To anyone who's worried about the incoming age verification laws across the West

As chronically online internet users, I'm sure we are all very well aware of the online age verification laws going into effect across the Western world. First, it was the UK, soon it'll be Australia. The EU is slowly putting their own bill together. If you know anything about opsec, internet privacy and the history of data leaks, I'm sure you're as alarmed as I am. If I'm being honest with you, I'm a bit terrified myself. It all seems to oddly synchronized, with all these countries passing their laws in tandem. But, to deal with how routinely depressing our world is, I try to be an optimist.

What calmed me down is a simple truth: there will always be a bypass. That's cause and effect. With every new technology and restriction being put in place, a new market of solutions opens up. In the short few days that the UK ban has been implemented, people have already found countless ways to work around it. Human spite is one of the hardest things to control.

I used to live in Russia and have gone there multiple times since the war started. Every child and their grandma has a VPN on their phone to watch Youtube or chat on Discord. For every proxy and SSH tunnel the Roskomnadzor blocks, 10 more pop up. It's the Zmiy Gorynych of technology; cut off a head and three more grow back.

You will all be fine. Even at its very worst, internet censorship will never have us in a chokehold. There is simply too many ways these bans can be circumvented, and trying to ban every single VPN, proxy, and onion mirror has never worked. There is always a bypass somewhere. Cracking down on VPNs is pointless. Read up on Russia and China's current Internet situation and you'll figure out why.

Stay patient, educate yourself and always prepare for the worst case scenario. But try to be optimistic: from cracked concrete sprout dandelions, and from problems sprout solutions. Always.