, supposedly the 'good guys' in our 2-party democracy, is just continuing on with the previous lot's legislation without even pausing to apply any sort of common sense or common good measure to it.