Trustless VPN signups surge as UK Online Safety Act sparks privacy rush

Signups for virtual private networks, or VPNs, are surging after new provisions from the UK’s Online Safety Act that enforce age and identity checks and require sites to block certain content for UK users came into effect last week.

So-called trustless or decentralised VPNs that tap into blockchain technology are benefitting too, despite stiff competition from more mainstream products.

“Traffic does seem to be increasing, and users from the UK are increasing,” Harry Halpin, CEO of Nym Technologies, the firm behind NymVPN, told DL News.

Spokespeople from two other trustless VPNs told DL News they’ve also seen an uptick in signups and traffic since the UK’s new rules came into effect on July 25.

What are VPN?

VPNs are software that encrypt users’ internet traffic, making their browsing history and location harder to trace. They allow users to access websites blocked in the UK and dodge identity checks.

Their increased use comes as UK residents push back against the Online Safety Act.

The act is meant to protect children by blocking access to websites that contain material harmful to them, such as porn sites. Web users can remove the blocks by providing sites documents such as bank statements or passports to verifying their age and identity.

But critics say the rules are being applied too broadly and that even adults are struggling to access legal content.

Others argue that the blocks do little to protect children as they are easily circumvented using VPNs, and the mandatory age and identity checks threaten users’ privacy.

No control

Trustless or decentralised VPNs advertise themselves as a more private and secure alternative to commercial VPNs.

“Most commercial VPN providers are centralised,” Halpin said. “Centralised VPN providers can actually directly see all of your internet traffic, even if they claim to use encryption.”

Several commercial VPN companies that say they don’t log user activity have been caught doing so.

This is a problem, Halpin said, because it means those VPNs can easily hand over their users’ data to authorities should they request it, or lose the data in a hack.

Decentralised VPNs, on the other hand, operate similarly to blockchains in that they are made up of a network of distributed nodes. Proponents claim this means they cannot collect or log users’ data, even if they wanted to.

“There is no central point of control,” Freqnik, a pseudonymous core developer at Meile dVPN, told DL News. “Decentralised VPNs reduce the trust barrier.”

Many decentralised or trustless VPNs leverage blockchain technology.

Meile dVPN uses Sentinel, a decentralised blockchain marketplace where anyone can buy and sell internet bandwidth.

Others, like NymVPN, let users pay for their services with privacy-preserving crypto like Monero and Zcash.

Downsides

Yet there are downsides to the enhanced privacy.

“With great freedom comes great responsibility,” Freqnik said. “Any decentralised network, whether it be blockchain or peer-to-peer connections, is prone to bad actors.”

Meile says it solves this issue by assigning nodes on its network a score based on the quality of service they provide.

Some users also worry that decentralised VPNs won’t be as performant as their centralised counterparts.

According to Halpin, the extra level of anonymity NymVPN provides does slow it down. He said the speed is enough for instant messages and cryptocurrency transactions, and that Nym also offers a faster, less anonymous version of its VPN.

For privacy diehards, these downsides likely aren’t an issue. But for more casual users it might be a hard sell.

After all, commercial VPNs do just as good a job of helping users bypass website blocks, the main reason users are flocking to the software.

“From what we can tell, centralised VPNs seem to be benefiting the most,” Freqnik said.

“Decentralised VPNs are still under the radar.”

Tim Craig is DL News’ Edinburgh-based DeFi Correspondent. Reach out with tips at tim@dlnews.com.