Tag: VPNs

Digital IDs and VPNs – Do We Need Them?

The FT and other media have reported that the Prime Minister is planning to bring in digital IDs. It is hoped that this will help to reduce illegal migration. Everyone in the UK would need to have a passport or other digitised identity document.

Reportedly a Government spokesperson said “We are committed to using tech to make it easier for people to interact with the state, learning from other countries on how best to deliver this for citizens”. The UK is one of the few countries that does not have a secure digital ID scheme. Most of Europe does for example.

There will undoubtedly be strong opposition to such a scheme from a minority of the population who are paranoid about concealing or protecting their identity. But what’s my view? I think it is time to introduce digital IDs. They would help to prevent identity theft and fraud and we already have numerous forms of digital identity held by different organisations, including the Government. Having a unified system would assist immigration and law enforcement operations and protect my personal identification.

A related issue that has arisen recently is the use of VPNs (virtual private network software) to conceal your digital IDs on the internet. This is not something new – I have had some VPN software on my laptop for over 10 years to hide my id when using it in a public place such as a hotel. It prevents interception of my emails and web browsing data.

There is a petition on change.org that supports the use of VPNs – see https://www.change.org/p/protect-the-right-to-use-vpns-in-the-uk?

And this quote is in it from Tom Wiersma: “VPNs are the only way in which data to and from my systems becomes more difficult to hack. That data may contain financial, health or other private data which no one has the right to access. VPNs essentially make my on-line activity safe.”

It would be a shame if the Government tried to ban or restrict the use of VPNs.

Roger Lawson (Twitter: https://x.com/RogerWLawson  )

You can obtain notifications of new posts in future by following me on Twitter (now “X”) – see https://x.com/RogerWLawson where new blog posts are usually mentioned.

Blocking Porn and the Use of VPNs

The Online Safety Act now requires digital platforms to verify the ages of their customers. The intention is to block minors from accessing pornography. But the use of Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) is a simple way around the issue that can be used by anyone with some basic knowledge.

Now I do have a VPN product on my laptop which was installed years ago. This was a product supplied by Norton as a package with other software security products. This was obtained to protect me from security issues when using public internet networks in hotels or elsewhere. It enables me to pretend to be in another country for example and can hide my IP address.

Does that mean that age verification systems used by porn sites can be bypassed? Yes it does from my simple tests. That might explain why the number of downloads of VPNs has rocketed of late. But apparently there are potential risks with some VPNs.

To quote from a recent British Computer Society newsletter: “Daniel Card, a BCS member with significant expertise in cyber security, spoke to BBC News about the hidden risks: He said: Many of these free VPNs are riddled with issues. Some act as traffic brokers for data harvesting firms, others are so poorly built they expose users to attacks.”

I think the message is if you are going to use a VPN then acquire it from a reputable provider and expect to pay a small fee for it.

The OnLine Safety Act has been criticised for other reasons – see https://consoc.org.uk/the-online-safety-act-privacy-threats-and-free-speech-risks/. It will certainly not prove effective in blocking access to pornography and even Apple have complained that their security systems may have to be relaxed to meet Government requirements for access to encrypted data – see this BBC report: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cgj54eq4vejo

It appears the legislation may have been invented by lawyers with little knowledge of the technical environment.

Roger Lawson (Twitter: https://x.com/RogerWLawson  )

You can obtain notifications of new posts in future by following me on Twitter (now “X”) – see https://x.com/RogerWLawson where new blog posts are usually mentioned.