Just about every serious commentator in the tech and business spheres find a total VPN ban to be extremely unlikely, despite the rumblings of a few geriatric Parliamentarians. More leaders in the UK have publicly stated that banning VPNs is not on the table and that they have legitimate uses.

Restricting something for children is not the same as so doing for adults. Society already does in a number of ways (driving, smoking, alcohol etc.).

Enforcing a complete ban would be extremely difficult technically and would do serious harm economic harm and undermine cybersecurity. The government is not going to do that out of “spite” despite your generalized anti-government sentiments. Restrictions on kids is not a VPN ban, which would be catastrophic and frankly impossible in the UK. It’s not China. Not only does the UK have different standards and not only do they lack the strangle hold China has, a governing party in the UK would face repercussions for the economic devastation and be voted out of power. As I stated before, in democracies at least, politicians care about the economy because voters care about it, usually more than anything else.

Push for government-sanctioned client-side spyware already happened years ago with the intent to scan all content and keeps happening every other year, each time with more support

Any serious attempt to implement CSS would be met with fierce opposition from constituents and the industry. Not too mention the economic fallout and technical infeasibility. These are the reason any such proposals have consistently been discarded. It’s worth it to pay attention, sure. And to push back if they ever really try. But the odds of it happening are low.

each time with more support

That’s not really true. At best, support fluctuates. Amongst some lawmakers and law enforcement, you’d probably see a higher level of support but those are pretty much it. Media headlines overstate it because it gets views.

there’s constant harassment to tech company for them to create backdoor for spying on demand

Maybe but I think many of them would stop operating in the UK rather than take such a major hit to their reputation globally. This very thread is about companies refusing to operate in the UK. Apple and Signal have both said they’d leave the UK market before allowing CSS. Not even Google would be down for that.

Years of them pushing for this without success is an indicator that it won’t happen, not that it will. We have to keep in mind that the limitations and fallout that have kept this from happening so far continue to exist. The UK would become a tech pariah, which is actively doesn’t want.

It says it’s the maximum. It’s better than failing to secure conviction on a higher charge.

And that’s exactly why they will try

And exactly why they’ll fail. I can guarantee it’s already a minority of lawmakers and that number will dwindle when younger members of their staff tell them how stupid it is.

And every business or school of any size is the “elite”?

No, it won’t. The CCP has no competition. The UK is different.

So you can still easily hide your location? If I live in Maine and my IP says California, that’s still the same country.

Companies and universities are controlled by China in China. There’s no opposition party that will win the next elections based on the bad economy.

Again, this thread is about the UK, which is WHY I’m speaking in terms of Western democracies.

Isn’t a democracy. We’re talking about the UK, remember?

Anyone who thinks government would never do something as utterly stupid as shooting itself repeatedly in the everything out of spite is deluded

Yeah, that’s just kind of unsubstantiated anti-any-government that is not reflective of reality. We can already see the discontent causes by Trump’s economy, it’s the biggest threat to him.

Now tell me, how many insane things have we witnessed in the recent years from our collective governments

What does “insane” mean? How is that measured, however you see fit?

Some random YouTube video? Weak.

Anyone who thinks a government can ban VPNs without destroying economy is deluded. Politicians who say they will don’t understand the internet, they’re old. Countless businesses use them every day.

And UK bollocks grew 5 shades bluer that winter

Blatantly misleading title. Makes it sounds like it encompassed more than just search engines.