Sidetracked a bit but last week I was in the UK. I tried to visit a website (not porn actually, just private messaging on BlueSky) and it asked to verify my age. Initially I thought "Meh... OK... let's see the process" which then lead to installing an app maybe (I'm not sure tbh as I was in rush). Clearly I didn't want to do it because the DM was potentially urgent (scheduling to meet someone ASAP) ... so what did I do? I switched from my browser to my VPN, connected from Austria, refreshed... no age verification. It took me a grand total of 5s to bypass the system.

TL;DR: maybe you can actually escape even though you are convinced you can't.

If Europe doesn't fight back strong enough, Chat Control will be one such thing. All your messages being scanned by a "black box" system. Hopes are on the European Parliament and societal pressure to cancel this now. https://www.patrick-breyer.de/en/reality-check-eu-council-chat-control-vote-is-not-a-retreat-but-a-green-light-for-indiscriminate-mass-surveillance-and-the-end-of-right-to-communicate-anonymously/

Chat control. Whatever these fuckos who are pushing for this in Brussels are smoking, this must stop.

Our president, House leader, Senate leader, head of FBI are all owned by a foreign government, and the ones who aren't, are blackmailed, or paid off to support them at all costs, even if it's committing a genocide. There's no way to escape it, we are a nation under blackmail.

• You have to hand over a huge amount of personal info about yourself & others to estate agents when renting a property - which they then sell to advertisers & you have no opt-out
• Similarly, landords can require you to use a proprietary app for rent payments, which of course collects & sells your private data too
• Burner phones are effectively illegal (telcos are required to collect & retain ID of every phone number they register)
• Telcos and ISPs are required to collect & retain logs of all your activities for a minimum of two years
• In some cities police can detain & search you & your property for no reason, and require you to remove any facial coverings
• It's illegal to refuse to hand over passwords to cops (6 years jail is the max term I think)
• Police can hack your device, take over your social media, delete or modify your data for an investigation, or survey any digital device if they "think it is likely to be used by someone subject to a warrant" (this particular bill was announced and then rushed through parliament in less than 24 hours to give the public as little time as possible to protest it
• Some social media sites (including github(wtf)) are now required to age-verify all users beginning next month. Which will obviously lead to mass leaks & breaches of private data which the gov will turn a blind eye to

This is Australia. I hate it here