Here's the thing about VPNs
As technical users, we're perfectly capable of installing a VPN or even setting up a VPS and routing our traffic through it.
But that technical knowledge is privilege.
Less technical users are capable of doing things like installing Opera, for example, which offers an integrated VPN with a low barrier to entry.
The problem is that most people aren't even that technical. Most people don't know what a browser is. They open "the internet".
We need to be aware of our privilege as technical people and understand that the very non-technical are actually the norm. We are outliers. They don't have access to the VPNs, and the VPSs, and even the integrated VPN services like Opera, because they don't even know where to start.
So what Starmer's blocks do, other than blocking porn, is block information - particularly queer information, because someone decided it falls under the topic of sex.
We are creating a tiered society where access to information depends on privilege - on technical knowledge. And that's a disaster, frankly.
There are plenty of queer and baby trans folks who are not technical, can't do what we can, and are stuck with the filtering. There are plenty of parents who are not supportive of their child's trans or queer identity. And they can't go to them and say, "Can you pass this age verification for me? I need to access this information."
There are plenty of people, plenty of kids, for whom doing that is actively dangerous.
So they don't have access to that information. And that's a disaster; that's dangerous. And it's also bitterly, bitterly sad.
And it doesn't have to be this way.
But what can I do?
You can absolutely help people get a VPN set up. I strongly recommend Mullvad, which can be accessed through a standalone app or through Tailscale.
But at the same time, that selects for people who know people like us.
Hopefully they spread the same knowledge, but that's all it is: hope.
credit: @ambiguous_yelp@social.coop
We can make a dent in it, but we'll never fix the structural issue this way. I repeat that it shouldn't stop you trying; not doing a thing because you can't fix the whole problem is nonsense.
Let's try to have some impact, at least.
Mullvad VPN - Free the internet
Note: I have no commercial interests with Mullvad, and receive nothing of any form for recommending them. The links are not referral links.