What happened to the assumtion that people on the internet are all adults. No kid is signing a contract for a phone or internet plan. They are on the internet through the permission of an adult who has. Its the responsibility of that adult to make sure they don't do anything they shouldn't. Don't make it other people's problem that you can't control your kids. We shouldn't try to kid-proof the world.
this post was submitted on 27 Jan 2026
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It's never really about protecting children. It's about making sure the government can monitor everything you do online and tie it back to your real-world identity. Encrypted channels are to be eliminated. The government wants to hear every word and see every action. And age verification is an excuse to demand ID.
Traditionally this kind of surveillance has focused on left-wing and environmentalist movements, anything that challenges the interests of capital. Today it will be the same, but with a side helping of transphobia and the looming threat of all this material falling into the hands of fascists within a few years, something that everyone but the terminally dull Keir Starmer can see coming.
Decades passed and its not even remotely true anymore? Never really was tbh. Anonymity on the net is on its last legs thanks to adoption by the masse show need training wheels and rubber corners and a fence to not hurt themselves.
I will say that I don't live in the UK, so maybe it works differently. I'm assuming internet plans include some kind of service contract you have to sign, and minors can't legally sign contracts without parental consent. So every internet connection is the responsibility of the adult who did sign it. If kids are going to be using it then it is their responsibility to put parental controls on their network and devices.
But like the other response said, its not actually about protecting kids. Basically, if a politician ever says those words, its almost certainly an attempt to take away freedom.
show need training wheels and rubber corners and a fence to not hurt themselves.
Dangers in the internet:
- lies about some product (adverts)
- lies about things (misinformation)
- scammers abusing gathered/leaked data
There's no need to supervise users. There's a need to crack down on abusive hosters. You can't make the internet more safe otherwise.
What they do here is either symbol politics or they do this to get more power over their people.
Its still unclear to me why all these countries are attempting this legislation at the same time.
They wish to know everything you do, and hide everything they do.
Privacy for me but not for thee
Aaah Monarchies. Isnt that fun having none elected people be allowed to decide and make laws /s
The King doesn't make the laws in this country anymore, for more information, read here.
The house of lords is nobility and unelected as well
You have me there on the unelected, but they're (mostly) not nobility (anymore).
Welcome to the UK, where everything is fucked and there's loopholes everywhere.
It was strong enough to stop fascists in 1935 though, very few countries can claim to have better democratic safeguards
Maybe that's how the letter is written, but anyone can make a timeline of enshitification from the point a certain monarch died and the events of today and come to their own conclusions on who is pushing this global agenda against autonomy and privacy
These outdated troglodytes in the cushy retirement home probably wouldn’t know what a VPN was if you explained to them. Half the time they’re asleep on the bench dreaming of days gone by.
They've been told that 'the criminals' use it for they think it's the only reason people use it. We should shut down the phone sustem, postal system and just about any form of communication seeing as those are used by criminals but these old farts use those and not VPNs. They don't understand VPN is pretty much the only way of working remotely and a vast number of other legitimate reasons.
They don't have to know, they just have to trade favours.
They probably wish that the days of serfdom would come back.
Why is the UK so pro censoring/age verification?
Encroaching crypto-fascism. A perverse desire for control, because what's power without control and what's a politician without power?
Encroaching crypto-fascism. A perverse desire for control,
Or sometimes it is a real desire to be seen as tough on crime without noticing that the people who want age-verification/identity-document-duplication include some of the biggest criminals.
Maybe im not well versed in European politics enough but I don't see the same level appearing in other European or Anglo countries? Like even in the USA we have death squads now but I can still use a VPN... Age restrictions is usually due to religious voters
Age restrictions is usually due to religious voters
On what grounds, and isn't it just a pretext like here?
So techbros can seize control over the last strongholds of independence and anonymity on the net. Then we have no choice but to use it how they want or not at all. The immense power of computing and the internet ripped out of the hands of the public, access sold to approved users and restricted to approved uses.
And Bezos even threatened to physically take your PC away from you.
Give up your PC and rent from our cloud.
Like the psychopath he is.
People seem to forget that Britain was the U.S. before the U.S. was the US. I think they had people fooled for awhile because they were part of the EU.
Yeah maybe your on to something
You're*
The Lords did this in opposition to the government. Now the vote goes to the House of Commons, where the government has a huge majority. It's a safe prediction that it'll be voted down.
Ngl I thought it went from the House of Commons to the House of Lords
It usually does, but it doesn't have to.
Lmao for some reason I had a good laugh out of that even if it wasn’t meant to be funny
At this stage, the UK might as well just use Putin's MAX app. The goals are the same; why not use some synergies instead of reinventing the wheel.
VPN age verification, verily?
Inevitable but stupid.