• skinnydugan@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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    9 days ago

    Dr. Cox was right: “I’m fairly sure if they took porn off the internet, there’d only be one website left, and it’d be called ‘Bring Back the Porn.'”

    • Etterra@discuss.online
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      9 days ago

      Political theater. “Won’t somebody think of the children?” is an easy win for politicians.

        • loutr@sh.itjust.works
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          8 days ago

          Yeah the point is just to soften the populace to the idea. Our fucking PM covered for pedophile priests in a Catholic school 30 years ago, he doesn’t give any fuck about kids.

        • RiQuY@lemm.ee
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          9 days ago

          If you are paying for a VPN and you have buffering problems, change to another VPN, that one is shit.

        • mic_check_one_two@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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          8 days ago

          Video over Tor is pretty awful, simply due to the way Tor works; Bandwidth is inherently limited, because it’s shared by everyone using the network. Same reason you should avoid torrenting over Tor.

          But if your video is buffering over a VPN, you need to find a new VPN provider. Mine maxes out my gigabit connection.

          • anomnom@sh.itjust.works
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            8 days ago

            Are there going to be bandwidth problems with vpns when more countries block porn though?

            Like lots of France just joined them, and the rest of us lost a bunch of French exit nodes (at least for porn). The increase in subscribers should help expand bandwidth at big servers, but there’sa limit when we’re talking whole nations.

        • muusemuuse@lemm.ee
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          8 days ago

          Why use Tor? It’s been compromised for years now. Just use I2P. You can torrent with that too.

        • AmbitiousProcess@piefed.social
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          8 days ago

          My VPN’s perfectly fine. To be fair, it’s not a free plan of a VPN that’s heavily throttled, but I can even play multiplayer FPS games with only a few milliseconds of additional delay, and my overall max upload and download speed is almost exactly identical to when I have my VPN off.

    • CosmicTurtle0@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      9 days ago

      It’s not about blocking porn.

      It’s always about control. Conservatives want to control how you consume sexual content.

    • shalafi@lemmy.world
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      8 days ago

      Politically speaking, it’s easy money. You pander to the conservatives with blocking propositions, get votes.

      *Who is going to champion the flip side?!"

    • Schmoo@startrek.website
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      8 days ago

      VPN companies and data brokers have a financial incentive to lobby for intrusive age-verification and restrictions, and prudish politicians are conveniently present in every political system. The porn lobby is powerful, but it seems they’ve been losing this battle recently. Or maybe they’re cutting deals with the data brokers, who knows.

  • BlameTheAntifa@lemmy.world
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    8 days ago

    I have to admit, of all the nations on earth, I never expected this sort of puritanical theatrical authoritarianism out of the french.

    • NotKyloRen@lemmy.zip
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      8 days ago

      They should actually take to the streets (again). Not joking. What is this nanny-state BS?

    • HulkSmashBurgers@reddthat.com
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      8 days ago

      I know right? Aren’t there nude beaches in the south of France where people will fuck in broad daylight with others watching?

      French citizens please confirm (for uh, science, and not vacation planning)!

    • MisterFrog@lemmy.world
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      8 days ago

      The percentages of respondents in surveys on infidelity answering “not a moral issue” from France are a bit of a cultural difference (from Australian perspective, anyway)

  • passepartout@feddit.org
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    9 days ago

    I’m shocked that this many people feel the need to disobey a rule that is only there to help the children. Next step must be to ban VPNs altogether, and enforcing all Internet users to be identified with their real identity (/s obviously).

    • IrateAnteater@sh.itjust.works
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      9 days ago

      The VPNs will be harder to ban. Not just from a technical standpoint, but politically as well. Big businesses will be absolutely opposed to VPN bans.

      • passepartout@feddit.org
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        8 days ago

        There will be a lot of businesses who feel the (justified) need to hide the entrypoint to their infrastructure behind a VPN.

      • ifItWasUpToMe@lemmy.ca
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        8 days ago

        I feel they could easily ban VPN companies (maybe?), which is what 99.9% of people that want to browse from a different location use.

