Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) are a tool to extend a private network to another private network over distance and locations. They are a tool used by businesses, schools, institutions, the UK government of all people. They are used so people can stay connected to the resources they need: documents, email, printers, or your typical office things.
The Government are asking questions to fit their agenda
19th August 2025 YouGov asked :
A VPN (Virtual Private Network) is a tool that hides a user's internet activity and location, often used for privacy or bypassing content restrictions. Do you think under 18s should be allowed to use VPNs, or should they be banned from using them?
That question is fundamentally wrong and misleading. It is playing into people’s already warped idea of what a VPN is. Before the announcement or introduction of the Online Safety Act VPNs were only known by people that use them, maintain them, make them, or those who had seen ads on YouTube for NordVPN. Until then, your grandparents had never heard of it.
Yet 55% of people aged 65+ voted they should be banned. I can guarantee if I ask my 63 year old mother what a VPN is she’d say she did not know. This absolutely skews the results of the question and gives the government ammo to “Ban” VPNs and gain support.
This is the wrong question to be asking
This is fundamentally the wrong question to be asking. As VPNs were not and are not designed to bypass content restrictions or hide users activities. Think about your home network/wifi, would you want someone spying on what websites you visit? What you are typing? What you are speaking? No. So why would you allow plain text (like passwords) to fly over the internet. You wouldn’t. This is the nature of the internet. It’s like announcing in a stadium of 100,000 people your pin number. Not everyone is going to care but if someone is targeting you they want that information.
A business wants to keep its data secret. Your bank uses encryption every time you log in. WhatsApp uses it for every message. The NHS uses it for your medical records. The UK government uses it for every single thing it does not want leaked. Encryption is not a hiding tool, it is a protecting tool. Restrict VPNs and you restrict the same technology that keeps your online banking safe.
That is the entire point of a VPN (Virtual Private Network), it is in the name “Private”. Keep things private between two separate networks.
Why they have become prevalent
That is simple. The government, especially Starmer, has forced mass restrictions on millions of Britons because they want to “protect the children”. Bore off. They imposed massive restrictions to watch and monitor.
Don’t get me wrong, there is a problem with young people and online and yes, I agree something needs to be done, but making everyone verify their age with very private and sensitive information is not the way. There has already been breaches of data since the Online Safety Act came into effect.
The other problem is this sort of hacker wet dream. Forcing everyone to submit forms of ID creates honeypots. Massive targets for hackers to target and trust me, if someone wants into your system or the government system they will get in.
Just because they are the government does not make them immune to hackers or attacks.
What should we do?
I grew up with the internet in the 90’s and early 00’s. I think most people my age will know what that was like. Me and my friends still laugh about all the things we've seen. This is nothing on our parents, they did not know. And therein lies the problem. Knowledge or lack thereof.
Parents need to be educated correctly. Companies need to be doing more in terms of blocking content. All the way from the platforms at the top (Facebook, TikTok) down to the CDNs like Akamai that sit below the ISPs. Everyone should be doing their part. Parents especially.
I educate my son and talk to my son. I explained why he shouldn’t talk to strangers on the internet. Not share personal information. Identifiable information. Why he has limits. Why there are age ratings. I am not saying it is that simple.
One thing I am saying is if the government put this much time, money, and effort in providing parents with learning material and tools (Free antivirus and parental controls for one) that would be a much better use than a blanket ban for everyone.
The government does not need to ban VPNs. It needs to understand why people started using them in the first place. And the answer is simple: the Online Safety Act.
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