Key Takeaways:
- The House of Lords has passed an amendment to the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill that aims to prohibit the provision of Virtual Private Network (VPN) services to children under 18 in the UK.
- The goal of the amendment is to stop children from using VPNs to bypass age verification systems.
- The amendment has been met with opposition from the government, which is currently consulting on the issue and has yet to reach a conclusion.
- The proposed ban on VPNs for children has raised concerns about the potential impact on legitimate uses of VPNs, such as for business, journalism, and security.
- The amendment has been criticized for being overly broad and potentially damaging to innocent online services and security systems.
Introduction to the Amendment
The House of Lords has recently passed an amendment to the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill that aims to prohibit the provision of Virtual Private Network (VPN) services to children under 18 in the UK. The goal of the amendment is to stop children from using VPNs to bypass age verification systems, which are designed to restrict access to certain online content. The amendment, which was introduced by the Conservative Party, passed with 207 votes in favor and 159 against, with the majority of the opposition coming from the Labour Party.
The Details of the Amendment
The amendment itself is quite detailed, and it requires the Secretary of State to make regulations that prohibit the provision of VPN services to children in the UK within 12 months of the bill being passed. The regulations would apply to any VPN service that is offered or marketed to persons in the UK, and would require providers to apply age assurance measures to determine whether or not a person is a child. The amendment also gives Ofcom, the UK’s communications regulator, the power to produce guidance for VPN providers to help them comply with the regulations.
Concerns About the Amendment
However, the amendment has raised concerns about the potential impact on legitimate uses of VPNs, such as for business, journalism, and security. Many adults use VPNs to protect their online security and privacy, and the amendment could potentially restrict their access to these services. Additionally, the amendment has been criticized for being overly broad and potentially damaging to innocent online services and security systems. The regulator’s CEO, Dame Melanie Dawes, has noted that the use of VPNs has increased significantly since the introduction of age verification measures, with daily active users of VPN apps temporarily doubling to around 1.5 million.
The Impact on Children
The amendment has also been criticized for ignoring the fact that it may be mostly adults driving VPN usage to bypass age verification. Many adults do not want to have to share their private personal or financial details with unknown and unregulated third-party age verification providers, particularly when those services are associated with porn peddlers. The amendment has also been criticized for potentially denying young people access to online services and content that are beneficial to them, such as social media and news. Lord Knight of Weymouth, a Labour peer, has argued that a blanket ban on VPNs for children would be "extremely problematic" and could deny young people the positives of some online services.
The Reality of Online Censorship
The reality is that, whatever the government decides, children who want to access restricted online content will always find a way to circumvent any measures that are introduced. Instead, it often ends up being the innocent and harmless online services and security systems that could be hurt the most by the sledgehammer approach to age-gated internet censorship. The amendment has been criticized for being overly broad and potentially damaging to the online ecosystem as a whole. As Lord Knight of Weymouth noted, "young people will continue to want to connect with each other, they will want to share music, their photos and videos, and their creative content… Is it right that we lower the voting age to 16 and simultaneously prevent access to news for 15 year-olds when we want them to become well-informed?"
Conclusion
In conclusion, the amendment to the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill that aims to prohibit the provision of VPN services to children under 18 in the UK has raised significant concerns about the potential impact on legitimate uses of VPNs and the online ecosystem as a whole. While the goal of the amendment is to protect children from online harm, it is unclear whether it will be effective in achieving this goal, and it may ultimately end up causing more harm than good. The government should carefully consider the potential consequences of the amendment and work to find a more nuanced and effective solution to the issue of online age verification.
