I logged into my Wikipedia account to find a message saying I have been blocked from editing, even though I have never edited an article, nor am I a business or government. The only change is that I started using OpenVPN. From what I can tell, my IP address falls within a range they do not allow. If this is the case we have a lot to worry about.

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I submitted a ticket and received a response about ten minutes after, which is impressive. I am blocked “not for using a VPN” but for having a link to this site in the about me section of my profile. Perhaps I could understand that, for there is no way for me to prove that I am the only entity behind my site, though I would still argue this is wrong-headed. What really struck me is the paragraph that followed, explaining that a user cannot edit while using a VPN. To argue this is necessary because undesirable actors (governments, corporations, malicious agents) also use VPNs is chilling. It betrays a fundamental lack of logic, without which privacy (and freedom) is impossible.