814
Proton CEO warns global age verification push will mean "the death of anonymity online"
(www.techradar.com)
this post was submitted on 23 Apr 2026
814 points (99.0% liked)
News
37285 readers
2596 users here now
Welcome to the News community!
Rules:
1. Be civil
Attack the argument, not the person. No racism/sexism/bigotry. Good faith argumentation only. This includes accusing another user of being a bot or paid actor. Trolling is uncivil and is grounds for removal and/or a community ban. Do not respond to rule-breaking content; report it and move on.
2. All posts should contain a source (url) that is as reliable and unbiased as possible and must only contain one link.
Obvious biased sources will be removed at the mods’ discretion. Supporting links can be added in comments or posted separately but not to the post body. Sources may be checked for reliability using Wikipedia, MBFC, AdFontes, GroundNews, etc.
3. No bots, spam or self-promotion.
Only approved bots, which follow the guidelines for bots set by the instance, are allowed.
4. Post titles should be the same as the article used as source. Clickbait titles may be removed.
Posts which titles don’t match the source may be removed. If the site changed their headline, we may ask you to update the post title. Clickbait titles use hyperbolic language and do not accurately describe the article content. When necessary, post titles may be edited, clearly marked with [brackets], but may never be used to editorialize or comment on the content.
5. Only recent news is allowed.
Posts must be news from the most recent 30 days.
6. All posts must be news articles.
No opinion pieces, Listicles, editorials, videos, blogs, press releases, or celebrity gossip will be allowed. All posts will be judged on a case-by-case basis. Mods may use discretion to pre-approve videos or press releases from highly credible sources that provide unique, newsworthy content not available or possible in another format.
7. No duplicate posts.
If an article has already been posted, it will be removed. Different articles reporting on the same subject are permitted. If the post that matches your post is very old, we refer you to rule 5.
8. Misinformation is prohibited.
Misinformation / propaganda is strictly prohibited. Any comment or post containing or linking to misinformation will be removed. If you feel that your post has been removed in error, credible sources must be provided.
9. No link shorteners or news aggregators.
All posts must link to original article sources. You may include archival links in the post description. News aggregators such as Yahoo, Google, Hacker News, etc. should be avoided in favor of the original source link. Newswire services such as AP, Reuters, or AFP, are frequently republished and may be shared from other credible sources.
10. Don't copy entire article in your post body
For copyright reasons, you are not allowed to copy an entire article into your post body. This is an instance wide rule, that is strictly enforced in this community.
founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
I don't have to worry about my OS because it's open source. Yours should be too. They can't actually enforce age verification on an open source OS because my OS can lie, and I can use its source code to make it lie if I have to (which I won't, because many other people will do it for me). For that matter they'll find ways to make Windows lie too, but you still shouldn't be using it, it's shit.
I don't have to worry about my ISP either because I live in a still-civilized country, but yeah, if they really lock it down at that level that's going to be tough, you'll probably have to identify someone for that if that's the next place where they go to. There are countermeasures and workarounds though. VPN, mesh networking, borrowing somebody else's wifi or mobile data hotspot, finding open networks. Maybe we'll get to the point where we need point to point links, pirate satellites, datajacking ourselves into communication lines, who knows.
But we're not there yet. We'll continue to develop more countermeasures as these sorts of hostile police surveillance state measures encroach on our freedom as it becomes necessary. You don't have to let your identity be associated with anything beyond your ISP if you're only using your ISP to get to somewhere you do trust with a VPN. If they block VPNs, then we will find other ways around the blocks. Are you familiar with I2P? If you aren't, maybe you should get familiar with it. We already have plenty of ways of sneaking information into and out of even more totalitarian of states like China, Russia, at least until there's an absolute shutdown like in Iran. You should also consider not living in a totalitarian country, and doing what you can to stop yours from becoming more totalitarian, because it's only going to get harder the longer you let them do this. Give them your ID in exchange for internet access for now if you absolutely have to and can't find any other option, but you might not absolutely have to, yet. And if you do have to, do it with caution: start learning and planning what you're going to have to do after that and how you're going to get very active in your resistance to being monitored and observed.
You sound like you've got a little bit of learned helplessness, but people in shitty, scary countries have been dealing with this for a long, long time. Yes, it sucks, but it's not the end of freedom. You have to learn how to fight it.
As far as I'm aware, mesh networks don't have the bandwidth for large data transfers. They can send packets of a thousand or so bytes tops, so even with compression you'd barely be able to send/receive anything.
You might be able to do SSH and run a few commands remotely, but with really high latency.
For a decentralized replacement for the modern internet, you would need major infrastructure like cables and/or cell towers and satellites.
