Recently weâve seen sweeping attempts to censor the internet. The UKâs âOnline Safety Actâ imposes sweeping restrictions on speech and expression. Itâs disguised a child safety measure, but its true purpose is (avowedly!) intentional control over âservices that have a significant influence over public discourseâ. And similar trends threaten the US, especially as lawmakers race to more aggressively categorize more speech as broadly harmful.
A common response to these restrictions has been to dismiss them as unenforceable: thatâs not how the internet works, governments are foolish for thinking they can do this, and you can just use a VPN to get around crude attempts at content blocking.
But this âjust use a workaroundâ dismissal is a dangerous, reductive mistake. Even if you can easily defeat an attempt to impose a restriction right now, you canât take that for granted.
Dismissing technical restrictions as unenforceable
There is a tendency, especially among technically competent people, to use the ability to work around a requirement as an excuse to avoid dealing with it. When there is a political push to enforce a particular pattern of behavior â discourage or ban something, or make something socially unacceptable â there is an instinct for clever people with workarounds to respond with âyou can just use my workaroundâ.
I see this a lot, in a lot of different forms:
- âGeographic restrictions donât matter, just use a VPN.â
- âMedia preservation by the industry doesnât matter, just use pirated copies.â
- âThe application removing this feature doesnât matter, just use this tool to do it for you.â
- âDonât pay for this feature, you can just do it yourself for free.1â
- âItâs âinevitableâ that people will use their technology as they please regardless of the EULA.â
- âIssues with digital ownership? Doesnât affect me, I just pirate.â