Technologies

‘Leave VPNs Alone’: Thursday’s Day of Action Against Possible VPN Bans

An anti-censorship and surveillance group urges action to defend the right to privacy and prevent VPNs from being banned.

«Leave VPNs alone.» That’s the plea from anti-online censorship and surveillance group Fight for the Future, which designated Thursday as a VPN Day of Action, to press lawmakers not to ban virtual private networks.

The group of activists, artists, engineers and technologists is asking people to sign an open letter encouraging politicians to preserve the existence of VPNs and «defend privacy and to access knowledge and information online.» VPNs encrypt internet connections and can hide your physical location.

Joining the action on Thursday was the VPN Trust Initiative — comprised of NordVPN, Surfshark and ExpressVPN — and the VPN Guild, which includes Amnezia VPN.

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The open letter refers to recent «age-verification» laws propelling legislative moves to ban or restrict VPN usage. Such measures would lead to increased online surveillance and censorship, which «has a huge chilling effect on our freedoms, particularly the freedoms of traditionally marginalized people,» the letter notes.

Lia Holland, Fight for the Future’s campaigns and communication director, said VPNs are vital for «people living under authoritarian regimes» to avoid censorship and surveillance, and have become an essential tool in exercising basic human rights.

More from CNET: Welcome to the Era of Online Age Verification. Are You Ready to Identify Yourself?

Half of all US states have passed age-verification laws requiring internet users to prove their age with government-issued IDs, credit card checks and other methods. The laws have spurred consumers to sign up for VPNs to avoid giving out sensitive information, with one recent VPN sign-up spike in the UK.

Michigan is considering a bill banning adult content online and VPNs. If it becomes law, Michigan would be the first US state to ban VPNs. Many countries, including China, India and Iran, already ban or heavily restrict VPNs.

«Amid a moral panic, ignorant ‘save-the-children’ politicians are getting very close to kicking the hornet’s nest of millions of people who know how important VPNs are,» Holland said.

Could a VPN ban happen?

Banning VPNs would be «difficult,» according to attorney Mario Trujillo of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, an international digital rights group.

Trujillo told CNET that VPNs are best for routing your network connection through a different network. «They can be used to help avoid censorship, but they are also used by employees in every sector to connect to their company’s network,» he said. «That is a practical reality that would make any ban difficult.»

Trujillo added that the US lags behind the rest of the world in privacy regulation, and that lawmakers should focus more on privacy than VPN bans.

More from CNET: Our Top VPNs — It’s a Tight Race | Why You Need a VPN

Fight for the Future identifies local lawmakers and provides templates for contacting them. This information is on the same page as the open letter.

Technologies

Today’s NYT Connections Hints, Answers and Help for Nov. 16, #889

Here are some hints — and the answers — for the NYT Connections puzzle for Nov. 16, #889.

Looking for the most recent Connections answers? Click here for today’s Connections hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Mini Crossword, Wordle, Connections: Sports Edition and Strands puzzles.

Today’s NYT Connections puzzle is a fun one. As a pop-culture junkie and game lover, I enjoyed the purple category. If you need help sorting the answers into groups, you’re in the right place. Read on for clues and today’s Connections answers.

The Times now has a Connections Bot, like the one for Wordle. Go there after you play to receive a numeric score and to have the program analyze your answers. Players who are registered with the Times Games section can now nerd out by following their progress, including the number of puzzles completed, win rate, number of times they nabbed a perfect score and their win streak.

Read more: Hints, Tips and Strategies to Help You Win at NYT Connections Every Time

Hints for today’s Connections groups

Here are four hints for the groupings in today’s Connections puzzle, ranked from the easiest yellow group to the tough (and sometimes bizarre) purple group.

Yellow group hint: Different strokes for different folks.

Green group hint: Ho-hum.

Blue group hint: Flags often qualify.

Purple group hint: Do not pass Go.

Answers for today’s Connections groups

Yellow group: Technique.

Green group: Run-of-the-mill.

Blue group: Stripy things.

Purple group: Words on Monopoly squares.

Read more: Wordle Cheat Sheet: Here Are the Most Popular Letters Used in English Words

What are today’s Connections answers?

The yellow words in today’s Connections

The theme is technique. The four answers are approach, method, philosophy and school.

The green words in today’s Connections

The theme is run-of-the-mill. The four answers are banal, everday, humdrum and pedestrian.

The blue words in today’s Connections

The theme is stripy things.The four answers are barcode, IBM logo, rugby shirt and zebra.

The purple words in today’s Connections

The theme is words on Monopoly squares. The four answers are avenue, parking, railroad and tax.

Technologies

Today’s NYT Strands Hints, Answers and Help for Nov. 16 #623

Here are hints — and answers — for the NYT Strands puzzle for Nov. 16, No. 623.

Looking for the most recent Strands answer? Click here for our daily Strands hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Mini Crossword, Wordle, Connections and Connections: Sports Edition puzzles.

Today’s NYT Strands puzzle is tough. It’s a weird theme, and some of the answers are difficult to unscramble, so if you need hints and answers, read on.

I go into depth about the rules for Strands in this story.

If you’re looking for today’s Wordle, Connections and Mini Crossword answers, you can visit CNET’s NYT puzzle hints page.

Read more: NYT Connections Turns 1: These Are the 5 Toughest Puzzles So Far

Hint for today’s Strands puzzle

Today’s Strands theme is: Around it goes.

If that doesn’t help you, here’s a clue: They’re often on a roll.

Clue words to unlock in-game hints

Your goal is to find hidden words that fit the puzzle’s theme. If you’re stuck, find any words you can. Every time you find three words of four letters or more, Strands will reveal one of the theme words. These are the words I used to get those hints but any words of four or more letters that you find will work:

CARE, SCARE, CRASS, SWAT, PELL, HELL, SCAR, HALT, STENT, HALTS, TENT, POLL, LOTS

Answers for today’s Strands puzzle

These are the answers that tie into the theme. The goal of the puzzle is to find them all, including the spangram, a theme word that reaches from one side of the puzzle to the other. When you have all of them (I originally thought there were always eight but learned that the number can vary), every letter on the board will be used. Here are the nonspangram answers:

FOIL, SCARF, SHAWL, STOLE, FLATBREAD, CELLOPHANE

Today’s Strands spangram

Today’s Strands spangram is THATSAWRAP. To find it, start with the T that’s three letters up from the bottom of the far-left row, and wind down, over and then up.