On 9 March, adults across Australia got a taste of what under-16s have been dealing with since late last year: the requirement to verify their age to access certain content online.
While Aussie kids are being restricted from major social media platforms, their elders are being asked to verify their age to access certain content, such as pornography websites and other sites hosting content to be considered “adult” by the eSafety Commissioner.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, this has led to a marked increase in the popularity of virtual private network apps, such as NordVPN and Proton VPN. For instance, the VPN – Super Unlimited Proxy – which is free – is currently the number five iPhone app in Australia, while paid apps have experienced a similar bump in popularity.
According to Professor Michael Cowling, of RMIT University’s School of Computing Technologies, this matches what has been observed in similar circumstances overseas.
“Evidence from other countries suggests that introducing age-gating inevitably drives adoption of VPNs,” Cowling said.
“Whether this is a privacy protection measure or a way to circumvent societal rules is hard to determine; it’s likely a combination of both.
“Whilst some might think that it’s under-18s using these services, it’s also likely individuals [who] value their privacy and don’t want to share their identification details with adult-oriented websites.”
Cowling added that while turning to a VPN might seem a smart move, it still leads to the fact that users are sharing their data with a third party – the VPN company – that may end up selling that data to “unknown parties to make its money”.
VPNs can also be prone to data leaks, malware infection, and man-in-the-middle (MitM) attacks, according to cyber security firm Check Point.
“VPN MitM attacks pose a serious risk to the security of encrypted communications. A successful attack enables unauthorised parties to eavesdrop and manipulate seemingly secured data transmissions,” Check Point said in a blog post.
“As an example, consider a malicious actor that has exploited vulnerabilities in a network and managed to compromise a VPN server.”
Even ignoring the potential risks, Cowling believes there’s a superior alternative to VPNs.
“Whilst a VPN provides a higher barrier for entry and could stop casual users, the real way to curtail underage usage of these services is to provide better digital literacy and content training,” he said.
David Hollingworth
David Hollingworth has been writing about technology for over 20 years, and has worked for a range of print and online titles in his career. He is enjoying getting to grips with cyber security, especially when it lets him talk about Lego.