        This won’t affect companies at all as they would be using their own VPN.

        • Aceticon@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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          8 days ago

          The only way the sovereign nation of France can ban VPN companies not based in France is to block the IP address of every single entry point of every single VPN company and keep doing so as they add new entry points (I bet the response on the VPN company side would be to start having some kind of dynamic VPN server thing).

          And then, as somebody else already pointed out, any technically inclined person can just rent a VPS anywhere in the World and fire up their own VPN server on it.

    • affiliate@lemmy.world
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      8 days ago

      if the VPN ban doesn’t work then the only reasonable course of action would be to ban the internet entirely. it’s the only way the children can be truly safe.

  • BetaBlake@lemmy.world
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    8 days ago

    How about you just parent your children? But it’s not about the children, that’s just always the convenient excuse

  • Devolution@lemmy.world
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    9 days ago

    Why do the French even need Pornhub when their basic movies are very porn adjacent?

    • FerretyFever0@fedia.io
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      9 days ago

      I blame the French for 120 days of Sodom burning my eyeballs, and I just skimmed the Wikipedia article. One of them chose to print that instead of burning the notes. Anyways, why is the hub being blocked in France?

      • BlameTheAntifa@lemmy.world
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        8 days ago

        French politicians passed a law that requires porn sites collect pii (identity) in order to access the site. PornHub won’t violate the privacy and security of their users, so they simply block the locales that pass such laws.

      • merdaverse@lemm.ee
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        8 days ago

        “Children should be reading good old stories like 120 days of Sodom, not this Pornhub filth” - probably some French conservative somewhere.

        • FerretyFever0@fedia.io
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          8 days ago

          The Marquis de Sade was an elected official btw. He would’ve jacked off to shock sites. Says quite a bit about some of the French that it wasn’t burned. It should’ve been. No historical or entertainment value, just pure degeneracy.

      • tarknassus@lemmy.world
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        8 days ago

        Protest on them trying to enact age consent laws.

        By showing the message rather than Pornhub’s vast library of adult content, Aylo “is communicating directly with the French people to tell them how dangerous, how potentially privacy-infringing, and how ineffective the French law is”, Solomon Friedman of Aylo’s owner, Ethical Capital Partners, told reporters in a video call on Tuesday.

        Paris has this year gradually introduced requirements for all adult websites to have users confirm their age with details like a credit card or ID document.

        In a bid to preserve privacy, operators must offer a third-party “double-blind” option that would keep the platforms themselves from seeing users’ identifying information.

        Edit - the sauce - Pornhub, YouPorn owner suspends access to French users over age verification law

    • Aceticon@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      8 days ago

      Reminds me of the running joke I had with a French bloke in a place were I worked in about how Jacquie-Et-Michelle (NSFW) was an unmissable part of French Culture, which none of our other colleagues seem to - or at least admitted to - get.

  • meowmeowbeanz@sopuli.xyz
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    8 days ago

    Peak French stupidity, this isn’t about protecting kids - it’s about building surveillance infrastructure. Back in 2024, critics already called this the foundation for a “Great Firewall of France”. Once you have the legal framework to block websites and force ISPs to implement monitoring, mission creep is inevitable.

    The technical approach is laughably naive. They’re essentially creating a centralized system that could easily become a database of citizen sexual preferences. Even with their “double anonymity,” you’re still creating digital fingerprints and metadata trails.

    Most importantly, it won’t work. Kids will just use VPNs - the same way adults are already doing. You’re not protecting anyone; you’re just pushing everyone toward circumvention tools while normalizing government control over what adults can access online.

    It’s perfectly French because it combines maximum bureaucratic complexity with zero practical benefit, all while creating new opportunities for state overreach. Classic.

    • xor@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      7 days ago

      i think it should be a little harder for a child to watch anal prolapse fisting porn than “click yes if you’re of legal age”….
      but… not a good excuse for creating a citizen surveillance database.

