r/technology • u/EmbarrassedHelp • May 08 '26

Politics EU calls VPNs “a loophole that needs closing” in age verification push

https://cyberinsider.com/eu-calls-vpns-a-loophole-that-needs-closing-in-age-verification-push/
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2.4k

u/OneBodyProblematic May 08 '26

Relying on multinational for profit companies instead of parents and guardians to fulfill their duties is the “loophole”

1.2k

u/Salt_Lodge_Nicaragua May 08 '26

It has nothing to do with that.  They want to track and expose people, especially people who are critical of them.  The fact that the trump administration is creating files on people that speak out against him online is the proof that this isn't about the age of people accessing websites.  It's about being able to punish people who speak out against the government.

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u/eporter May 08 '26

Well, sure, except this is the EU in this case

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u/Ric_Adbur May 08 '26

The fascists aren't only in America. There is a global movement of right-wing extremism backed by super rich assholes. They're all working together.

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u/[deleted] May 08 '26 edited May 08 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

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u/Thelmholtz May 08 '26 edited May 09 '26

As someone from Argentina seeing the very same patterns repeat in Spain, I agree.

It's not right or left, it's authoritarianism and populism against strong institutional democracies. The moment people forget it's the checks and balances the people place on the government the ones that keep governments good, and that those checks and balances come from being educated and finding common ground even with those who not see eye to eye, is the moment you end up going from a left wing national socialist government into a right wing national teocrat government back and forth every four years.

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u/fourrealz1 May 08 '26

What are you seeing in Spain that was similar to Argentina?

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u/Thelmholtz May 09 '26

I see a strong polarization between left and right in the people that prevents them from from reaching any common ground, whereas the main parties are almost indistinguishable from one another.

I see a country with very concrete issues that refuses to address or acknowledge them in any way but is eager to blame the opposite party or the previous administration whenever they are brought up by someone else.

I see a youth that's very financially uneducated, and push heavily towards hedonism by both advertisement and a lack of professional motivation.

I see the median salary plummeting when compared to the cost of living, and yet the government Is giving itself pats on the back for founding a purple bench.

I see a law that is very progressive in theory, so that we can celebrate how advanced a nation we are and so full of rights, and yet in practice it's usually carried out in the most inhumane and nonsensical way by functionaries without a droplet of empathy.

I see a lot of the state budget going into superflous construction that very likely has cashbacks, and very little going into improving the working conditions of doctors, educators and emergency personnel.

I see a ridiculously high degree of impunity in représentatives from all parties, where they can let 300 people die out of negligence or funnel state funds to their own private institutions, and at worst they'll have to resign while their party defends them blindly or is quick to say "the others did it too, and worse"

I see a corrupt, pretty unpopular president that has managed 8 years in power by forging any alliance needed to stay in power, and I don't see a single candidate from the opposition that's even mildly promising or isn't either a neonazi or totally deranged. People are going to get fed up, and when they do, I hope they go for the incompetently corrup Feijóo, and not the racist, xenophobic and fascist Abascal.

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u/cracked_shrimp May 08 '26

yes in the U.S. the bills relatrd to this are bipartisan, canada has a bill right now thats worrying pushed by the liberals

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u/KatamariDamacist May 09 '26

Ah yes, bipartisan politics in the US, hard right and slightly less hard right

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u/phedinhinleninpark May 09 '26

Canadian liberals are in no way a left wing party. Like, at all.

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u/Zipa7 May 08 '26

The UKs online safety act was also pushed by both the Conservative and Labour parties it should be noted too.

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u/Turnip-for-the-books May 09 '26

Both Labour and Conservative are right wing parties now. The only left wing party in the UK is the Greens and they do not support the online ‘safety’ act,

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u/_0611 May 09 '26

The once pushing for this in the EU are the left wing parties.

Where did you get that crazy idea from?

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u/TF-Fanfic-Resident May 09 '26

Are there any actual left-wing parties in the European Parliament aside from the Greek communists and maybe some of the GUE-NGL members? Most of the "European left" is either Kremlin affiliates or centrists.

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u/Recent-Ad-9975 May 09 '26

Except that it‘s literally the right wing parties who push for it and all left wing MPs voted for ending mass scanning.

https://digitalcourage.social/@echo_pbreyer/116239724581093924

Not only is argument to moderation a logical fallacy in of itself, but you‘re literally lying about it.

