Age Verification Failed. Regulating VPNs Won't Fix It

Age verification failed. Regulating VPNs won't fix it

Governments are beginning to look beyond age verification itself and toward the tools people use to bypass it. In Australia, recently released Freedom of Information documents revealed the eSafety Commissioner wants technology companies to actively detect and block VPNs used to circumvent age checks. In the UK, Technology Secretary Liz Kendall has also suggested the government could revisit restrictions on VPNs.Viewed individually, these proposa…

Why Australia's potential VPN crackdown is fundamentally flawed

Forcing social media and adult content sites to block virtual private network (VPN) access, in an effort to stop underage Australians sneaking in by hiding their location, is the likely next step in the eSafety commissioner’s fight to keep children safe online. Australia’s eSafety commissioner Julie Inman Grant has controversially led the way globally when it comes to tackling the harms that the seedy side of the internet can cause to children. …