> they are discussing restricting VPN access for 'child protection

Oh FFS!

Governments discussing such things doesn't _remotely_ mean there is a political will for them, or that they will be voted into law. Governments are expected to research and discuss paths of legislation (and in this case, come to the conclusion banning VPNs is both harmful and ridiculous).

This is how our democracies work!

Implying government discussions will be approved legislation is, at best ignorant, at worst trolling.

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whywhywhywhy an hour ago | parent | next [-]

Why do you think entirely different countries and states with entirely different politics across Europe Canada and America all pushing the same policy coincidentally within the space of 6 months has anything to do with democracy.

It’s people being paid off and it’s obvious.

	▲	9dev 27 minutes ago \| parent [-]
		External influence and lobbyism is part of the democratic process for sure. Stable democracies have self-correcting mechanisms to defend against too much pressure from any side. There is no reason (yet) to doubt the effectiveness of the European Union's self-correcting mechanisms. IMHO, you're both right: There is an active, covert political campaign for more online surveillance under the guise of child protection going on world-wide right now; so much is clear to anyone following the various attempts everywhere. Yet as of now, this campaign hasn't lead to actual, harmful legislation in the EU.

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embedding-shape 2 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

> Implying government discussions will be approved legislation is, at best ignorant, at worst trolling.

Don't get too much up in your arms about it, any topic about Europe and EU on HN ends up with huge swaths of American commentators seemingly willfully misunderstanding or spreading FUD in these comment threads.

You'll get used to it eventually, so you can identify what's the real criticism and worthwhile discussions, vs the easy trolling attempts.