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Is 4chan the Perfect 'Pirate Bay' Poster Child to Justify Wider UK Site-Blocking?
(torrentfreak.com)
this post was submitted on 24 Aug 2025
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Feels like we are shifting into a seriously locked down future of the internet. Where everything will require ID to do anything from seeing memes to eventually reading news sites. I cannot believe how quickly all this is happening and how co-ordinated it seems to be.
VPN's work for now but what about when the EU and USA pass their restriction and censorship acts too, eventually there will be nowhere to VPN too. Does anyone have any advice other than hoarding what ever data and sites we can now while they are still available?
Hoarding is the best plan for maintaining access to information, but not for interaction. Get used to being asocial.
In relation to 4chan, I can't think of an easier scapegoat/opponent to use to justify blocking via ISP. And from a fines perspective...uh, that will be entertaining to watch, considering GDPR fines scenarios (not directly comparable but from a conceptual space)
you're being way too pessimistic about this. governments have been trying to block access to information online for decades, and it's never been successful. even if a future like you imagine comes to pass, VPNs don't need to be commercial, and they can also be peer-to-peer. if it gets anywhere as bad you think it will, we'll see a wider adoption of tech like I2P and local mesh networks, or people running their own shadow VPNs with their friends. it's one thing for them to go after mullvad or proton or whatever big VPN you like, but it's another thing entirely to squash private VPNs that people can already put up with very little effort. especially since they would have no idea they even exist.
you should absolutely fight censorship like this, but don't ever think that them passing legislation is the end of the fight. it's only the beginning, and there are millions more of us than there are of them.