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   Privacy vs control: a whack-a-mole game with no clear winners   
      
   Date:   
   Thu, 18 Dec 2025 06:00:00 +0000   
      
   Description:   
   Are authorities going too far in their pursuit of safety?   
      
   FULL STORY   
      
   VPNs have gained significant attention in 2025, and not all of it has been   
   positive. The technology's role in circumventing age verification measures    
   and accessing streaming services for reduced prices has consistently landed   
   them in hot water.    
      
   Major events, like the arrival of age verification in the UK, have trigged   
   massive increases in VPN demand, with one provider seeing sing-ups rise over   
   1,000%. Meanwhile, streaming services such as Canal+ have launched legal   
   action against VPN companies for enabling improper access to their services.    
      
   As VPNs become increasingly important for accessing day-to-day services, they   
   sit at the center of a growing conflict between privacy and control. However,   
   have the events of 2025 shown that its a battle authorities simply cant win?    
   I think so.   
      
   The subscription problem    
      
   Take streaming. As providers frequently increase prices and tighten   
   geo-restrictions, VPNs have evolved into important tools for securing cheaper   
   deals and unlocking foreign content libraries.    
      
   VPNs allow you to connect to a server in your home country if youre traveling,   
   so you can retain access to the content you love. However, it works both   
   ways and you can just as easily access content that you strictly shouldn't be   
   able to.    
      
   This capability drew the attention of streaming giant Canal+ earlier this   
   year. The streaming service launched a legal case against VPNs, requesting   
   that they block access to 203 sites identified as hosting pirated football   
   streams.    
      
   But, as multiple VPNs have pointed out, these requests are near-impossible to   
   implement without compromising their primary purpose, privacy.    
      
   At the time of the initial ruling, a NordVPN spokesperson told TechRadar that   
   adhering to the request while maintaining NordVPNs privacy obligations was   
   impossible. Almost a year later, the sentiment remains the consensus across   
   the wider industry.    
      
   When asked whether Norton VPN was in a similar predicament regarding such   
   requests, Himmat Bains, the company's Senior Principal Product Manager,    
   simply responded:  "The problem is, I dont know how we would."   
      
   Legal challenges like the one put forward by Canal+ arent common, and broader   
   attempts to restrict the use of VPNs are even less frequent in democratic   
   regions. So whatll change?    
      
   Whether they are enabling safe journalism in conflict zones, bypassing state   
   censorship, or securing personal data against malicious actors, the primary   
   function of these tools is legitimate. As Bains concludes, despite the noise   
   of 2025:  "I dont think the walls are closing in."   
      
   Portable piracy   
      
   Amazons Fire TV Sticks have faced intense scrutiny throughout the year. The   
   growth of dodgy Fire Sticks has played a key driver in the estimated billions   
   of dollars lost to IPTV piracy every year.    
      
   In response, Amazon has rolled out new updates to stop pirated content   
   altogether.    
      
   This included creating a blacklist of sites known to show illegal content,   
   which the provider hoped would quash access to pirated content entirely.   
   However, according to Miguel Fornes, a cybersecurity expert at Surfshark, the   
   issue is nowhere near solved.    
      
   "Its a kind of whack-a-mole game," Fornes explained. "But its unwhackable."   
      
   Once one pirate site is found and blacklisted, its simple enough for the host   
   to simply create a new site and start again. So, there isnt necessarily an    
   end in sight by going about it this way.    
      
   "Its not the final solution," Fornes argues, "because otherwise, youll block   
   the whole internet."   
      
   There are legitimate reasons to install a VPN on an amazing Fire TV Stick,   
   such as wanting to encrypt your data or giving you access to home shows while   
   away. However, this flexibility is a double-edged sword  the same ecosystem   
   that benefits legitimate uses also facilitates illegal viewing.    
      
   The device's portability adds another layer of complexity. Because users can   
   simply plug the stick into any screen, anywhere, enforcement based on static   
   locations or residential IP addresses becomes significantly harder to   
   maintain.    
      
   The Alliance for Creativity and Entertainment is arguably the biggest   
   collective fighting against online piracy. It has partnered with Amazon for   
   its Fire TV measures and has Canal+ as one of its figurehead members.    
      
   Despite this heavyweight backing and Amazon's recent software crackdowns, the   
   industry has yet to find a silver bullet for the role VPNs play in   
   facilitating illicit streaming.   
      
   What's next?    
      
   Amazon's strategy relies on time-consuming collaboration to identify and   
   blacklist individual pirate domains. Furthermore, the targets are constantly   
   moving. Sites like those targeted by Canal+ can simply update their DNS   
   records or switch Content Delivery Networks (CDNs) to resume operations    
   within minutes.    
      
   Meanwhile, VPN users are protected by the technology's no-logs infrastructure   
   and encryption, making it difficult for authorities to identify people using   
   them to access geo-restricted content.    
      
   As Fornes put it, "what Amazon is doing is the right thing", but, from   
   everything we've seen so far, the right thing isn't necessarily enough.    
      
   No matter how many pirated sites are shut down and by what means, access to   
   VPNs will remain constant due to their many legitimate uses. While legal   
   pressure on providers may increase, the technical limitations of enforcing   
   broad blocking requests suggest that VPNs will remain a persistent thorn in   
   the side of authorities attempting to regain control.    
      
   We test and review VPN services in the context of legal recreational uses.    
   For example:1. Accessing a service from another country (subject to the terms   
   and conditions of that service).2. Protecting your online security and   
   strengthening your online privacy when abroad.We do not support or condone   
   using a VPN service to break the law or conduct illegal activities. Consuming   
   pirated content that is paid-for is neither endorsed nor approved by Future   
   Publishing.   
      
   ======================================================================   
   Link to news story:   
   https://www.techradar.com/computing/cyber-security/privacy-vs-control-a-whack-   
   a-mole-game-with-no-clear-winners   
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