How to Bypass UK Porn Block by Using a VPN Service Online
UK Porn Ban VPN Bypass
It’s kind of incredible that this is actually happening in the United Kingdom. A supposedly mature, developed democracy instigating a UK porn block like some extreme, medieval, religious dictatorship in the middle east. Yet it’s true that in the Summer of 2019 less that a year ago and two years after the 2017 Digital Economy act. This legislation was passed with far reaching powers to censor porn and worse log and audit personal information of everyone who wants to access porn sites. If completed anyone who wants to access any sort of adult content is going to find themselves listed on some sort of central government register. Kind of feels like a sex register doesn’t it and you can be certain that the Government of the United Kingdom will find some way to either lose or abuse the information on this database!
We’ll explain in this article the major flaws in the legislation regarding this UK porn ban, however it’s certainly isn’t a comprehensive list. If you just want to know how to avoid having to register on the Government’s porn block list. That is, basically to allow access to porn sites and not get stalked by the Government then you simply need to invest in something like this to get around this nonsense – i.e. use a VPN like this one – NordVPN.
These are called VPN services (virtual private network) which hides both your location and encrypts all your data too. It’s primary purpose is to maintain your anonymity online but lots of people also use it to bypass blocks and filters too. For example many people use this particular software to watch UK Television shows like the BBC iPlayer online when they’re outside the UK. By enabling the connection and picking the right server you can pretend your in a different location.
Now of course events over the last year or so including Brexit and a certain virus have pushed these badly thought through porn laws and legislation off the front page. Yet don’t think this massive invasion of our privacy is off the agenda. The legislation has been passed and when the Government of the UK have finished selecting an overpriced and incompetent third party to implement control of access to adult sites. Only then you can see how much of a step towards a dystopian society this really is. We’re all fine with politicians and government officials deciding what we can and can’t do online – aren’t we!
The Folly of the UK Porn Block
There are two main reasons why the new UK Porn filter is such a terrible idea which can probably be summarized like this –
- It won’t work
- It’s a huge invasion of privacy.
Both are important points and equally as valid, although which is the most important will depend on your viewpoint and circumstances. It’s incredible though that one of the most advanced technological nations has come up with a plan which is so basic and filled with flaws. In many ways, it’s worse than some of the medieval porn ban legislation which are enforced in the middle eastern countries like Saudi Arabia.
However, whatever your opinions about controlling internet users then it’s worth remembering that anyone can actually bypass the UK porn block quite easily without any specialist knowledge. Indeed these porn restrictions are highly unlikely to affect anyone who is aware of it and regularly accesses porn sites. 
Now I’ve got kids and of course I’m not overly keen on the idea that they have access to huge amounts of porn online. If there was a technical solution which could prevent them from stumbling across a porn site online then I’d certainly support it. As long as it worked and didn’t involve stamping over people’s legitimate rights to privacy then fine, it would certainly worth it. It’s hard to imagine though, simply because to make anything that works you have to enforce a very intrusive tracking system.
However the UK Government’s idea to implement the world’s first blanket age verification system is completely full of holes and is basically pointless. Not only have they come up with a system that has serious privacy implications, it has the added bonus of being trivial to get around it if you want. Which is of course what all the real dangerous people will do online. Remember none of these porn verification systems will not even apply to paedophiles or sex criminals, because they’ll have the knowledge to spend a few bucks to avoid them.
What we’ll be left with is a system that doesn’t work, a list full of innocent people who just want to visit the occasional porn site online. Plus a completely false sense of security that we’ve struck a blow to protect children and vulnerable people when in practice the UK porn block will have achieved completely the opposite result.
Pornography Dominates the Internet
First of all, you cannot control access to porn – there’s simply too much of it and it’s literally everywhere. The idea that you can create a list of these ‘porn websites’ and pop an age verification block on them is simply laughable. It’s the sort of idea that an octogenarian grandparent who’d used the internet twice would come up with. Even with the best efforts you’d be lucky to cover 0.01 % of the available pornography online. Remember the UK porn block laughably tries to control access to something that exists virtually everywhere online.
What’s more the only sites you’d cover are those with a sense of moral responsibility and a large commercial presence. That is the sort of sites that probably do the least amount of harm anyway. Most pornography on the internet is either casually flung around on social networking sites, forums or sharing platforms. Otherwise it exists on the sort of web sites hosted across the world who will simply ignore the assertions of the UK Government. There is an expectation that you can control access through an individual’s internet service but that’s simply not the case – any simple VPN service from any of the VPN providers will prevent this.
Indeed much of the dangerous and illegal porn exists on places like the dark web which are completely inaccessible to any sort of official filter in any case. You won’t stop people viewing porn like this any time soon, you might stop them watching regulated pornography access through payment services though.
This means you either end up going down the route of trying to police the entire internet or children (and adults) will be diverted to these less responsible sites. That’s right you end up pushing youngsters towards more extreme material which become more accessible. The other likely result is that everyone starts using tools which bypasses these filters altogether.
