I was at the library in Portland and saw a kid get his phone taken for using a VPN

It was last Tuesday, and I was using a computer near the teen section. A librarian came over and told a boy, 'The school filter blocks those for a reason.' She made him close the app and hand over his phone for the rest of his study period. It hit me that for him, a simple privacy tool was seen as a threat, not a right. Has anyone else seen schools treat basic encryption like it's something bad?

3 comments

3 Comments

stone.jesse1d ago

loganburns said it's usually just for watching YouTube but I read a report last month from the Electronic Frontier Foundation that said schools are blocking VPNs way more than they admit, often affecting things like students accessing mental health resources. If that kid was just trying to read something private or look up a health question, the librarian's reaction seems pretty heavy-handed. It makes you wonder how often this happens without anyone noticing.

loganburns1mo ago

Honestly, it sounds like the kid was just trying to get around the school's internet rules, not make some big stand for privacy. If it was a school device or network, they have every right to stop that. Calling a VPN a "basic privacy tool" in that setting feels like a stretch, lol. It's usually just for watching YouTube or whatever during class.

the_tessa1mo ago

Wait, was this at a public library or a school library? That's a big difference. A public library shouldn't be enforcing a school's filter rules on a personal device. If it was a school library, they're probably just following their own internet policy for students.