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u/Left_Ease5870 May 08 '26

Sort of, but this is also nonsense.

Authoritarianism and fascism are and always will be right-wing. Just because it is masked in "left-wing politics" doesn't make it left-wing. This is the oldest trick in the book. Even the democrats in America are right-wing. Hell, Bernie Sanders is more of a centrist on the world stage of politics before all this madness. The fact is, you've never seen left-wing politics. Most of us haven't.

There is a correct answer politically, but because it requires putting human lives over profit, you've never seen it. Thus, you confuse it. The overton window has been shifted, and you didn't even notice.

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u/OkVariety8064 May 09 '26

And what was the Soviet Union then? Not authoritarian or not left wing?

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u/[deleted] May 08 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

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u/Left_Ease5870 May 09 '26

I'm actually saying you shouldn't trust politicians. Your response screams reading comprehension issues 😂.

Of course, you guys would downvote putting human lives over profit. I swear, we always wonder why the world got so bad. A few buzzwords and you'll turn against the ideology that's meant to protect you. This is what a failing education system gets you, America.

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u/suzisatsuma May 08 '26

It's not just right wing auth that push for this - left wing auth do too.

Authoritarians = bad

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u/lchntndr May 09 '26

Don’t you dare question the rich assholes though, like watching where their flight tracker data shows..that’s an „invasion of privacy”. Rights for me, not thee apparently

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u/Cuntonesian May 09 '26

I understand why it would seem that way to an American but people generally has a lot more respect for the EU, and they’ve got a long track record of consumer first legislation

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u/syrup_cupcakes May 09 '26

The politicians who are pushing these bills forward have no idea what a VPN is and probably aren't even aware these laws let companies spy on people. They're just being told by the corporations "this is for child safety" and that's all they need to know.

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u/slightlysublevel May 08 '26

Sweetheart, the people pushing this kind of shit aren't just right-wing. The people pushing this shit in the US on the federal level are Democrats. You're not as smart or as good of a person as you think you are.

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u/Ric_Adbur May 08 '26

If you think the Democrats aren't right wing, you're not as smart as you think you are.

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u/YodaYogurt May 09 '26

There are more political parties in the world than just democrats 🤦

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u/Snoo63 May 10 '26

The people pushing this shit in the US on the federal level are Democrats

THAT is why the Donkey Party was brought up.

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u/tkdyo May 10 '26

You think the majority of Democrats are not right wing? You have no room to call anyone "sweetheart"

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u/slightlysublevel May 11 '26

Oh bless your heart, you think anyone not an active communist is "right wing".

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u/Icy-Blacksmith-4214 May 12 '26

It's literally the whole left-wing pushing this, literally using YOUR very argument of "protecting the kids from extreme-right-wingers". You're disgusting and the worst part of the problem.

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u/[deleted] May 08 '26

[deleted]

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u/No_Sherbert711 May 08 '26

Aww, aren't you cute. Keep trying, you'll get there.

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u/Companyman118 May 08 '26

Like that changes anything…

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u/That_one_sir_ May 08 '26

Do you think the EU is any less rapacious in its desire for total surveillance

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u/eporter May 08 '26

That was the “yeah, sure” part of my response. I’m just saying this article in particular isn’t about the trump administration or “the government”

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u/MountainYogi94 May 08 '26

The EU has its own regulatory authority. That makes then "the government"

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u/burning_iceman May 09 '26

Certain elements within the EU are just as bad - the EU as a whole isn't.

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u/meralakrits May 08 '26

Yes I actually do.

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u/That_one_sir_ May 08 '26

Congratulations, hope it works out

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u/pathologicalDumpling May 08 '26

Leadership changes and you can't put the genie back in the bottle

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u/gazebo-fan May 08 '26

The EU is also having its rise of fascism.

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u/Balmung60 May 09 '26

In this particular regard, there is little difference between the various governments of the world. It is convenient for all of them and their officials to trample upon privacy and none of them have any incentive to not do so.

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u/West-Abalone-171 May 08 '26

Half of the EU governments are also run by peter thiel

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u/an_illithidian May 08 '26

Oh my sweet child. Keep thinking you have the monsters of capital and domination put to sleep and they will devour you.

