• IDriveWhileTired@lemmy.world
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      11 months ago

      Was about to say, did politicians now invest in VPN providers?

      Plus, the hypocrisy of it all, since most scandals involving infidelity, abuse and other stuff comes from their side of the aisle (not that the other side is composed of saints, but still).

        • IDriveWhileTired@lemmy.world
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          11 months ago

          I never voted for a politician I liked. I have voted for a lot of politicians that were less bad than the alternative. But never once I said “yeah, that IS a good person”.

      • IphtashuFitz@lemmy.world
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        11 months ago

        No they won’t. Virtually every tech company in the world uses them. If any legislation was proposed then companies from the likes of Google and Microsoft down to hundreds of companies with fewer than 100 employees would all fight it.

        • extant@lemmy.world
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          11 months ago

          You make it sound like our lawmakers are wise and would make an informed decision and not just write an exception for companies that lobby for exemption.

          • IDriveWhileTired@lemmy.world
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            11 months ago

            You make it sound like our lawmakers are wise and would make an informed decision and not just write an exception for companies that -lobby- pay their greedy asses for said exemption.

            There, FTFY.

        • kent_eh
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          11 months ago

          Virtually every tech company in the world uses them

          Virtually every company (tech or not) and every government uses a VPN…

          • cation@lemmy.world
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            11 months ago

            Can’t say anything about China, but why do you think vpn’s are illegal in Russia? Sure, the big vpn companies inside the country might be influenced by the government to limit your access to some banned websites. However, you can freely use a vpn if you wish.

            Again, I remind you that you could always set up your own vpn server for personal use.

        • oatscoop@midwest.social
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          11 months ago

          I took their comment to mean “companies offering VPN services as a subscription for the purpose of privacy”.

          It wouldn’t be hard to target those companies specifically while leaving every other “legitimate” (in their view) use cases for VPNs alone.

          • pete_the_cat@lemmy.world
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            11 months ago

            A lot of people aren’t aware that VPNs are used to connect to internal networks, just “it’s this thing that I see commercials about that says it protects my privacy and allows me to access content not available in my country”. Hell, if you asked them what VPN stood for 90% of them would be like 🤷‍♂️

            I work in IT and can tell you that most people have zero clue about technology, even the things they use every day.

      • cation@lemmy.world
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        11 months ago

        You can literally host your own vpn, nothing illegal about that. And, as someone else mentioned, work would be impossible for many companies, as almost any company that works with sensitive data uses vpn to some extent.

        • kent_eh
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          11 months ago

          And, as someone else mentioned, work would be impossible for many companies,

          Especially those who have moved to a work from home model.

        • extant@lemmy.world
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          11 months ago

          And you think lawmakers would make a wise informed decision? You think that they wouldn’t make a decision that would strip away your capability to use a VPN while protecting themselves and big tech that lobby for exemptions?

          Their Profit or Your Privacy, what do you think they’ll pick?

          • frezik@midwest.social
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            11 months ago

            I don’t have to assume they’re wise. The uproar would be enough to kill the bill before it gets out of committee.

                • extant@lemmy.world
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                  11 months ago

                  You know I cannot quantify damages from a program that forces compliance without transparency through gag orders. I can point out that preventing the use of a VPN does not halt an entire company, you can still connect and work exactly the same as with a VPN it’s just not in a secure and private manner but what are you trying to hide? /s

                  No matter what you and I believe it’s irrelevant, if privacy goes on the chopping block than a VPN access would need to go with it and the technology is currently irreplaceable as-is but that doesn’t negate the possibility that it can become regulated. Privacy should be a human right but you and I both know that equality isn’t always equal and there’s a large portion of government over numerous groups that all have their own agendas and understand the advantages of knowledge and the power it can bestow. You’re trying to fight greed and greed only cares about getting more.

                  Thank you for coming to my Ted talk and best of luck to you frezik, I hope you’re right but I’m not going to hold my breath.

          • cation@lemmy.world
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            11 months ago

            I don’t think it’s even possible to for anyone to stop someone from using a VPN. Sure, in theory, they could affect VPN providers’ businesses, but you’re always going to be able to connect to a VPN if you want to. They’d have to block or heavily limit internet access in order to stop users from connecting to some remote server.

            Also yes, I do think lawmakers are aware that vpn’s are not a threat to anything, thus there is absolutely no reason to ban them.

            Edit: Someone else mentioned a good point. Even if we consider them blocking vpn as a possibility “The uproar would be enough to kill the bill before it gets out of committee.”

      • captainlezbian@lemmy.world
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        11 months ago

        Encryption is a constitutionally protected right. The only debate is whether it falls under the first or second amendment.