VPNs thrived in the UK after age restriction laws, but free choices come with huge risks
The UK’s Online Security Act came into effect on July 25. Among other provisions, the new law puts the website in charge of protecting children in the UK from visually harmful content, such as pornography or promoting eating disorders. This has led to many of the most commonly used sites, including PornHub, X and Reddit, who propose or plan to form age verification barriers that limit access to minors.
Age-restricted laws put widely popular websites in a difficult position. Websites like Reddit that rely on user-generated content don’t have a great way to ensure that no one under the age of 18 sees restricted material anywhere on the platform, so it’s usually easier to ban minors only. But this creates a knock problem: Underage users rely on uncensored free virtual private networks (VPNs) to return to their favorite platforms.
UK residents are using VPNs to change their obvious location to other countries and circumvent the Online Security Act. In the days since the law came into effect, five of the 10 easiest free apps to sell in the UK are VPNs. We liked five, two of Proton VPN and NORDVPN, but NordVPN doesn’t have a free plan – just a 7-day free trial, and then you have to pay. The other three are uncensored, untested and suspiciously universal (VPN Super Unlimited Proxy, freevpn.org and unlimited VPN Proxy).
When you use a VPN, all your network traffic goes through one of the VPN’s servers before being transferred to its final destination. Every time you connect, you trust a VPN to not abuse its access to information, and some VPNs unfortunately abuse trust. If supported by a paid subscription, such as Proton IS, a free VPN is usually secure. If there is no paid layer, or there is no limit to the free layer, you must ask yourself where the money comes from.
As the saying goes, “If the product is free, then the real product is you” is established here. For example, Hola VPN acknowledged on its Terms of Service that its sister company Bright Data could sell free users’ residential IPS as a proxy server, and Hotspot Shield was the subject of a 2017 FTC complaint that alleged it provided personally identifiable information to advertisers. One of the top ten services in the UK is Freevpn.org, which has no address on its website and has a sparse privacy policy.
Malware is another significant risk. A 2016 study analyzed 283 Android apps with VPN capabilities and found 38% of malware. There hasn’t been a drop in threats in the decade since then – just this year, Cyfirma’s threat analysts reported that free VPNs shared on Github were used as malware vectors.
Finally, there is no real reason to protect you or your rights, nor the motivation to make profits for you. Regardless of whether you choose to use a VPN, make sure you choose a way to keep savings without taking advantage of you. The green logo includes a clear pricing structure, audits of independent companies over the past three years, specific physical locations on VPN sites, and a thorough privacy policy. Some trustworthy free VPNs include the aforementioned Proton VPN, Plus HIDE.me, Tunnelbear and WindScribe.
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