EU trying to ban VPNs

Our Take

The channel Digital ID, Mass Surveillance and Digital Currency flags a development in the EU around restricting VPN use — tools millions rely on to keep their browsing private from governments and corporations alike. We can't verify the specifics of the proposal from a title alone, and we'd encourage viewers to read the creator's sourcing before drawing conclusions. But the broader pattern is familiar: whenever ordinary people build a layer of anonymity into their daily lives, some government official somewhere starts asking why that anonymity should be allowed to exist.

That's the same logic driving the expansion of automated license plate readers across American towns. A VPN hides your IP address; an ALPR network like Flock Safety records your physical movements, plate by plate, intersection by intersection, and stores it in a searchable database that law enforcement and private companies can query. Different technology, same impulse — strip away the friction that lets people move through the world without being logged, indexed, and cross-referenced.

Whether it's an EU regulator eyeing VPNs or a city council quietly approving a Flock contract, these decisions tend to happen with minimal public debate and maximum assumption that citizens won't push back. Check our camera map to see what's already watching your neighborhood, and visit take-action for ways to make your local surveillance expansion a lot less quiet.