Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Hulu Blocks International Access Via Witopia

Posted by timothy on from the secretly-to-increase-american-tourism dept.

An anonymous reader notes, and excerpts from, an article at PC Authority: "It's human nature that people always want what they can't have — which is why there's so much interest around the world in accessing the US-only Hulu site. Hulu offers a range of television shows for streaming, including Family Guy, The Daily Show and House along with a few full length movies. ... If you're outside the US, the easiest method for accessing Hulu that many people are discussing online, is using a US-based VPN, which tricks Hulu into thinking their computer is within the US. Initially Hulu started cracking down on free VPN services such as Hotspot Shield, but now it's turned its attention to Witopia — which costs $40 or $US60 per year but offers a faster, more secure and more reliable service than its free competitors. Initially Witopia's LA gateway remained unaffected, but now Hulu has blocked this as well."

5 of 256 comments (clear)

  1. Re:"But if you don't want our money, fine" by TheWizardTim · · Score: 4, Interesting

    What about just advertising the brand? If IP = US ad for McDonald's new heart attack burger. If IP != US, then just a general ad for McDonalds.

    Or you can advertise products that people would never buy. For example, on CNN I see ads for Boeing all the time. I am not in the market for a new 787, and I bet that 99.9999996% of the viewers are not as well.

  2. Re:How it probably works... by calmofthestorm · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Ads can be targetted based on IP. If your IP isn't hidden behind a VPN, that is.

    I'm starting to wonder when the content industry will realize that their competition in the form of piracy is higher quality, free, and easier to use.

    --
    93rd rule of Slashdot: No matter how obvious my sarcasm is, my comment will be taken seriously by someone.
  3. Re:Dear content producers... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I don't understand how "region coding" and "region blocking" has survived this long. It is *inherently* anti-globalization and is probably the poster child example of how "globalization" is really a crock of shit designed only to benefit multi-national corporations and NOT the consumer.

  4. More complex than that by ProfMobius · · Score: 3, Interesting
    The overall problem is more complex than just a ad problem. In many European countries, the shows have to legally be dubbed (France, Germany, Spain) or at least subbed (Danmark, Sweden). So, if they diffuse them oversea, they are making themself fool of the law. I don't know for internet if the applied law if the law of the served country or the serving country, but in all cases, it is a more complex problem than just "do it".

    On a side note, I find totally rubbish the laws about forcing dubbing and subbing, and if Hulu was available in France/Germany, I would use it instead of tpb. But right now I don't have a choice, and it just piss me off.

    --
    EULA : By reading the above message, you agree that I now own your soul.
  5. SOCKS proxy to USA VPS doesn't work for me by thatkid_2002 · · Score: 3, Interesting

    A few weeks back I purchased a VPS server for the purpose of watching Hulu. I tunneled all my traffic by using SOCKS and many services clearly thought I was in the USA except Hulu.

    Hulu seems to be doing client side checks, checking your Locale/time settings I suspect.

    I am in Brisbane, QLD, Australia and I belive my VPS was in a Houston datacenter in Texas USA.