      • meowmeowbeanz@sopuli.xyz
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        7 days ago

        Fair point on the current system being theater, but here’s the thing - any centralized age verification system creates exactly the surveillance database you’re worried about.

        The “harder than clicking yes” solutions all have the same fundamental flaw: they require collecting and storing sensitive data that becomes a honeypot for both state actors and bad actors. Upload your ID? Now there’s a database linking your identity to your viewing habits. Credit card verification? Same problem, plus you’re creating financial trails.

        The technical reality is that determined kids will circumvent anything you put in place. We already saw this play out - VPN registrations exploded 1,000% in France within 30 minutes. You’re not actually protecting kids; you’re just normalizing data collection on adults while teaching every teenager in the country how to use Tor.

        Better approach would be device-level parental controls that parents can configure without creating centralized databases. Let Apple, Google, Microsoft handle age verification through their existing account systems where the data stays local. That way you get actual protection without building the infrastructure for a surveillance state.

        The French solution gives you the worst of both worlds - ineffective protection AND mass surveillance. Classic government efficiency.

        • xor@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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          7 days ago

          that’s a lack of imagination….
          just because i can’t think of a great solution doesn’t mean there isn’t one.
          off the top of my head, here’s a system without a centralized surveillance database:

          1. porn site gives you a random token,
          2. you then hash that with a time-stamp,
          3. get the token signed by your government ID system (like a dmv),
          4. return the signed hash.
          5. the government only knows that you used age verification for something somewhere….

          now the hard part is just explaining cryptographic signatures and hashes to people….
          of course people could still give a kid a verified account, but at least it’s harder for them to access it, i don’t need perfection….

      • mechoman444@lemmy.world
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        8 days ago

        Pervertube. Thisvid. Motherless.

        I just realized indicating these websites might have revealed a little too much about the kinds of porn I like to watch. ☹️

        • Machinist@lemmy.world
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          8 days ago

          Whoa. I haven’t heard of Pervertube. I have specific tastes involving a dirty mattress with no sheet or at least one overflowing ashtray.

          NEW PORN!!!1!!!1!!!

        • HugeNerd@lemmy.ca
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          8 days ago

          Which one pops the “you are leaving the trans section to go the straight section, are you sure?”

          I really don’t think I should be called out just because I like straight porn.

          • Krompus@lemmy.world
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            8 days ago

            Spankbang alone blows PornHub out of the water in my opinion. So does Xvideos. I guess it depends what you’re into? I don’t like all of the incest shit on PornHub.

            • Vanilla_PuddinFudge@infosec.pub
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              8 days ago

              More of just a softcore/strip kinda guy. I find porn corny and offputting so I’m usually just browsing /s/, fapello, or the endless tumblr blogs for every fetish imaginable. (suggestions welcome).

              gallery sites, are my thing, I guess, redtube is another good one with a lot of solo stuff. Motherless, though I hate going there because some of that content is a little on the teen-obsessed side, and kinda creepy, but I do like the way the site is designed.

              <_< are we having this discussion right now?

            • Jhex@lemmy.world
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              8 days ago

              I see… and agree. In my world PornHub seems to be the most famous but I rarely visit.

              Seeing some “unexplored” options with all the suggestions here hehehe

        • Ledericas@lemm.ee
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          7 days ago

          xvideos is a PH affiliate i think, if you noticed ph or these adjacent sites will have links to each other that have similar sanitationized like PH did.

      • Evotech@lemmy.world
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        8 days ago

        As a «produced porn» enjoyer…

        Usenet Stashdb Local stash instance

        Treat porn like you do tv shows :p

        I don’t really care for home video stuff

        • Allero@lemmy.today
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          Home video stuff is arguably the best!

          Often filmed with nothing but desire to share the joy. Vivid, real, as opposed to the carefully curated studio plastic, or OF crap where people have it for the money, and with all the ethical and other concerns about it.

