France has become a constant source of rather unnerving news lately. A short time ago many, including us, were deeply disturbed by a proposed law that would allow government to order web browsers and DNS resolvers to block any web page without a court decision. Now it seems that the focus shifted towards VPNs.
Not one, but two amendments were proposed by French politicians. One purports to outright ban all VPNs on social networking sites; luckily, it faced a ton of backlash and was withdrawn shortly.
The other one is less audacious but equally dangerous: it requires VPN providers to ensure that their services “do not allow access to an Internet network not subject to French or European legislation and regulations.” In practice, this would give government total control over the French internet. Reminds of something, doesn’t it?
While both initiatives have not become laws yet (and hopefully never will), this is a very concerning trend. If it continues, it’s only a matter of time until one of these amendments slips through the cracks of public attention and deals a heavy blow to the free web — we will have to see if it will become fatal.
Read on: https://adguard-vpn.com/en/blog/vpn-ban-france-new-law.html