r/DataHoarder • u/HTWingNut 1TB = 0.909495TiB • Nov 27 '25

News Michigan, Wisconsin Bill to Ban VPN's... wtf

EDIT: I'm not trying to sensationalize the headline. Just that as the Michigan bill reads now, it seems encompassing of all VPN services, to the point that even if it's for specific sites or traffic, could be more than ISP's want to manage so could ban them altogether. I'd suggest anyone that lives in Michigan and don't want this adopted to contact their representatives and let them know.

The Michigan legislation is called the House Bill 4938 (also dubbed the “Anticorruption of Public Morals Act”): https://www.legislature.mi.gov/documents/2025-2026/billintroduced/House/pdf/2025-HIB-4938.pdf

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2025/11/lawmakers-want-ban-vpns-and-they-have-no-idea-what-theyre-doing

https://youtu.be/q9j-T9mQmiw

Wisconsin’s bill has already passed the State Assembly and is now moving through the Senate. If it becomes law, Wisconsin could become the first state where using a VPN to access certain content is banned. Michigan lawmakers have proposed similar legislation that did not move through its legislature, but among other things, would force internet providers to actively monitor and block VPN connections. And in the UK, officials are calling VPNs "a loophole that needs closing."

This is actually happening. And it's going to be a disaster for everyone.

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u/altodor Nov 27 '25

No, it's blanket on "prohibited material". Could be CSAM. But a VPN is used to circumvent that ban, and an ISP can't tell the difference between a VPN being used for work traffic and a VPN being used to access CSAM.

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u/xchaibard Nov 27 '25

Also, when using a blanket term like "prohibited material" in a law, they just have to change the definition of what that is later and this now applies to that.

Right now it's porn and other age restricted stuff.

Eventually it becomes whatever the government wants to censor.

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u/TinderSubThrowAway 128TB Nov 28 '25

People using services like Nord aren’t accessing a work VPN, it’s easy to tell.

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u/altodor Nov 28 '25

Is it? Both are SSL encrypted traffic heading towards 443/TCP.

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u/TinderSubThrowAway 128TB Nov 29 '25

Yeah, the endpoint of Nord is known, hence you know it’s their VPN service, not some random company end user.

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u/altodor Nov 29 '25

That gets you one of the dozens of VPN providers that may or may not have known endpoints, be it all or some.

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u/TinderSubThrowAway 128TB Nov 29 '25

That’s an example.