they don’t allow VPNs

Most likely to reduce the risk of ban-evading cheaters/griefers. Plus that most people usually avoid using a VPN when playing such games, due to the risk of increased latency.

For some reason, my steam ID wasn’t banned.

All of these plugins initiate only an IP ban, so the person is able to rejoin with their “real” IP address.

But you’ve actually tried asking for your Steam ID to be whitelisted? Shame that their admins don’t know how to/don’t want to do it.

Why not ask the server admin to whitelist your Steam ID? If you’re apparently a “regular” and don’t cause problems, I don’t see why they wouldn’t whitelist you.

2022…

It must be annoying to remove their mobile antennas though? It seems like most new cars have built-in connectivity.

You’re usually not supposed to interact with the screen either when driving, and it’s easier to put your hand back on the wheel when the screen is mounded instead of dropping your phone… but I get what you mean.

I don’t know all the numbers, but the point isn’t to make money from people paying for API access, but to force people to use their official applications – which meets their goals of farming more data/advertising money/engagement/whatever.

the blank cheques being handed out wastefully

What blank cheques exactly?

And I’m not sure how you do it down in oz, but in most other countries, the government creates budgets for each agency, and those agencies then decide how to allocate their funds. If the government thinks that some agency is wasting too much money, they reduce their budget. There’s not supposed to be a king who decides all that on a whim.

And how many “blank cheques” to the defense industry have been investigated? Surprise, because it’s not about cutting “wasteful spending”.

As I understand it, the “UK GDPR” is basically the same thing as the EU’s GDPR. They need to maintain “adequacy” to continue to comply with the UK’s laws and guidelines, so they can’t simply block all non-UK traffic.