Pornhub pulls out of Florida, VPN demand 'surges 1150%' | Hacker News Reader

Pornhub pulls out of Florida, VPN demand 'surges 1150%'

theregister.com

49 pointsjjgreen44 comments

Whenever I see VPN, I think: Is it tied to a government intelligence agency? Is it owned by a government intelligence agency? All your traffic is routed through a single, easily observable point. If I were an intelligence agency, I would have VPN services as a business, and I would constantly advertise aggressively how secure and private they are. Anyways, I really hope the US bans porn on a federal level. I have big plans for a second hand, slightly sticky VHS mail order business.

In what world would the TLAs need to setup this convoluted scheme? They already wiretap most of the US's internet traffic through your ISP already.

They can't tap VPN traffic at the ISP level, it's encrypted.

Only use VPNs that accept XMR and require no personal info.

https://www.privacyguides.org/en/vpn/

Or even better, VPNs who accepts cash in envelopes. Mullvad (also on your list) does this, as one example.

Mullvad's technical competence and privacy features have gotten it blocked by pretty much every large company lol

Aren’t you just effectively tying your real identity (from your ISP) to your crypto assets?

At that point, why not just buy a vps with crypto? Then you would at least be in control of the logging.

VPS is usually significantly more expensive (hostings that offer xmr payment are also not the cheapest ones), and less flexible (you can't choose your exit point country). And your anonymity set is... one.

VPS have their uses and VPNs have theirs, they are used for different things.

Monero/XMR isn't Bitcoin. Its fungible and there is no "tying assets" by design.

https://www.getmonero.org/get-started/what-is-monero/

Searches for VPNs spike in Texas after Pornhub pulls out of the state (3 points, 10 months ago, no comments) https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39748715

Searches for VPN Soar in Utah Amidst Pornhub Blockage (217 points, 2 years ago, 289 comments) https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35807408

The spike was detected/reported by one site only (https://www.vpnmentor.com/news/vpn-demand-surge-florida/). Nice SEO for them.

Note vpnMentor is pretty obscure, the NYT/Wirecutter didn't include it in a recent roundup [The Best VPN Service (2024)](https://www.nytimes.com/wirecutter/reviews/best-vpn-service/)

I wonder how many people will be getting scammed or infected by malicious 'free' VPNs. Most people affected by this (minors) won't have a credit card to pay for legit VPNs

I can't say I'm surprised. I think it's hilarious and fitting that news outlets are referring to Pornhub blocking access as "pulling out". I can't wait to see what term they use to describe unblocking access (if it ever happens).

Florida man will always find a way

Update. New I phone

ghfghfghgfhahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

I want the money for my you to

hggikmgggghhhh

I love sex and sperm

Xnxx jepang

Burat

Video sex

Purn hub

ahhhhh

I love sex

my mom and so she saad my you to is my add and song kids

Mshydjdydhdju

HEYYYYY

If someone is mature enough to know what a VPN is and to configure and operate it, then they have likely validated they are not a minor.

So in a way, using a VPN is an indirect proof of age.

The demand is of commercial VPN services which provides apps that can be used by anyone. Using social media would be more complicated in comparison. What you say is true if people are renting VPS and provision their own wireguard/openVPN server and configure the client.

you might be underestimating the tech savvyness of today’s youth :)

though for sure you made me wonder if the solution to keeping anonimity while verifying proof of age may light in something unorthodox like “if you can ___ you must be of age…”

We used proxies to get newgrounds in highschool around 2004, take from that what you will

When I was 12 I was chaining proxies to play runescape at school. With how many content creators picked up a nordvpn promotion, I would be surprised if the youth doesn't at least have a vague idea. TOR doesn't care about the block either, which I'm sure more and more people have become aware of.

That's a questionable thing to say on a page where a decent amount of users got into coding at around age 13.

Sure, tech literacy has taken a massive step back, but given how easy modern consumer VPNs are to use, I don't doubt most would manage.

You can configure it by installing an iOS app and making an account. We're not talking about running your own.

Er, yeah, about that.

Prior to Facebook and pals getting really big and the money rolling in, pretty much every software developer I knew was someone who got into computing as an early teen.

My parents got an old hand me down computer and I was writing C before we even got dial-up internet.

Kids may not know how a VPN works under the hood, but they are really good (and fearless) at trying out stuff until it works. Also, kids can communicate, and whoever manages to find a recipe that works will spread it quickly.

Most VPN services have zero-config apps, other than installing the app and logging in.

And some don't even require you to log in. For example, Proton VPN has a completely free and anonymous tier.

There's a logic to that, but in 2025 we shouldn't still be falling for the pretense that this is really about protecting children.

My 9 year old nephew downloads torrents via vpn.

"VPN" used in context of current day casual Internet conversations refer to paid Web proxy services that typically offer automagic client apps, not VPN technology itself or its traditional use cases.

xB Browser was incredibly popular with children.

Since any kid can download an app and click "connect", there is 0 validation

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