The biggest question is: why now? What would possess the UK Government to follow in the footsteps of autocratic nations with a pretty detailed history of doing dodgy things on the internet? Well, of course, the answer ultimately falls down to the same thread that has dogged every political development over the past year: trying to uphold the ‘Strong and Stable’ party image, despite continued demonstrations of ignorance and incompetence.

Oddly enough, most internet users don’t like being treated as criminals. And, as those who value secure communications – lobbyists, journalists, lawyers to name a few – harkened Mrs. May’s bill to authoritarian powers in – you guessed it – China, information about VPN services began to spread like wildfire. In fact, according to Google trends, interest in VPNs has doubled since the act was granted Royal Assent in late 2016. Despite now-Home Secretary Amber Rudd’s claim that the bill was “world-leading legislation that provides unprecedented transparency and substantial privacy protection,” it pushed the average internet users into the same realm occupied by Russian and Chinese users only a few years ago: a brave new world of top down transparency where the private lives of citizens become public property, while the ruling elite’s remain private.

Because we have the luxury of living in a country that not only criticises politicians, but delights in their scandals and downfalls, it’s easy to dismiss the actions in China and Russia as the quaint idiosyncrasies of foreign governments. Who cares that people can’t send that rainbow Putin meme in Russia when I can tweet out a link to Theresa May’s worst facial expressions of 2017?

Well, if you want a more up to date example to demonstrate just how valuable encrypted VPN systems can be to citizens of a democratic nation, just ask the members of the now-exiled Catalonian Government. During what should have been a peaceful (if technically illegal) vote on 1 October, the supposedly democratic Spanish Government tasked ISPs with blacklisting pro-independence websites, at the same time as pro-independence Catalonians were subject to the same police pushback that you’d expect to see during a prison riot.

Faced with an unmovable object in the ruling government, the digitally minded began to mobilise in a different way – using digital tools. By routing smartphones through VPNs, polling station volunteers created secure data networks to communicate without access to the open (and traceable) internet. This gave voters a lifeline to access information without exposing themselves to surveillance forces. That covert operation, however power-to-the-people it may be, has exposed a big gaping weakness in state control. Namely, that there are ways around current regulation that undermine the changes that politicians have introduced. For now, that might not be enough motivation for lawmakers in the UK to clampdown on unregistered platforms, but if enough users start to employ them to bypass surveillance and censorship laws, you can bet your life that those systems will become a target.

In the run-up to the election in June, the Conservative Government made it very clear that any technology that offers internet users, “somewhere to hide” (as Amber Rudd so misguidedly put it) was a target for further regulation. Granted she was talking about terrorists at the time, but realistically, any attempt to undermine encryption platforms, including VPNs, immediately incriminates all users, law abiding or nefarious. On the slippery slope towards a Great British Firewall, VPNs are a pretty obvious target. Much in the same way that China has moved to block services that are not registered with authorities, banning access to foreign-based VPN services is a logical move for a government looking to solidify its power in a digital age. To complete her masterpiece of a surveillance state, Theresa May needs tech companies to fall into place, giving her unlimited access to the user information of her subjects. And if the crackdown in China has proven anything, it’s that tech companies, despite all airs and graces about privacy, will bow to political pressure.