Would Jimmy Saville Have Used a VPN?
Authors: Phippen, A.
Journal: Entertainment Law Review (UK)
Volume: 36
Issue: 1
Publisher: Sweet and Maxwell
eISSN: 0959-3799
ISSN: 0959-3799
Abstract:This article critically examines the United Kingdom’s renewed attempt to regulate children’s access to adult content through the Online Safety Act 2023 and its 2025 age-assurance rollout. Despite framing these measures as a “duty of care” to protect young users, early implementation revealed the ease with which determined individuals could bypass restrictions using Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) and other circumvention tools. The resulting political and media discourse – particularly a prominent piece of political theatre between Secretary of State Peter Kyle and Reform UK leader Nigel Farage – highlighted the tension between child protection, digital rights, and the technical limits of geographically bound regulation. Drawing on the concepts of symbolic governance and risk-shifting, the article argues that successive UK governments have prioritised the optics of “doing something” about online harms over realistic assessments of technological feasibility. It explores how responsibilities for enforcement and risk are displaced onto platforms, identity providers, and users, while privacy and freedom of expression are increasingly threatened by proposals to constrain privacy-enhancing technologies such as VPNs. The analysis warns that performative, nationally constrained approaches to online safety risk undermining trust in regulation and eroding fundamental digital rights, while doing little to meaningfully protect children in a global, decentralised internet
Source: Manual