A VPN can't get around a cigarette and alcohol ban.

Perhaps children should be given locked down phones, with fines for parents who buy non child safe phones for their kids. It would take time for this to take effect but a social media ban would actually be effective at the end.

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postexitus 8 hours ago | parent [-]

Just like you can't get around a random adult buying for kids. It's just a imperfect deterrent.

Although I agree- hardware level control would be so much better. Apple's on-device age checks can be a good compromise.

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Aurornis 8 hours ago | parent [-]

> Just like you can't get around a random adult buying for kids. It's just an imperfect deterrent.

This argument feels really weak. Convincing an adult to buy alcohol for kids is dramatically more difficult on average than setting up a VPN.

If you’re on this tech website you should know that it’s not hard to get VPN access even with cash by buying cards at retail. You can also use one of the various free (ad supported or spyware) VPN products.

It’s nothing like trying to involve another adult and asking them to take on the legal liability of that action.

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postexitus 2 hours ago | parent [-]

Is it though? Do you actually live in the UK? Do you want to know how often it happens in London?

	▲	rgblambda 2 hours ago \| parent [-]
		I live in the UK, though not in London. I can count on one hand the number of times a group of children asked me to buy alcohol for them. So it's not that it doesn't happen, but it almost never happens. Compare standing outside a supermarket, repeatedly begging passers by to commit a crime for you every time you want alcohol, with the one time action of installing a VPN client on your device and it's obvious one law is enforceable while the other is not.