A large number of web services are geographically restricted, such as Hulu, Pandora and Spotify. The reasons are usually to do with content licensing restrictions, or because US visitors (or visitors from other advanced economies) are of a higher value from a monetization perspective. A web application can only guess at the location of a visitor based on an IP address and other information, such as browser language and regional settings.
IP addresses are mapped to countries (and in some instances, further to states and cities) using large commercial datasets such as GeoIP from Maxmind, which is a ‘best guess’ database based on data it has collected (how, I would rather not know). The system is accurate enough to enable services to block on a country level, but often fail at a more local level.
But the nature of the web means that geographically restricting web services is next to impossible, because those who are technically adept have known how to find and use proxy servers (both open and private) and VPN services to masquerade as being from another country.
The demand for such services has become so popular that more apps are being released that make this process almost as easy as installing any other application – one-click VPN/Proxy install and then pick a country you want to be surfing from (default USA). Even better, there are now VPN solutions available for free – some of which are outright free, others which are ad supported.
If you find yourself outside of the USA and wanting to watch Hulu, outside of the UK and wanting to checkout the BBC, or wanting to rig a web poll, here are some tips:
Proxy Servers
Easy to find, easy to setup. Some sites have become smart enough now to check if the IP address you are coming in from is an open proxy server and will attempt to deny it – but this is most often the easiest solution. The key is to find an open proxy server that everybody else, or even worse, Eastern European crime syndicates, are also not using.
The best source if you are a blogger is to check your spam comments. Most of those IP addresses will not only be open proxy servers (you just have to work out the port – or if you host your own blog, start logging the port), but will be virgin proxy servers.
Otherwise there are a ton of lists available online, often updated each minute, as well as services where you can test your proxy.
FoxyProxy is a Firefox plugin that allows you to easily switch between proxy servers (many Chinese web users are very familiar with having to juggle proxy servers and use such plugins, or browsers that have similar features built-in)
VPN Servers
Similar to a proxy, except that a VPN is an encrypted link to a server that will route all of your network traffic (your computer, in effect, becomes part of the network).
FreeVPN – thefreevpn.com – A completely free VPN client and service for Windows machines. No ads, and a fast service. Not sure what the business model is, which is why I wouldn’t trust it with any personal or private information and restrict it to just movie watching or poll rigging. Best free VPN service and super easy to install (see review here)
Feeedur - www.freedur.com – A commercial VPN/anonymizing service that works well.
HotSpotShield – hotspotshield.com – Another free VPN service, but forces you to click on an ad. Working with Hulu again.
UltraVPN – www.ultravpn.fr – cross platform (OS X support). Both free and anonymous.
The Web Is Flat
Using a proxy or a VPN to bypass geographic restrictions or to preserve anonymity online has been known and used by more advanced users for years. More modern services and tools are making it easier for the average internet user to take advantage of the same techniques.
There are entire business models that depend on geographic targeting, so there is a constant cat-and-mouse game between providers of these services and those seeking to bypass the set restrictions. Those who are seeking to access content are winning though, and they will continue to win, as the very nature of the Internet and web make it near impossible to detect where somebody actually is if they refuse to let you know.
I’m a current Spotify Premium user and live in the US. I also have the app on the my iPhone, even though it’s not available in the US store.
All very easy to accomplish. Spoofing IPs and setting up a UK Paypal & iTunes account, I mean
Do tell on how to create the uk paypal account or where i can find out how that workes becouse that’s the only thing holding me back from spotify premium…
Don’t forget the DemocraKey. If you want to have anonymity and surf without worrying about spyware, check it out. It fits on a USB key and also encrypts your files.
“The very nature of the Internet and web make it near impossible to detect where somebody actually is if they refuse to let you know.”
Hulu et al will be content to avoid more Draconian measures for a long time because the solutions you recommend are still the domain of only a small percentage of technically savvy Internet users. Wonderful round-up of VPN tools nonetheless.
thats the thing – they are becoming so easy to install/use, esp the VPN stuff. its just download, install, run. I noticed how much easier it is because I have non-tech friends who have been asking me for years about how to get by these restrictions. That conversation used to involve talking about proxies, now its just ‘install this’ – which is *fantastic*
Pardon my late night cynicism, but if your friends didn’t have a high power tech blogger for a friend would they even know about VPN’s?
heh. spread the word!
With the recent anti-piracy laws and threats of privacy intrusion here in Sweden, the daily magazines and the biggest news websites are writing more and more about VPNs and anonymizing software. My mom has certainly read about all this stuff, and since it’s caught her attention, she could probably find and install some sort of software without spending too much time on it. It’s not gonna be long before just about everyone knows how to get more privacy and anonymity on the internet.
