One anti-censorship and surveillance group is taking a bold stance and advocating for politicians to Leave VPNs alone.
Many countries have banned or are considering banning virtual private networks.
Leave VPNs alone. Thats the plea from anti-online censorship and surveillance group Fight for the Future, which designated Sept. 25 as a VPN Day of Action to press lawmakers not to ban virtual private networks. A week later, theres still an opportunity to get involved and raise awareness.
The group of activists, artists, engineers and technologists is asking people to sign an open letter encouraging politicians to preserve the existence of VPNs and defend privacy and to access knowledge and information online. Virtual private networks encrypt internet connections and can hide your physical location.
Joining the action on Thursday was the VPN Trust Initiative — comprised of NordVPN, Surfshark and ExpressVPN — and the VPN Guild, which includes Amnezia VPN.
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The open letter refers to recent age-verification laws propelling legislative moves to ban or restrict VPN usage. Such measures would lead to increased online surveillance and censorship, which has a huge chilling effect on our freedoms, particularly the freedoms of traditionally marginalized people, the letter notes.
Lia Holland, Fight for the Futures campaigns and communication director, said VPNs are vital for people living under authoritarian regimes to avoid censorship and surveillance, and have become an essential tool in exercising basic human rights.
Half of all US states have passed age-verification laws requiring internet users to prove their age with government-issued IDs, credit card checks and other methods. The laws have spurred consumers to sign up for VPNs to avoid giving out sensitive information, with one recent VPN sign-up spike in the UK.
Read more: Welcome to the Era of Online Age Verification. Are You Ready to Identify Yourself?
Michigan is considering a bill banning adult content online and VPNs. If it becomes law, Michigan would be the first US state to ban VPNs. Many countries, including China, India and Iran, already ban or heavily restrict VPNs.
Amid a moral panic, ignorant save-the-children politicians are getting very close to kicking the hornets nest of millions of people who know how important VPNs are, Holland said.
Banning VPNs would be difficult, according to attorney Mario Trujillo of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, an international digital rights group.
Trujillo told CNET that VPNs are best for routing your network connection through a different network. They can be used to help avoid censorship, but they are also used by employees in every sector to connect to their companys network, he said. That is a practical reality that would make any ban difficult.
Trujillo added that the US lags behind the rest of the world in privacy regulation, and that lawmakers should focus more on privacy than VPN bans.
Read more: Our Top VPNs — Its a Tight Race | Why You Need a VPN
Fight for the Future identifies local lawmakers and provides templates for contacting them. This information is on the same page as the open letter.