          But I know there are always two sides to look at the issue. Studio production is obviously more perfected, and that’s what many like

    • Phoenicianpirate@lemm.ee
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      Which is weird since I often don’t hear much spoken dialogue in most porn films other than fake moans and and orgasms. Also my focus tends to be elsewhere…

        • Phoenicianpirate@lemm.ee
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          8 days ago

          Stop with the classy French French! I want vulgar Canadian French.

          “Ahh tabernack! T’es une vrai p’tite pute! T’fesse va ê’re plein de ma cum comme u’poutine!”

          “Mais fuck you! Plus vite MAINTENANT… OUAI YEAH! COMMMMMMMEEEEEEEEEEEE ÇÇÇÇÇAAAAA!!! Fuck me t’as une monstre cock!”

          • bss03@infosec.pub
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            8 days ago

            “tres bien” is “very good”

            “si vous plait” is like “please”

            “plus fort” is like “more strength”

            I’ve never studied or learned French, but you can pick up some of this stuff from “throwaway” French in other context and the etymology shared with other languages.

            So, basically just the stock U.S. porn phrase translated to French.

              • bss03@infosec.pub
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                8 days ago

                Agreed. I tend toward more literal translations for instruction/explanation – it made things stick better for me when learning Spanish. But, yes, in context “harder” is a definitely a more useful translation.

    • ssillyssadass@lemmy.world
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      8 days ago

      Because it’s simple and it works. When most people want to watch porn they don’t spend an hour researching their best option, they just go somewhere they know and watch something there.

      • Honytawk@feddit.nl
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        8 days ago

        So instead of switching to a different website, they spend an hour researching, buying and setting up a VPN in order to still use PornHub?

        • j0ester@lemmy.world
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          8 days ago

          What do you mean “setting it up?” You just install it, and click connect (or chose a country with one of their servers) easily.

          • Honytawk@lemmy.zip
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            8 days ago

            Unless they do research, they will have to buy one of the advertised VPNs.

            Both require time and energy.

    • dependencyinjection@discuss.tchncs.de
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      8 days ago

      I don’t really give it much thought, I load pornhub, click a recommended video, do my business and then close the private tab (yes I know this doesn’t hide your activity but it does stop pornhub showing as a search suggestion.). I’m not a connoisseur it’s a means to an end.

      • JuxtaposedJaguar@lemmy.ml
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        8 days ago

        I put what I’m looking for into DDG and then click the first result. 30% of the time it’s PH, and 30% of the time it’s Xvideos.

    • frog_brawler@lemmy.world
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      8 days ago

      The French are totally down with revolution and cigarettes; VPN is a focus for nerd shit; inherently not French.

  • Ledericas@lemm.ee
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    8 days ago

    pornhub is so sanitized now, im guessing its mostly because of the OF videos. most of them are on sites that arnt affiliated with PH.

  • njordomir@lemmy.world
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    7 days ago

    I hate how VPN access is the scaffolding holding the building up making things look normal. You can visit all your normal web sites, you can bypass georestrictions, you can be a little less tracked than you might otherwise be. But what happens when they decide to do away with that scaffolding and we all find out they tore down the house behind it while we were enjoying “normalcy”. Too much of making the web functional depends on vpns and adblocking. We shouldn’t have to do this stuff and Chromes adblocking scandle should impact millions of users all around the world unilaterally removing adblocking from the web. I fear for the day we have a US only internet and a global internet, not just on paper, but in actual practice.

  • WarlordSdocy@lemmy.zip
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    9 days ago

    I mean for context with the TikTok comparison using a VPN didn’t get you around the TikTok ban unless you also made an entirely new account.

  • Etterra@discuss.online
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    9 days ago

    Anyone with more than two brain cells to click together could have told them this would happen. Some of them did. Not that they would/did listen.

    • IceFoxX@lemmy.world
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      8 days ago

      Ah yes, chat control, the crackdown on encryption, backdoors, etc., all forgotten? So now thousands of French people are deliberately using VPNs for something that is now illegal. Well, the politicians won’t take advantage of this to take action against VPNs and encryption… To protect the children, of course…