Wisconsin: Lawmakers Want to Ban VPNs--And They Have No Idea What They're Doing

[Eugene]

Source: Electronic Frontier Foundation

Lawmakers Want to Ban VPNs—And They Have No Idea What They're Doing

By Rindala Alajaji November 13, 2025

Remember when you thought age verification laws couldn't get any worse? Well, lawmakers in Wisconsin, Michigan, and beyond are about to blow you away.

It's unfortunately no longer enough to force websites to check your government-issued ID before you can access certain content, because politicians have now discovered that people are using Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) to protect their privacy and bypass these invasive laws. Their solution? Entirely ban the use of VPNs.

Yes, really.

As of this writing, Wisconsin lawmakers are escalating their war on privacy by targeting VPNs in the name of “protecting children” in A.B. 105/S.B. 130. It’s an age verification bill that requires all websites distributing material that could conceivably be deemed “sexual content” to both implement an age verification system and also to block the access of users connected via VPN. The bill seeks to broadly expand the definition of materials that are “harmful to minors” beyond the type of speech that states can prohibit minors from accessing—potentially encompassing things like depictions and discussions of human anatomy, sexuality, and reproduction.

This follows a notable pattern: As we’ve explained previously, lawmakers, prosecutors, and activists in conservative states have worked for years to aggressively expand the definition of “harmful to minors” to censor a broad swath of content: diverse educational materials, sex education resources, art, and even award-winning literature.

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

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Related: AB 105/SB 130: Internet Age Verification (ACLU Wisconsin: opposes)

[gay texan]

1. How would that even work?

[Eugene]

2. Start by combining a UK-style Online Safety Act with Project 2025's definition of "harmful content."

Not only demand that all potentially "harmful" sites require government IDs under penalty of substantial fines, but also require them to blacklist known VPN IP addresses. Sites affected by the UK act include Wikipedia (which sued and lost), Spotify, Reddit and 4chan (UK is trying to fine them).
The UK also forbids website operators from even recommending VPNs.

In addition to the known IP blocks, a really stupid government might compel deep packet inspection or AI-driven analysis to sniff out suspected VPN traffic. Then there's Russia, where VPN use counts as an aggravating factor in criminal access to forbidden sites.

Don't rule out going full authoritarian and block non-compliant sites at the ISP level.