People Can Still Bypass UK Porn Block Easily
Now if the UK Porn block actually worked then the significant impact on our privacy might be worth accepting. However the fact that it’s fairly pointless means that cost is definitely not worth paying. Let’s just consider what exactly is happening here. Firstly anyone who wants to access porn online will have to prove that they are over 18 before being allowed access. Now that doesn’t sound too bad, however what you’re actually doing is applying to the UK government for permission to access adult content or porn.
That’s right, you’re applying to the UK Government so that you can watch a bit of pornography. Although they’re not technically asking anything other than you’re over the age of 18 – without their permission you’re going to get blocked from these sites. However it get’s even worse when you think about it – as the age verification process for viewing porn has other implications too.
Currently the options for these ID checks being proposed – are to upload some piece of data to prove your age – like a credit card, passport or drivers license. Exactly the sort of information that is a huge security and privacy risk to start uploading to the internet. Your other option is to pop to your local shop and get the owner to verify your age and sell you a ‘porn pass’ which allows you access the porn sites. I’m sure my newsagent has a secure privacy policy in place to manage this process.
Despite numerous delays and postponements it looks like this the porn filter is likely to happen this time. The last date of implementation was September, 2019 which didn’t happen. It’s worth keeping an eye out of the Government’s information page which you can find here and there’s always possible they backtrack or perform yet another U turn.
Internet Censorship in the UK
Both these options are extremely intrusive but also have another worrying aspect beyond accessing to adult websites and controlling our viewing habits. They’re potentially creating a huge database of UK citizens who have requested access to pornography. Now of course we’ll be assured loudly and sincerely that all this data will be confidential, safe and not used for any other purpose. Yet how many people will be happy to have details of their sexuality stored and logged on a Government controlled database. How long before other Government agencies seek access to this data, or just as likely the data is accidentally is leaked somewhere?
How many people want their sexuality shared in a database? How many teachers, healthcare professionals or anybody in sensitive positions would want to be recorded as a ‘registered porn user‘. It’s a huge invasion of personal privacy for a system which most agree is flawed and has virtually no real benefits.
Nobody but nobody in their right minds would want to be on any sort of Government held database which means you’re allowed to access UK porn sites. Indeed it is almost certain to spike a huge surge in demand for a VPN server and similar methods to protect your privacy and exist off the grid. Effectively then ensuring that everyone is driven to protect their internet connections simply in order to avoid the government who’s meant to protect their interests.
How to Bypass the UK Porn Filter
However don’t worry, the UK Porn block implementation is almost certainly bound to contain the usual fatal flaw of these systems. The filter will only be applicable to UK citizens, so the sites will need some method of determining the location of any inbound connection. There is currently only one feasible way of doing this and that’s to determine the location of the inbound IP address. The website will record the IP address and look up to ensure it’s registered in the UK before applying the age verification requirement. Much as the Government would like to officially control world’s internet usage then that’s not really feasible.
Use a VPN Service and Stay Private
Fortunately any decent IP Cloaker like Identity Cloaker or NordVPN will be able to hide your real IP address relatively easily. What’s more the best ones operate a no logs policy and will hide all your internet traffic and IP addresses from everyone. It’s ironic that more people will use these privacy features as a result of this legislation on internet pornography.
So if you use any reputable VPN services for instance which has servers outside the UK then you will be untouched by the verification requirements to check your age. Your internet connection will be encrypted so no log will be kept of your visits plus you will appear to be from a different country and will not be liable to the AgeID UK requirements.
Some have worried that this could escalate and I’ve seen suggestions that the UK ban VPN service and software. There’s little chance of this happening for several reasons, primarily because it’s technically very difficult to do – the Chinese have been throwing resources at it for years and they’re still used in China. The cost to try and block them would be huge and be much more than the cost of age id verification. Secondly as well as being able to protect your privacy from ‘nanny states’ – VPNs are also legitimate and important business tools used by most global corporations.
The other danger is that it’s creating yet another tier of access online. If you can afford it by paying for a VPN service (or you can create your own) then these censorship laws and legislation simply won’t apply to you. I wonder how many politicians will be installing a a VPN to bypass the UK restrictions and hide their porn habits. Perhaps they’ll go and register for access to porn by handing over their driving license somewhere ! Everyone else will either risk the dangers of using a free VPN to their personal information in order to access UK porn or just register. The last category will be the minority that’s for certain.
Our suggestion is to use a proper VPN service who’s priority is security, as mentioned our recommendation is a program called Identity Cloaker which will definitely bypass the UK porn filter and keep you completely anonymous too. We suggest you use one of their French or Dutch servers which will be very fast when accessed from the UK.
UK Porn Block Explained
The planned Pornography block in the United Kingdom isn’t really a proper restriction. Instead it’s more of a deterrent, to access legitimate porn sites you’ll need to identify yourself as an adult. This could involve identification probably along the lines of ‘Know Your Customer” or KYC rules currently used for crypto and banking sites. Usually you need to present a passport or photo ID and then scan your face for verification.
Then pornography sites would know that their content is only being accessed by adults. Of course, lots of ‘porn users’ will probably not be that keen to add themselves to a national register of pornography users for obvious reasons !!
