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  • Angus McIntyreangusm@mastodon.social
    Jun 16, 2026, 12:46 PM

    The UK government's plan to teach 10 million British children how to use VPNs may be one of the most ambitious IT education projects ever launched. Experts have praised the scheme, saying that a deft combination of incentives and peer education make it more likely to succeed than other, comparable initiatives.

    "With the rise of autocratic governments worldwide, VPN-literacy is more essential than ever.” said one expert, “This bold project definitely comes at the right time.”

    #UKSocialMediaBan

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Replies

  • Arnd Layeriamlayer8@mastodon.social
    Jun 16, 2026, 12:58 PM

    @angusm
    So UK children will be taught how to circumvent age verification? That’s at least a good motivator.

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  • George Bgbargoud@masto.nyc
    Jun 16, 2026, 6:25 PM

    @rq4c @iamlayer8 @angusm

    > a deft combination of incentives and peer education

    It's referring to the predictable response of teenagers to the social media ban, describing it in a tongue in cheek way as though it was the intended outcome

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  • Cadbury MooseCadbury_Moose@wandering.shop
    Jun 16, 2026, 1:50 PM

    @angusm

    ROFL I really must look into setting up a VPN for Chez Moose. Being a grumpy old git of a moose (old enough that even the supermarket ladies don't ask me for age verification when buying beer), all this nonsense is extremely irritating.

    <Shakes walking stick at clouds.>

    3:O#>

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  • huntingdonhuntingdon
    Jun 16, 2026, 1:52 PM

    @angusm

    Trying to figure out how Keir Starmer's govt will reach 10 million children, to teach them the importance of using VPNs, when it also intends to ban their social media access -- the purpose for much of their use of the Internet -- until they're sixteen.

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  • Daniel M. ReckDanielMReck@mas.to
    Jun 16, 2026, 1:53 PM

    @angusm So uh, without a #VPN, your ISP can potentially view all your web traffic, right?

    With a VPN, aren't we just substituting who can potentially view all your web traffic? Instead of the ISP, it's the people at the VPN that can view it?

    The "just use a VPN because #privacy" crowd never seems to explain how one would choose a #trustworthy and #secure VPN.

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  • Daniel M. ReckDanielMReck@mas.to
    Jun 16, 2026, 1:58 PM

    @angusm Hot take: This British government plan to teach millions of schoolchildren to use a #VPN actually directs them all to use the free accounts at vpn[.]definitelynotmi5[.]uk because you can only trust your friendly local VPN vetted by The People Who Know.

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  • Daniel M. ReckDanielMReck@mas.to
    Jun 16, 2026, 2:01 PM

    @MuhammadFreeSoftware @angusm Slow, yes, and I imagine a lot of the internet blocks Tor nodes just like it blocks VPN nodes, thanks to the unsavory types that likely flood those services alongside all of the legitimate/harmless users.

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  • chrisgerhardchrisgerhard@mastodon.green
    Jun 16, 2026, 3:15 PM

    @DanielMReck @angusm it depends on why you are using a VPN. If all the traffic over the VPN is encrypted there is little need to trust the VPN. The crucial part for the youth is they won't appear to be in the UK.

    Now whether the youth can be bothered to set up fake accounts in some country with a less authoritarian government we will see, but the evidence from Australia suggests a significant number will.

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  • hiphopheavenhiphopheaven@mastodon.social
    Jun 16, 2026, 2:24 PM

    @angusm With the rise of autocratic governments

    The uk is literally turning into an autocracy with weaponization of terrorist laws and having deal with evil comoanies like Palantir

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  • Howard Cohenhoco@sfba.social
    Jun 16, 2026, 2:38 PM

    @angusm I think they are doing to criminalize what should be a human right, access to the internet. By making it a crime, they can force kids to become criminals and lose some of their freedom and their rights. Get 'em while their young and they might never break free.

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  • Simon Zerafasimonzerafa@infosec.exchange
    Jun 16, 2026, 3:22 PM

    @angusm

    The use of alternative operating systems and social media platforms, without algorithms, will also be on the sylibus.

    Projects involving Linux, Graphine OS and Federated social networks are expected before the end of 2026 😉

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  • Scottyscozmos@mastodon.scot
    Jun 16, 2026, 3:27 PM

    Despite the fact that the majority of Gov.t IT projects are utter failures@angusm@mastodon.social

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  • RichardYorkshiregeek@mastodon.social
    Jun 16, 2026, 3:28 PM

    @angusm I honestly wouldn't put it past any government to use it as a long game to ban VPNs too

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  • Artur Wawrowskiartwaw@c.im
    Jun 16, 2026, 3:43 PM

    @angusm I am looking forward to having this conversation with my son:
    “Boy, it’s time we had The Talk”
    “The sex one?”
    “No, the VPN one”

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  • Michael Vilainmvilain@sfba.social
    Jun 16, 2026, 8:19 PM

    @artwaw @angusm The one I remember besides the sex one was "don't wear plaid with stripes". It was the 70s and those bell bottoms didn't go with that shirt. Nowadays, kids wouldn't listen or care.