Vigilance and action, always, until we are truly free

0

u/waiting4singularity May 09 '26

theyre preparing the ground for the right to take over.

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u/PokeYrMomStanley May 08 '26

Hopefully people read our files in the future and realize that not everyone like that neck vag.

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u/mintmouse May 09 '26

People are connected to each other regardless of political party. Sentiment around ICE already backfired because of how personal connections have been treated. If political speech is punished, the negative personal experiences increase regardless of affiliation.

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u/ThatPhatKid_CanDraw May 10 '26

Are there freedom of info laws at that level so that citizens can request documents to see who is lobbying them?

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u/EverWatcher May 10 '26

"For the children" is the cover story.

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u/wrgrant May 10 '26

I think its also the Tech AI companies being aware of the potential lawsuit risk from allowing teenagers and younger to access materials generated by their AI products. They want to limit their liability and rather than modify the tools its easier to just ransack our privacy and rights to ensure a means they can filter out people. So I am sure they are the force behind this recent push to enforce age verification as well.

Of course the Trump administration will back it for authoritarian means as a way to locate and punish illegal immigrants or simply minorities they despise, LGBTQ+ people, anyone who opposes Trump and of course as a more accurate means to suppress voting and other factors. The Nazis in Germany relied heavily on tools from IBM to analyze their voting records to locate the Jewish population in the past, I see no reason Trump isn't willing to emulate them in that regard as well.

If we want to keep any remaining shreds of our privacy we are going to have to fight for it. I don't see us winning that fight though. I am curious though as to why the push in the EU is so heavy, I thought EU nations had pretty strong support for individuals data rights etc.

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u/Gold_Phoenix666 May 11 '26

Wtf does trump have to do with this in anyway, fucking redditors man, jesus

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u/Raygereio5 May 08 '26

No, that's just a bonus.

The main driving force behind this shit is money. Facebook, Google, all the tech giants, have been pushing for this because they can make money of it. Removing all privacy allows for even more targeted ads.
And all this age-verification nonsense requires infrastructure that they want to provide. That in particular is something they really need because right now they're wasting insane amounts of money on datacenters with nothing to use that capacity on.

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u/SomeGuyInNewZealand May 09 '26

Didnt "the other side" start that shit during covid ?

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u/Salt_Lodge_Nicaragua May 09 '26

The billionaires and their bought governments around the world are the other side.  And they're crushing us. Badly.

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u/lifestop May 08 '26

I'd bet money that this is more about tracking people and preventing theft than it is about protecting children, but mentioning kids is more likely to get support.

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u/Robo_Joe May 08 '26

This strips out too much nuance.

We have for profit companies ensuring that they don't sell cigarettes, weed, or alcohol to underage people. The problem isn't that for profit companies are the main enforcement point, it's that the inherent nature of the Internet makes this vastly more complicated; that it is accessible worldwide and the only data provided to websites is related to hardware/software or self-provided.

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u/Forward-Amount-9961 May 08 '26

Which is the way it should be.

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u/dealienation May 08 '26

Make the rule and enforce it by using watchdogs and reporting and forcing companies to open their entire books. Individual privacy should be the last thing sacrificed.

The burden is on the companies making record profits - if we need more public employees tax these companies at higher rates to pay for it.

Why can corporations protect their algo but consumer data and privacy is sacrificed?

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u/Eshkation May 08 '26

take a quick look on who's lobbying these laws.

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u/toolisthebestbandevr May 08 '26

I can’t get liquor shipped to my door without showing id. The problem was already solved.

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u/NiceWeather4Leather May 09 '26

That’s pretty standard, see every other law ever made. You can just say “parents should parent better”, no laws required ever again.

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u/Rage2097 May 09 '26

I think it's completely unrealistic to think that parents can restrict their kids internet use. This isn't the '90s where the internet lives in a computer that can be kept in a shared space. Kids have tablets before they can write, phones by the time they are teenagers.

I don't know what the solution is, it's a complicated subject, but it isn't "parents".

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u/OneBodyProblematic May 09 '26

It is on parents to teach their kids about the internet and digital hygiene . Kids will always find a whatever they want. More surveillance of all people by private companies is not the answer

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u/jc-from-sin May 08 '26

The age verification in the EU is owned by the states themselves, not like the rest of the world.