This is my main frustration. Every teenager who wants to get porn will get porn regardless. VPN companies saw the writing on the wall years ago, and have been paying any YouTuber that will accept a sponsorship to shill for them.
I think the Online Safety Act is just setting a precedent that will be used further down the line to ban personal VPN usage.
"Children are using encrypted VPN tunnels to see porn online! Criminals also use those same VPN networks!"
Let me guess... There will be a law requiring ISPs to block VPN traffic if the VPN server's hostname isn't registered to a business and approved by the government.
UK: "Do you have a license for that VPN?!"
Anyway, download i2p, or Hyphanet/freenet
China has been trying for decades to ban VPNs and they have failed. It's just an infinite cat and mouse game. There's no reason to think that the UK could succeed where China has failed.
Yes, I agree with you. But the average person would no longer use a VPN if VPNs were outlawed. The people who are clever enough to evade detection like you and I are a tiny percentage of the population, and we don't really matter.
People like you and I don't truly matter in the grand scheme of things, because if the government ban VPNs, we will use i2p or TOR, or Hyphanet/freenet.
Surveillance states care about numbers. The more people who lose VPN access, the better (from their POV).
My real frustration is that it's just not a real problem. If it was we'd be seeing the negative effects of children having had access to porn today.
Instead it's clearly about control and being able to tiptoe their way to a totalitarian state.