Hulu seems to recognise even VPN tools. (currently using HotSpotShield) They’re propably putting great effort on blocking every proxy IP address that shows on public lists.
What I don’t live in the USA.
Yeah this has been a long standing problem for those of us outside the US. Admittedly there are come great applications from the US.
But if the rest of the world cant get to them ….
as you mention, we often have the opposite problem here and can’t get into some services because we’re in the U.S. Spotify is the main example right now.
Who says you can’t? These VPN Services also allow you to get UK or French IP, thus allowing you to access Spotify(creating account and downloading their app).
I am saying this, because I have tested it personally. You can try out FreeVPN mentioned above(it is opensource, therefore free) or you can try out UltraVPN. It might not work now, perhaps because the companies are becoming equally clever, but worked a few months back.
PS… Check out the review of FreeVPN Nik mentioned in the post, You can see the screenshot showing option to connect to UK Server.
If you have an SSH shell account (through a VPS or a dedicated server, perhaps) you don’t need the above proxy or VPN solutions. Just do this at your local terminal (OS X or Linux):
ssh -D 8080 -N username@your.server
Then go into Firefox or your system proxy settings and set up 127.0.0.1:8080 as being a SOCKS proxy. Blam, all your traffic goes over the SSH tunnel and out into the world via your VPS/server/whatever.
By the way, there’s an OS X app that does all of this for called Meerkat: http://codesorcery.net/meerkat
I just use the Terminal but had this app recommended to me a few times. Might be better for some people – especially if you don’t live at the terminal
Socks tunnels won’t do the trick with Hulu tho unfortunately.
ye thats actually a good tip, and what I do. most people have SSH access somewhere and don’t even know it (ie. with email, blog, etc. hosting).
yu da man peter! brilliant tip!
And what’s the command for Windows?
Windows doesn’t have an ssh-client so the best solution is Putty. On the plus side you can store the forwarding-setting as a profile.
There are plenty tutorials for this, I’m not sure which one applies to the most recent version of Putty (interface changes)
http://www.goog...sh+socks+tunnel
wouldn’t it still matter where the ip address of the hosted server is. If the server is located in the US.. how does tunneling traffic through that server help ?
Yet, you won’t fool IP detection from Flash.
tor … http://en.wikip...mity_network%29
There is also “iPig”: http://www.iopus.com/ipig/
UltraVPN wasn’t much luck for me on my MacBook. For starters their client is well, nonexistent. Luckily I was able to use it with Viscosity without too much trouble.
And even after getting it all going and connecting to their OpenVPN server, Hulu wouldn’t work for me; they know I’m using an anonymising proxy.
Can you or someone explain why you would need to do all the Spotifying and other VPN stuff. What is the benefit?
http://vps.net
Like, $20, register and then follow this simple tutorial: http://vps.net/...bbc-com-iplayer
easy.
Just download and tires ultra vpn, Hulu still blocks it any help here
I hate it when web services assume you are from the US – for example, Mint – I set up an account and had to use 90210 as my zip. I can then access my PayPal account but not any of my Australia bank accounts.
There’s no obvious messages about this or info (there probably is if you dig for it) – bad usability IMHO…
the studios don’t get it at all, by restricting access to the shows outside the USA online all they do is build up the bootleg DVD market, I can buy a full season of any show for 60 pesos or $1.30 on DVD ripped right from someones Tivo in the USA that are sold right off the street in the Philippines China any where is Asia, if they want to make profits from international and you know the advertisers do then offer international downloads with local ads
Tried the free VPN’s do not work don’t bother going out now to buy 24 season 7 for $1.30 sorry Fox
What you say is very true. Of course I would never try to obtain any kind of media illegally;) But I would imagine that if one were to try and find a movie, TV show or mp3 and they were blocked for whatever reason then they would probably just download the torrent. I honestly don’t think that anyone is going to even try connect through a slow proxy server when they can just download anything they want for free and hassle free using a torrent.
Just because neither the article or the comments seem to mention this it is worth being aware that not all proxy server providers are there for the good of humanity.
It’s not that I think everyone is out to get you but using a proxy server means that you are passing your data through a third party.
A lot of people use the same passwords on low security sites that they use on their banking sites – the proxy can see this.
The proxy can even change your data – for instance doing the rounds of the blackhat SEO community is the idea of posting your own links in comments when your proxy using user tries to post theirs.