Who says we need or are entitled to a decentralized replacement for the modern internet? Communication can be accomplished with much less, and necessity is the mother of invention. We managed to communicate quite effectively by having computers intermittently screeching at each other through a phone line for several decades. This discussion is about the modern internet being cut off while they try to identify and root out persecuted populations and dissidents against the regime. Nobody said it was going to be fun and you will still be able to freely watch all the youtube your bored brain can handle while streaming video games on another screen. If that's your expectation, you might as well go sign up for the brownshirts right now.
Damn dude, you don't have to get so defensive.
This is a conversation about how to circumvent government surveillance and censorship. If you can't see the connection to a need for decentralized internet structure, that's on you.
Also, you said this:
Wow, good for you, your government isn't rapidly implementing a surveillance state like seemingly most of the world is right now. That's not much of an argument for why other people don't need decentralized communication, though. Check your freaking privilege at the door.
You also said this:
In case you didn't know, mesh networking is decentralized communication. I merely pointed out that it isn't robust enough at this time to fully replace an internet connection, meaning it would be impractical to implement the fediverse over one.
Furthermore, VPNs can increase anonymity, but they still rely on a connection to their servers. Which means, under the current infrastructure, that you're still relying on your ISP. If the ISP decides to throttle all connections going through VPN servers, or if the government shuts down VPN servers, then you're still fucked. So that's not a workaround for the necessity of decentralized internet.
And, "borrowing somebody else's wifi or mobile data hotspot, finding open networks" still means going through ISPs, and the point of "age verification" which we're discussing is so that they can still identify you regardless. So that's not a solution.
Lastly, you also said this:
In other words, you agree that there is a point which might necessitate decentralized internet infrastructure. Unless you fail to understand the topic entirely.
Yes, communication can be accomplished, but to what extent depends on your technological capabilities. Mesh radios work for simple text-based messaging with limited bandwidth. Ham radios work for voice. Both of which can be dangerous when a government is actively hostile to radio communications, but there are ways to minimize the risk.
But in the context of maintaining the fediverse when the government tries to eliminate anonymous web use, neither of those things are a replacement.
You might be able to extend a LAN-based intranet by daisychaining wifi receivers, but how far? It'll probably be limited to a few houses or a neighborhood. It won't enable global communication like the modern internet does.
You could pass around USBs to share wikipedia articles and similar databases, but there's no real-time access/communication and this locks out anyone not in the "in-group," so it's not a full replacement either.
So in order to maintain the fediverse and anonymity, you still need some sort of internet infrastructure, which currently is dominated by ISPs and cell carriers. Which, if the government forces them to identify users through verification, will no longer be anonymous. Hence, the need for decentralized internet infrastructure.
Okay, so you want to go back to using dial-up? Over landline? Is that what you're proposing? Because even that goes through centralized carrier services which could easily be co-opted by an authoritarian government. Not a solution for the topic at hand.
Get off your high horse. Yes, the discussion is about the modern internet being cut off. And you can't see how that relates to necessitating a decentralized internet infrastructure to replace the one being locked down?
Those "persecuted populations and dissidents against the regime" can only benefit from a decentralized internet, and you're throwing them out like some token virtue-signaling buzzwords to make yourself sound morally superior, when the argument you're making actively hurts those people by making it easier for the government to root them out in the absence of decentralized communication infrastructure.
I can only assume this is projection on your part. Is the only use you can think of for a decentralized internet so you can watch youtube and stream video games? Really? Is your imagination that limited?
Funny that you should call me a brownshirt, when you're the one who began your comment by questioning whether we're even "entitled" to a decentralized internet. In the context of a discussion about the government's assaults on anonymity. Do you not realize how fascist that sounds?
Wow, I guess I could say the same to you, huh? I'm not going to bother trying to explain the myriad ways you've misread and misunderstood my comment, go ahead and keep believing whatever it is you're believing right now, it doesn't bother me a bit.
I wasn't being defensive, I was merely dismantling your argument piece-by-piece.
And you can't be bothered to engage with my argument? I addressed yours in detail, and you can't even come up with a response? Sounds like someone who knows they've lost the argument, if maybe only subconsciously.
What way did I misread or misunderstand? Was it when you told me to sign up for the brownshirts? Or when you questioned whether we "need or are entitled to" a decentralized internet infrastructure?
I don't know, if you think I misread those things, then maybe the problem is that you didn't elaborate them very well. Cause it seemed pretty clear that you were hostile towards the idea of a decentralized internet infrastructure.
Oh, so you didn't read anything I said? Or you didn't understand any of it? And you can't be bothered to read something that might force you to reexamine your beliefs?
And then you tell me to keep on believing whatever I believe? As if I'm the one being obtuse. That's more projection on your part.
You know, plugging your ears isn't any way to win an argument. That's what fascist sympathizers do. This is exactly like trying to explain climate change to a republican.