u/Ok-Cause-1639

If you’re outside your home country during Wimbledon, you don’t necessarily have to miss it or pay for random shady streams.

Most national broadcasters (like BBC iPlayer in the UK or other local sports platforms like 9Now in Australia) are geo-blocked, but they still work normally with a VPN.

Just connect your VPN (I personally use Proton VPN), and chose the right location
- UK if you want to watch it on BBC iPlayer
- AU if you want to watch it on 9Now

It’s the simplest way to keep your regular coverage, commentary, and even replays without hunting for unreliable links.

Works especially well if you’re abroad for work, holidays, or studying.

I feel like split tunneling is one of those VPN features almost nobody talks about until they actually start using it… and then suddenly they can’t live without it.

For anyone who doesn’t know, it basically lets you choose which apps go through the VPN and which ones use your normal connection. And honestly, it solves so many annoying VPN problems.

For example, I’ll keep my browser and torrent client behind the VPN, but leave stuff like banking apps, food delivery, local streaming, or certain games outside of it. No more CAPTCHAs every 10 minutes, no random login flags, and no weird latency issues everywhere. It also makes VPNs feel way less “all or nothing.”

I think a lot of people try a VPN once, see slower speeds or broken apps, then give up completely because they don’t realize you can route traffic selectively.

Another underrated use case: work.
I know people who keep company tools outside the VPN while routing personal browsing through encrypted servers. Or they’ll use the VPN only for geo-restricted content while everything else stays local for speed.

Honestly, this feature matters way more to me than whether a provider has “10,000 servers in 120 countries” or whatever marketing stat they’re flexing now. The weird part is that some VPNs still don’t support split tunneling properly on all platforms, especially on macOS where it can still be messy depending on the provider.

Just read that several online safety and civil liberties groups are now criticizing the KIDS Act, which is pretty surprising considering the whole bill is being presented as a way to “protect kids online.”

The backlash doesn’t seem to come from people opposing child safety itself. Most people agree platforms should do more for younger users. The concern is more about what happens when governments force platforms to legally prevent “harmful content.”

A lot of critics think this could push platforms toward heavier censorship, stronger age verification systems, and more user data collection just to avoid legal risk. And every time platforms are pressured to moderate more aggressively, they usually overcorrect because it’s safer for them to remove too much than too little.

People are also worried this would mostly hurt privacy, anonymity, and smaller platforms, while giant companies like Meta or Google would adapt easily because they already have massive moderation and compliance teams.

Meanwhile, teenagers will probably still bypass restrictions with VPNs, alternate accounts, or different apps in five minutes anyway.

That’s why the debate around the KIDS Act is becoming much bigger than just “keeping kids safe online.” A lot of people see it turning into another broader fight about privacy, censorship, and who controls the internet.

Armenian telecom and cybersecurity experts are warning that discussions around tighter internet control and monitoring could end up having the exact opposite effect authorities expect: pushing more people toward VPNs.

There are concerns about surveillance and online restrictions grow, regular users are becoming much more aware of privacy tools. What used to be something mainly used by tech-savvy people is slowly turning into a mainstream habit. Once people start feeling like their internet activity is being watched or filtered, they naturally start looking for ways to protect themselves or bypass restrictions.

What’s interesting is that this pattern has already happened in multiple countries. The moment governments talk about stricter internet regulations, VPN downloads spike almost instantly. People who never cared about online privacy suddenly begin learning about encryption, tracking, and censorship bypass tools. In many cases, the restrictions themselves end up acting like free advertising for VPN services.

The experts also point out that if users increasingly move toward foreign VPN providers, enforcement becomes extremely difficult unless a country is willing to build massive censorship infrastructure similar to China’s firewall system. And realistically, most countries are nowhere near capable of doing that effectively.

Feels like we’re entering an era where attempts to control the internet are simply accelerating VPN adoption worldwide.

As a French guy living in Spain, I just wanna say thank you to Spanish people for actually picking up after your dogs
Back in France, walking outside sometimes feels like playing a real-life minefield game. You spend half your time looking at the ground trying not to step on dog shit.
Meanwhile in Spain, I can actually walk while looking ahead like a normal human being.
Small thing, huge quality of life upgrade. Respect