That is one option, but then you get into the world of Corporate VPNs which are heavily in use and it would seriously cause problems if you banned.
Then you're into "what about all TLS connections" which can be used to send traffic, so you have to do TLS interception at scale, which is a very non-trivial problem to try and solve.
Then you're into non-TLS encrypted protocols, so your only option there is to block anything you can't intercept.....
At that point you've pretty much broken Internet access in your country, might as well just chop the cables :P
I wish I was as optimistic about the resilience of the open web as you, but I see what the Chinese government achieved and what the Russian government have been doing over the last few years, and I'm very concerned.
I saw an excellent video[1] a few weeks ago that outlined this issue perfectly in the context of Tor's anti-censorship methodologies by hiding its traffic as other kinds of traffic. The endgame is basically to cut the cables and have a countrywide intranet, or just accept that people will bypass it. Even the Great Firewall isn't perfect, and Chinese frequently VPN out of it all the time.
They're still going to try anyway though. Wisconsin is already putting up a hilariously bad anti-VPN bill[2], and I'm curious if they don't just end up trying to ban every server provider out there in the process of enforcing it.
The more practical law is to ban using VPNs to bypass local censorship/filters/etc, which is the law the UAE has for example. Companies can keep using them for security, so can individuals who aren't using them to pretend to be somewhere else to bypass local laws.
This also has the benefit (to the government) of criminalising individuals, making prosecution much easier and allowing it to be more selective according to the government's whims. It reminds me of the way the US dealt with piracy, you could go after a bunch of college kids to make a point etc.
> That is one option, but then you get into the world of Corporate VPNs which are heavily in use and it would seriously cause problems if you banned.
This should not give you /any/ comfort that they won't attempt to ban VPNs. It's as easy as making it illegal to purchase/use a VPN/proxy service as a non-business entity with some loosely drafted legislation that would scare people.
It's child's play to draft legislation that would not affect businesses, plus some appropriate PR/propaganda campaigns
That is, until you only allow approved vendors (Microsoft, Cloudflare, etc) to provide these types of services. It’s very easy to pass laws like that, and it seems like centralization is the direction everything is headed.
raesene9|2 months ago
Then you're into "what about all TLS connections" which can be used to send traffic, so you have to do TLS interception at scale, which is a very non-trivial problem to try and solve.
Then you're into non-TLS encrypted protocols, so your only option there is to block anything you can't intercept.....
At that point you've pretty much broken Internet access in your country, might as well just chop the cables :P
falcor84|2 months ago
techjamie|2 months ago
They're still going to try anyway though. Wisconsin is already putting up a hilariously bad anti-VPN bill[2], and I'm curious if they don't just end up trying to ban every server provider out there in the process of enforcing it.
[1] https://youtu.be/i9Jh3egGaNk
[2] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46113232
mcintyre1994|2 months ago
This also has the benefit (to the government) of criminalising individuals, making prosecution much easier and allowing it to be more selective according to the government's whims. It reminds me of the way the US dealt with piracy, you could go after a bunch of college kids to make a point etc.
hexbin010|2 months ago
This should not give you /any/ comfort that they won't attempt to ban VPNs. It's as easy as making it illegal to purchase/use a VPN/proxy service as a non-business entity with some loosely drafted legislation that would scare people.
It's child's play to draft legislation that would not affect businesses, plus some appropriate PR/propaganda campaigns
stingraycharles|2 months ago
LandR|2 months ago