Sexuality is a human right, and controlling sexuality is an authoritarian tactic to manufacture compliance.
“Age verification” is not just a tool for elimination of Internet privacy, it’s also a tool for sexual control.
this post was submitted on 27 Jan 2026
499 points (99.2% liked)
Technology
83449 readers
2930 users here now
This is a most excellent place for technology news and articles.
Our Rules
- Follow the lemmy.world rules.
- Only tech related news or articles.
- Be excellent to each other!
- Mod approved content bots can post up to 10 articles per day.
- Threads asking for personal tech support may be deleted.
- Politics threads may be removed.
- No memes allowed as posts, OK to post as comments.
- Only approved bots from the list below, this includes using AI responses and summaries. To ask if your bot can be added please contact a mod.
- Check for duplicates before posting, duplicates may be removed
- Accounts 7 days and younger will have their posts automatically removed.
Approved Bots
founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
Someone has been reading 1984… I’m not disagreeing with you, just saying ‘hi fellow doom reader’.
Bro, we are living 1984.
2026 - 1984 = 42
o__O
Hey I heard that theres a Very Pretty Neat trick for Brits to "travel abroad" effortlessly
Not really. They just announced they want to age gate VPNs too.
So I guess no more internships at companies with more than one office.
China doesn't even really allow VPNs at all, yet some people can still go over the firewall.
If it's just "age restriction", I'm sure there will suddenly be a lot of grandpa/grandmas buying VPNs¹
¹When China tried to restrict online video games, kids just used their grandparents IDs for verification lmfao
China's VPN blocking is actually very, very effective, and the vast majority of people don't go around it.
And that's kinda the point - the controls don't have to be 100%, they just have to cover the majority. And for the few that do circumvent - well, that's just one more easy crime for the authorities to charge you with if they ever feel the need.
load more comments
(1 replies)
Good job UK, you will push children to dangerous unmoderated sites instead! All in the name of state surveillance!
This will lead to, sexual blackmail of children, suicide and financial fraud.
You should thank the UK for sacrificing so many of its citizens to show the world what peak government stupidity looks like. We thought the point was made with Brexit, but the UK says “hold my beer” one more time.
You think it'll be the bad example other countries learn from, but loads of other countries are already following suit.
load more comments
(2 replies)
load more comments
(1 replies)
If you live in the UK or in another country where porn is being restricted:
- Talk with friends and family about getting a VPN (EDIT: Some recommendations I've heard are Air VPN, Private Internet Access, and, despite not having port forwarding, which is essentially one less major feature, Mullvad VPN. A thank-you to @jmf@lemmy.dbzer0.com for suggesting the former two.)
- Learn to use the Tor network (it's really easy to start, and unlike popular belief, Tor isn't only for illegal activities)
- Pressure MPs that didn't vote in favor of the age verification bill by sending emails to them about it so that they fight (or keep fighting) this age verification nonsense.
You don't need to be a porn addict to do these things. In fact, they have started with porn, but they may as well keep going and fight for age verification in other types of content, making access to said content way more difficult. The best thing you can do right now is to learn to fight back.
If you live in the UK or in another country where porn is being restricted: Talk with friends and family
Hmmmmm... Maybe not though
" Help me, stepbro. I can't access PornHub anymore 🥹 "
Im stuck in age-verification
load more comments
(1 replies)
UK is going to be requiring age verification for VPN access. https://reclaimthenet.org/uk-house-of-lords-votes-to-extend-age-verification-to-vpns
Will this mean all VPNs will comply? Obviously not, but the bigger names will either pull out or comply as we seeing with the bigger porn sites.
The next step after this will be criminalization of using a VPN without age verification.
load more comments
(2 replies)
Advertising for mullvad harms the peer2peer network. (They blocked port forwarding and won't be bringing it back)
load more comments
(14 replies)
load more comments
(8 replies)
Yall may wanna step in and nip that kind of authoritarianism in the bud because it doesn't get easier when it's matured.
Oh no... Let's just Google what other porn sites are out there. Oh look 1,642,000 results found...
That's not the point. This is a protest by the company running these sites against a system that's not fit for its claimed purpose (age restriction of websites) but is very fit for surveillance.
load more comments
(1 replies)
There calling it NoFap February.
I think it will be interesting to see what happens as a result of cuting a population off from porn.
They will just rely on illegal outlets now lol Can’t wait to see people locked up for porn lol one of the stupidest ways to spend government money lol
Oi there bruv, you got a liosence for that there wank
Oim gonna hav to clamp that willie ov yours untill such toim as the courts decide
load more comments
(1 replies)
Texas did the same shit not long ago. VPN usage went through the roof, as expected.
load more comments
(1 replies)
If videos from other places with no porn are anything to go off of, they're going to start learning how to drive their cars on two wheels without the distraction of porn.
load more comments
(1 replies)
What would we even call a decentralized porn site?
I remember when you didn't have to have a VPN to enjoy the internet.
This leaves citizens with a torrent of questions.
You really need a VPN to torrent safely, and the UK Government is in the process of restricting VPNs.
I guarantee there will still be VPNs accessible in the UK no matter what they try. My money is definitely on Mullvad still being accessible for one.
Tally ho chaps. God hates wankers. 
So that's why that back mirror episode with the pig was set in the UK. They knew.
It‘s a British series.
They don't need those wankers!
Looks like it were gonna go back to private VPNs with 10/20 people putting in each month to pay someone in a unrestricted area to run them a VPN.
Keep it small, make it look like enterprise kinda shit.
load more comments
(1 replies)
VPN industry .... EXPLODES!
view more: next ›