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  • Maximummium Overacticansaka_quant_noir@hcommons.social
    Jun 16, 2026, 3:56 PM

    @angusm If these sites restrict their age verification to a specific country, which is not what they want to do, then yes, VPN use will become the thing to do. Or use TOR.

    Hopefully some countries will ban age verification. That will have interesting consequences.

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  • SomeVeganCheeseIsOkSomeVeganCheeseIsOk@mastodon.social
    Jun 16, 2026, 4:11 PM

    @angusm now we need to ban vpns because THINK OF THE CHILDREN.

    It's *definitely* not the responsibility of the *parents* to enforce safe internet use.

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  • gbsillsgbsills@vivaldi.net
    Jun 16, 2026, 4:12 PM

    @angusm And there is no way these children will use VPNs to get around the new social media ban.

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  • NewherehowNewhereish@mastodon.social
    Jun 16, 2026, 4:37 PM

    @gbsills @angusm I mean, given that I think a social media ban is the exact opposite tool that should be used by the state, I applaud the audacity to make their own law moot.

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  • gbsillsgbsills@vivaldi.net
    Jun 16, 2026, 4:44 PM

    @Newhereish @angusm I realize that "exact opposite" is just a phrase here, but what would you do to address the problem of children on social media.

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  • NewherehowNewhereish@mastodon.social
    Jun 16, 2026, 8:27 PM

    @gbsills @angusm Are you implying that children themselves are the problem, otherwise, the exact opposite would be to regulate social media to be less awful. I was, in fact, deliberately opposing the idea that we should restrict any individual person and instead restrict companies.

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  • gbsillsgbsills@vivaldi.net
    Jun 17, 2026, 12:35 PM

    @Newhereish @angusm We are in agreement then. I think that the solution is to make social media financially liable for its content. For example, it should be easy for a woman to sue a X (for example) for an offensive deep fake. The penalties should be in the hundreds of thousands of $ per page view.

    Damage to children caused by social media should be the same. Currently suing a social media company in the US, UK and EU is mostly about proving that the social media company should be held liable for its content. That needs to change.

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  • NewherehowNewhereish@mastodon.social
    Jun 17, 2026, 12:58 PM

    @gbsills @angusm I mean, I don't think we are actually in agreement, because I wouldn't accept any of those solutions either. Deep fakes are not actually the problem, and giving people the ability to sabotage social media companies by publishing things they are liable for and getting them sued is acceptable either. They are a public space, and ought be moderated as a public space, as if it were a park or sidewalk. Restore the natural consequences of being an asshole.

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  • gbsillsgbsills@vivaldi.net
    Jun 17, 2026, 1:34 PM

    @Newhereish @angusm Agreed but we should keep in mind that social media companies make money from controversy so they are not at all likely to police bad behavior unless they are published.

    For example, during the Sean Combs trial an incredible amount of AI slop depicting celebrities having sex Diddy garnered YouTube millions of page view. Clearly YouTube should police this sort of thing, but hey, millions of page views.

    I think the problem with the "public space" philosophy, which is well meaning, is ignores the fact that social media companies are not public and do not act in the public's interest. They act in their stock holder's financial interests.

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  • NewherehowNewhereish@mastodon.social
    Jun 17, 2026, 2:21 PM

    @gbsills @angusm Right, so we apply regulations to make them act as a public square, and if they refuse, we nationalize them and bring them under public ownership where we can use state power to make it a public square. The whole "AI-slop/misinformation/infotainment" thing is a lost cause, has always been a lost cause. That it is now here in a new way doesn't make it any different from old yellow journalism in the papers.

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  • Elricelricofmelnibone@mastodon.social
    Jun 16, 2026, 4:44 PM

    @angusm More likely they'll try to jail 20 million British parents who let their children use evil and illegal VPN services.

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  • cbudcbuddenhagen@mastodon.nz
    Jun 16, 2026, 4:48 PM

    @angusm

    On side note. I've been a bit cautious about VPN sites because some seem a bit scammy. Is there a good guide to good ones to use?

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  • Kevin Smithsmithkm@mastodon.social
    Jun 16, 2026, 5:12 PM

    @angusm Canada has a similar bill for age verification, and another bill requiring all online services to store data about their users for a year and hand it over to law enforcement without a warrant. So all the decent VPNs, messengers, etc have threatened to pull out of the country.

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  • Kevin Smithsmithkm@mastodon.social
    Jun 16, 2026, 6:21 PM

    @canleaf @angusm Yeah their domestic policy is so awful I sometimes wonder if maybe the Tories wouldn't have been so bad, if only because their incompetence might have limited the damage, but that probably would have been counterbalanced by how much worse they would be at dealing with Magastan. And also as we've seen recently, incompetence isn't a hard limit on how much damage a government can do to its country.

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