Authoritarianism doesn't happen overnight. Much like the decline and decay of civilization itself, manifesting in crumbling roads, leaking school roofs, and the impossibility of seeing your doctor, it creeps up on you step by step, until you suddenly realize that you can't go online without scanning your passport and the jackbooted Labour party apparatchiks are kicking down your door. VPN use is in many cases a life or death matter. At the very least, in free societies, it's a matter of personal choice (or often mandated by work). Banning VPNs is not a solution to the problem the government claims it's trying to solve; not least because by now none of us believe they're trying to solve anything. They want to control us, not to help us. And we will not be controlled.