The discussion highlights a deepening push within UK legislation to merge digital identity checks with online participation. While described as safeguarding children, the changes embed a new layer of identity verification across tools once used for privacy, such as VPNs. These services, designed to conceal personal browsing data and protect against profiling, would now face obligations to verify who their users are. This is a contradiction that could erode one of the few remaining shields for private internet use. For now, the most invasive surveillance measure, client-side scanning, has been set aside. However, the fact that it was seriously considered indicates continuing interest in embedding scanning mechanisms directly into personal devices.