Age-Gating VPNs? UK Ministers Don’t Get How the Internet Works

Today the BBC reported that UK ministers are calling for VPNs to require age verification, supposedly to stop kids from bypassing porn blocks. On the surface, it might sound like a simple fix, but if you know even a little about how the internet works, it’s hard not to laugh (or cry).

This idea is not only unworkable, but also quietly dangerous and it's starting to feel like our right to privacy is being continuously chipped away at.

A VPN is Just a Tool, Not a “Naughty Content Unblocker”

A Virtual Private Network (VPN) is a basic technology that lets you connect securely to another network over the internet. Businesses use them for remote work. Journalists use them to protect themselves in hostile environments. Ordinary people use them for privacy on public WiFi.

Treating VPNs as if they exist purely to watch porn is like treating cars as if they exist purely to ram-raid off licences.

The Problem With Age Verification

The whole point of a VPN is privacy. If you force identity checks (driving licence, passport, credit card) before using one, you’ve completely broken its purpose.

That would mean:

• Tying your real identity to an anonymity service.
• Creating a giant database of “who uses VPNs” which, let’s be honest, won’t stay secure forever.
• Normalising the idea that you need ID to do ordinary things online.

This isn’t really about protecting kids. It’s about conditioning the public to accept ID-linked internet access (I know.. I know.. if I'd of read this a few years ago I would of thought it was a load of conspiracy nonsense, but look at what happened with Apple being forced to remove ADP for iCloud users in the UK and the ongoing push to tar end-to-end encryption as exclusively a tool of terrorists and pedophiles).

You Can’t Age-Gate a Protocol

Here’s the silly bit: a VPN isn’t a single product you can regulate. It’s a protocol. Anyone can spin up their own VPN server on a cheap VPS, home router, or Raspberry Pi.

Trying to block it is like saying “Only over-18s can use HTTPS” or “SMTP (email) must have an ID check”

It’s nonsense.

Enforcement Is Impossible

Even if the UK forced commercial VPN providers to comply, anyone who actually wants to bypass the system has options:

• Run their own VPN abroad.
• Use SSH tunnelling or WireGuard over HTTPS.
• Switch to Tor (which many people are already doing).

Meanwhile, legit users like businesses, NGOs, government staff etc all get stuck with unnecessary ID checks just to work securely.

The Real Danger: Mission Creep

This isn’t about porn. It’s about normalising ID checks on the internet. Once it becomes “prove your identity to use a VPN” how long before it’s “prove your identity to access the internet at all”?

That’s the real endgame and if history tells us anything, it’s that once a power like this is on the table, governments rarely give it back.

The UK’s track record on digital regulation hasn’t exactly been stellar (remember the “ban encryption” proposals?). This latest call to age-gate VPNs shows, once again, that many policymakers don’t understand the basics of the technology they’re trying to legislate.

A VPN is not the problem. Misunderstanding the internet and trying to legislate it into submission is.

Ashley Adkins, Founder @ Adkinsio | Helping Business Work Smarter