Hacker News Reader

Comment by guidedlight | Hacker News Reader

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.

View on HN

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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

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.

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…”

"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.

My 9 year old nephew downloads torrents via vpn.

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

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.

xB Browser was incredibly popular with children.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com