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New Zealand ISP Offers "Global Mode" So Users Can Circumvent Geo-Restrictions
An anonymous reader writes "Many content sites restrict access from different markets or have variable pricing for downloads in different markets. New Zealand-based ISP Slingshot is now offering a 'global mode' that lets customers hide their location. This means they can access overseas online services that would normally be restricted to specific markets."
Seems like (N/U)SA needs to go there and free the shit out of them from that regime whatever they have. Do they also have oil?
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There are no borders in the Internet. End of story.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=dddAi8FF3F4#t=10s
Another ISP in NZ was doing it first before pulling the plug recently this year.
Sound great. Wish my ISP had the same. All this 'free market' is bullshit when it's perverted with artificial region restrictions. Here's the REALITY of it straight out of my inbox:
Some times even if you can actually buy the product, you can't use it because there are further region checks down the line (e.g steam refusing out-of-region keys).
Belief is the currency of delusion.
Is it some proxy? Is it a weirdly labeled block of IPv4 addresses? Is it some DNS level trickery?
It takes a man to suffer ignorance and smile
Be yourself no matter what they say
Until they straighten out their misfeasance in the Kim Dotcom saga I have no business in NZ. AFAIK they are still an arm of the US DOJ.
Help stamp out iliturcy.
They are obviously promoting PIRACY, because paying the copyright-holder's requested price (possibly zero) to converse in one region while you're in a different region is blatantly THEFT.
Theft theft theft theft stealing theft theft theft burglary theft theft theft larceny theft theft rape theft.
-
- - You can't take something off the Internet! That's like trying to take pee out of a swimming pool.
So how long until the sites that do this just change it to "If you aren't from country xyz or if you have your geo blocked you can't view this page?
It would be most useful to avoid worse-than-Google translations being forced down my throat.
But I hate that it seems like a plan to make NAT look good.
In NZ the Commerce Commission has long held that region encoding is illegal under NZ law. What that effectively means is that when you buy a DVD player in NZ it is already chipped by the manufacturer to play any region, and you can buy DVD's from any region and play them completely legally. Basically it's a necessary move by a country so small that we have to ride the coat-tails of other countries for content distribution.
http://hotair.com/archives/2013/06/27/hollywood-hey-this-obamacare-thing-is-going-to-be-pretty-costly-and-complicated-for-us/
Three letters have been giving the payroll-services industry fits for several months now: ACA. That’s the semi-acronym for the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, better known as Obamacare, and it’s up to the payroll industry — which cuts checks to production workers and offers related financial services to TV and film studios — to help educate its clients on the rules before a good portion of the law kicks in Jan. 1.
“It’s a morass of regulations and requirements, and everyone’s trying to figure out what their exposure is,” says Eric Belcher, president and CEO of Cast & Crew Entertainment Services. Adds Mark Goldstein, CEO of Entertainment Partners, which has held 16 seminars to help studios understand ACA: “It’s going to be a very big deal.”
Determining the exact nature of the new laws has been difficult, given that many ACA terms have yet to be worked out. Hollywood productions, for instance, might find it irksome simply trying to categorize employees as full- or part-time, seasonal or variable, and it’s important that they get the classifications right lest they face hefty fines. “ACA is thousands of pages, and it wasn’t written with this industry in mind,” says Belcher.
In fairness, who could have possibly guessed that a top-down solution from Washington and thousands of pages of regulations would cause problems for businesses with unorthodox work schedules, scads of part-time, contract, union and non-union employees from different fields, and the need for flexibility?
So, what’s Hollywood doing about this problem? Gamely making sure they help the president live up to every unfounded promise he made, right? No, they’re acting rationally and pondering such strategies as, “running to foreign countries, given that ACA doesn’t apply to U.S. citizens working abroad.”
Trying to figure out if they can wrap productions within 90 days before the Obamacare coverage requirement kicks in:
Some also say the number of production days in the U.S. are likely to be cut due to ACA because there’s a 90-day waiting period before productions must either pay a penalty or offer health insurance to full-time workers. That rule provides big incentives for a production to wrap in less than three months.
