Before the internet, I don’t think foreign press critical of your country’s government, especially if it’s an authoritarian country, would’ve been permitted.

You’d find this on Shortwave radio. Without going into the science of it, with a Shortwave radio, you could hear news reports from the other side of the planet. I could easily regularly turn in the BBC when I was on the other side of the Atlantic.

But I think getting a VPN is far easier than smuggling foreign books and newspapers, and word-of-mouth news is just a long telephone game.

The danger on this front is today’s surveillance society. If you had managed to smuggle in books or newspapers into your home, the only way they would have been found is if law enforcement would have entered your home and searched it enough. Today, even with your VPN, a zero-day exploit or DNS hijack could let them watch in real-time everything you’re doing without even tipping you off.