• IphtashuFitz@lemmy.world
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      11 months ago

      No they won’t. Virtually every tech company in the world uses them. If any legislation was proposed then companies from the likes of Google and Microsoft down to hundreds of companies with fewer than 100 employees would all fight it.

      • extant@lemmy.world
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        11 months ago

        You make it sound like our lawmakers are wise and would make an informed decision and not just write an exception for companies that lobby for exemption.

        • IDriveWhileTired@lemmy.world
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          11 months ago

          You make it sound like our lawmakers are wise and would make an informed decision and not just write an exception for companies that -lobby- pay their greedy asses for said exemption.

          There, FTFY.

      • kent_eh@lemmy.ca
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        11 months ago

        Virtually every tech company in the world uses them

        Virtually every company (tech or not) and every government uses a VPN…

        • cation@lemmy.world
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          11 months ago

          Can’t say anything about China, but why do you think vpn’s are illegal in Russia? Sure, the big vpn companies inside the country might be influenced by the government to limit your access to some banned websites. However, you can freely use a vpn if you wish.

          Again, I remind you that you could always set up your own vpn server for personal use.

      • oatscoop@midwest.social
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        11 months ago

        I took their comment to mean “companies offering VPN services as a subscription for the purpose of privacy”.

        It wouldn’t be hard to target those companies specifically while leaving every other “legitimate” (in their view) use cases for VPNs alone.

        • pete_the_cat@lemmy.world
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          11 months ago

          A lot of people aren’t aware that VPNs are used to connect to internal networks, just “it’s this thing that I see commercials about that says it protects my privacy and allows me to access content not available in my country”. Hell, if you asked them what VPN stood for 90% of them would be like 🤷‍♂️

          I work in IT and can tell you that most people have zero clue about technology, even the things they use every day.

    • cation@lemmy.world
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      11 months ago

      You can literally host your own vpn, nothing illegal about that. And, as someone else mentioned, work would be impossible for many companies, as almost any company that works with sensitive data uses vpn to some extent.

      • kent_eh@lemmy.ca
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        11 months ago

        And, as someone else mentioned, work would be impossible for many companies,

        Especially those who have moved to a work from home model.

      • extant@lemmy.world
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        11 months ago

        And you think lawmakers would make a wise informed decision? You think that they wouldn’t make a decision that would strip away your capability to use a VPN while protecting themselves and big tech that lobby for exemptions?

        Their Profit or Your Privacy, what do you think they’ll pick?

        • frezik@midwest.social
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          11 months ago

          I don’t have to assume they’re wise. The uproar would be enough to kill the bill before it gets out of committee.

        • cation@lemmy.world
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          11 months ago

          I don’t think it’s even possible to for anyone to stop someone from using a VPN. Sure, in theory, they could affect VPN providers’ businesses, but you’re always going to be able to connect to a VPN if you want to. They’d have to block or heavily limit internet access in order to stop users from connecting to some remote server.

          Also yes, I do think lawmakers are aware that vpn’s are not a threat to anything, thus there is absolutely no reason to ban them.

          Edit: Someone else mentioned a good point. Even if we consider them blocking vpn as a possibility “The uproar would be enough to kill the bill before it gets out of committee.”

    • captainlezbian@lemmy.world
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      11 months ago

      Encryption is a constitutionally protected right. The only debate is whether it falls under the first or second amendment.