And, wondering if they can minimize their overhead by employing as few full-time workers as possible:
Payroll firm Entertainment Partners has authored a 39-page report that includes 81 frequently asked questions. FAQ No. 7, for example, contains the seven steps to determine whether or not a production employs 50 full-time workers, which would trigger an “employer mandate” for health coverage. In a nutshell, if you’ve got about 40 employees who work 130 hours a month and an additional 20 who work 65 hours monthly, you’re probably subject to the mandate.
I have a feeling this is headed the direction of the New York gun-control legislation, which found a surprising, hilariously hypocritical critic after its passage— in Hollywood:
ALBANY — The sweeping gun control measure signed by Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo and hailed by Democratic leaders has a surprising critic: Hollywood.
Officials in the movie and television industry say the new laws could prevent them from using the lifelike assault weapons and high-capacity magazines that they have employed in shows like “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit” and films like “The Dark Knight Rises.”
Twenty-seven film and television projects, including programs like “Blue Bloods
absolutely nothing wrong about that. big deal. no different than if someone set up a cheap vps to proxy their own traffic... just an easier way to access a similar setup. neither the isp, nor their customers, should NOT come under any sort of fire or scrutiny for this service.
It's really frustrating when I can't legally purchase an audio book because of my physical location. I think audible.com and audible.co.uk use credit card numbers and credit card billing addresses in addition to IP addresses so the fascist publishers won't be fooled by this sort of thing unfortunately.
Quite an experience to live in fear, isn't it? That's what it is to be a slave.
Leading the world again.
I'm currently on international travel and can't get Netflix in the hotel I'm at, even though I've been a valid paying US customer for over 7 years. "Netflix is not available in your location". Found a VPN proxy solution which works for a nominal fee per month. Glad to see an ISP offering a new feature directly to their customers, rather than pocketing it.
I'm in.
In SOVIET RUSSIA... erm...NSA AMERICA, the Internet logs onto YOU!
But how am I to get the correct geo-coded ads? I'll be disappointed when the ad says "Meet single ladies in $fakeregion," if $fakeregion isn't where I'm sitting.
yes truly - for example I can't get the Daily Show here (in NZ) on cable or satellite ... but it's region blocked so I can't play it on their web site either - apparently the US thinks some things are just too funny, or maybe too close to the bone, for us to see
So, you're going to help them commit a 'crime' by circumventing the TOS of a site which says you're not allowed to access it?
I fully expect a trade delegation to make their displeasure known ... you can't have Kiwis buying songs only intended for Americans or not paying the jacked up prices they expect to receive.
They may have to push for regime change. ;-)
Lost at C:>. Found at C.
There are a LOT of people in Canada that use proxies to connect to Netflix as if using a US account. This is simply because the Canadian version of Netflix sucks! Another one that gets me is that you can not use iHeart Radio in Canada either (without using a proxi). This is even though that I can pick up a lot of the stations from where I live especially at night time.
That's how the internet is supposed to work. It's the INTERnet, not the localnet.
Twinstiq, game news
I've lived in NZ and hope to return to living there at some point. I'm from the UK. ;) ).
One thing I missed while living there was the BBC iPlayer service (or maybe not
If I had an ISP in NZ who could give me a UK IP Address I'd be laughing all the way to my TV/Laptop.
I'm sure there's other reasons why you might want to cover up your from NZ (Mr Dotcom!) but this is the best one I can think of.
these guys join Kim Dotcom? It's USSA jurisdiction after all.
Getting rid of all regioning online is the only way to level the playing field. Play globally or GTFO. Shitty how companies can use it for lower production costs but consumers can't do the same to save money (specifically referring to movies and video games, but it effects a lot more than that).
With the rest being an arm of Wall Street.
Oo, two arms. But why can't I see them?
Ah, yes, they appear to both be stuck up th...
..... never mind. That's just not right.
"What in the name of Fats Waller is that?"
"A four-foot prune."
The post should be talking about spoofing a location. Many "services" won't work unless they know your location. Having a hidden location doesn't work.
work in progress
A year ago, another small NZ ISP (FYX) had the same thing, but then they closed it after a very short time - http://www.gizmodo.com.au/2012/05/after-just-two-days-nz-isp-shuts-down-its-region-skipping-global-mode/
Founder & COO, Hayai India (hayai.in) / USA (hayaibroadband.com)