Mozilla, Proton VPN, Mullvad, Tor Project, and 15 other privacy organizations signed an open letter this week urging UK policymakers to abandon age verification expansion plans that would force VPN services to collect government IDs from users. The letter, published May 5, follows a European Parliamentary Research Service briefing warning that VPNs represent “a loophole in the legislation that needs closing” because they allow users to bypass geographic age verification by masking their locations. Meanwhile, one VPN app developer reported an 1,800% download surge in the UK during the first month after the Online Safety Act took effect—demonstrating both the effectiveness of VPNs as circumvention tools and widespread public resistance to age verification mandates.
For developers, this isn’t just a privacy debate. VPNs are essential professional tools for remote work, geolocation testing, SSH access to servers, and secure connections on public WiFi. If age verification is required to use VPNs, every developer must upload government IDs just to access privacy tools, creating surveillance databases and undermining the core purpose of VPNs.
The Age Verification Tech Is Fundamentally Broken
Before expanding age verification to VPNs, legislators should fix their own broken systems. In April, security consultant Paul Moore bypassed the EU’s official age verification app in under two minutes. His method? He opened the app’s configuration folder, deleted the encrypted PIN entries, restarted the app, and set a new PIN while retaining access to the original credentials.
The flaws Moore exposed are damning. The app stored facial images from government ID documents unencrypted. Rate limiting—designed to prevent repeated PIN guessing—was controlled by an editable counter that users could reset to zero. Biometric authentication could be skipped entirely by toggling a single boolean flag from “true” to “false.” An emergency patch arrived 24 hours after Moore’s disclosure, but the damage was done: the EU’s own age verification system is trivially bypassable with basic file editing.
This undermines the entire premise of the VPN crackdown. If current age verification can’t secure itself, expanding it to more services won’t solve anything. Fix the security flaws first, then consider broader enforcement—not the other way around.
VPNs Are Essential Developer Tools, Not Just Circumvention
The debate frames VPNs as tools minors use to access restricted content. However, VPNs are professional infrastructure. Developers rely on them to SSH into remote servers, access corporate networks securely, and test geo-restricted features like content licensing and regional pricing. Try debugging a location-based API without a VPN—it’s nearly impossible.
If VPN age verification requires government ID uploads, developers must surrender identity documents to use essential work tools. This creates databases tracking who uses privacy tools and exposes professionals to surveillance risks. Worse, it sets a chilling precedent: journalists, activists, and security researchers all rely on VPNs for anonymity. Identity verification doesn’t just affect children—it forces all users to create paper trails tied to privacy tool usage.
Michigan’s HB 4938 shows how quickly this escalates. A hidden clause requires ISPs to “prevent the use of virtual private networks or other technologies that circumvent” age-verification blocks, with felony penalties for violations. What starts as child protection morphs into criminalizing routine professional tools.
The 1,800% VPN Surge Shows Public Resistance—And a Better Way
The 1,800% VPN download spike in the UK proves something important: users prefer circumvention over compliance. Similar surges occurred in US states implementing age verification laws. This validates the EPRS warning that VPNs are “a loophole”—but it also reveals public rejection of age verification mandates.
This creates a cat-and-mouse enforcement problem. Legislators want to restrict VPNs, but users will migrate to Tor, SSH tunneling, or unregulated circumvention tools. The cycle doesn’t protect children—it drives privacy tools underground and makes them less secure. Hacker News commenters compared this to Russia’s internet restrictions from 2015 to 2025: what started with piracy bans escalated to DPI filtering, VPN blocks, and selective degradation. The slippery slope concerns are legitimate.
France offers a better path. Since April 2025, France has used a “double-blind” age verification system where websites don’t know user identities and verification providers don’t know which sites users access. Only age confirmation—a cryptographic “yes, this user is 18+”—is shared. No identity databases. No tracking across sites. Privacy preserved.
It’s not perfect. Users still must upload government IDs to the verification provider initially, and future legislation could undermine anonymity protections retroactively. Nevertheless, it’s far superior to direct ID uploads to every website. Privacy-preserving age verification is technically feasible. Use it.
What Happens Next for Developers and VPNs
Three scenarios are possible. First, VPN age verification expansion succeeds, forcing ID verification for all VPN users and driving privacy-focused providers out of EU jurisdiction. Second, privacy-preserving compromise wins, with France’s double-blind model spreading across the EU. Third, public backlash blocks expansion entirely, keeping VPNs unrestricted.
The EPRS suggests future updates to the EU Cybersecurity Act could introduce child-safety requirements for VPNs. Consequently, developers should prepare now: use VPNs before restrictions arrive, consider corporate VPNs that may receive business exemptions, and explore alternative access methods like SSH tunneling if consumer VPNs become restricted.
More importantly, support the privacy coalition opposing expansion. Mozilla, Proton, the EFF, and others are fighting this. Advocate for double-blind models over direct ID uploads. Push back against treating professional tools as child safety loopholes.
The takeaway: Don’t rush broken technology into broader enforcement. The EU’s age verification app was bypassed in under two minutes. Fix that first. Recognize that VPNs serve legitimate professional purposes beyond circumvention. And adopt privacy-preserving alternatives like France’s double-blind system instead of building surveillance infrastructure in the name of child protection.