Thanks TechCrunch! I work at a US Navy base in Italy and it’s a daily bitchfest about how we can’t get a taste of home over here outside of the military TV station.
I need to implement this workaround for Hulu and YouTube because of the country restrictions!
If you use T-Mobile’s paid-for wifi hotspot service in London, Google identifies you as being in Germany and serves up all its pages in Deutsche.
It also means you can’t use the iPlayer without some kind of VPN, not that I’ve bothered to do so yet.
YES YES YES freevpn works on Hulu thank you again Tech crunch
Sorry Hotspot shield on OSX does NOT work for Hulu.
these things are a bit off and on – they have all worked at some point, but might require that you notify them that you are being blocked (they shift IP addresses all the time).
I used FreeVPN and Hulu works!!! I also tried the firefox add-on but didn’t work. Anyway, happy!
Ever since I moved back to Canada I have been trying to figure out how to get Hulu and others sites, I will know try freevpn. very exciting
i love it….
you guys are making it easy for things in the system to “break”… the growing use of “url shorteners”, the use of untrusted proxy servers.. great…
the same guys who would probably tell people not to do banking on a public system in a cafe…
this is why a solid education is critical when designing/understanding systems from a security aspect…
but hell, if i were to get into the illegal aspect of snatching data.. setting up a few 100 proxy servers, and then filtering data would be a solid efficient process to parse/extract data… why install a keylogger on a bunch of different systems.. if people are coming to me/my servers with live data!!!
peace..
FreeVPN shows a trojan:
http://www.viru...2fc2-1254649246
UltraVPN no longer works on Hulu.
You gotta think Hulu has a team of folks reading TechCrunch and immediately responding to stuff like this.
Anyone actually paying $5/mo to Freedur?
I am a paying for Freedur. Usually I wouldn’t, but Freedur is really something else that the $5/month is well worth it. It costs me a lot more wasting time on free proxies so for me it makes dollars and sense.
The headline of this post attracted my attention because in the e-commerce world where sellers are trying to attract buyers through the major marketplaces (ebay and Amazon), local sellers get better placement and higher conversions than overseas sellers. This seems to be done by the marketplaces because buyers don’t want to pay for or wait for international shipping (rather than blocking international businesses).
That said, now an international merchant can sell in the the U.S. without ever disclosing that they are overseas. Many are legitimate businesses that are just trying to sell in the largest markets.
Now these overseas sellers can just use a local order fulfillment company so that the shipments are sent using domestic shipping and you have a local return address. The company needs an Internet-delivered application and is comfortable working with overseas customers. (disclaimer: I’m with http://www.shipwire.com which has warehouses in the U.S., Canada and the UK)
So now…shopping online, you never know if the seller of the new gizmo you just bought is actually in the USA either. (Checking the ship from address, doesn’t do it anymore either.)
The world is definitely flatter thanks to Internet delivered apps.
Nate
Shipwire product fulfillment
FreeVPN doesn’t work, any help?
Free US/UK VPN Accounts for Webmasters and Bloggers
check this http://bit.ly/4JQRB
Cheers for the free VPN.Longtime i have been searching for a free UK VPN.
After installing the Free VPN the UK connection worked fine and i checked
it with ”my ip address”,no problem.
or see
http://i.last.r...rom-abroad.html
and
http://i.last.r...rom-abroad.html
oops, hidden links (above)
or see
how to watch Hulu from abroad
http://i.last.r...rom-abroad.html
and
how to use Google Voice from abroad
http://i.last.r...rom-abroad.html
“Spotify”’s links is wrong.You add a more “H”.
freeVPN works for me.. thanks is been a while since the last time i watched the dailyshow
I used freeVPN to get out from Internet restriction (citizenship block), the best part of freeVPN is 100% free and safe from my daily surfing, thank a-nai.
freeVPN protect solution provides from remote users a direct defense against malicious attack.
Most of the free vpn services are blocked from accessing sites like hulu, pandora, etc since so many hundreds or thousands of users are sharing the same IP address.
Solution: Pay for VPN Access at a provider such as hidemynet.com for only 5$/month.
I’ve been using them (hidemynet.com) for over 6 months now without an issue.
Does anyone know how to watch Hulu on a PS3? I’m still trying to fugure that out. They say that they don’t want you to watch Hulu on TV but I usually connect my laptop to the TV through the hdmi and I’m getting ready to build a media server for the TV so they are not doing a good job blocking Hulu on TV.
And if you are not in the USA often you can’t tell where a USA web site is – even the phone numbers are often not international numbers . And most of the companies and all of the government do not use .us suffixes .
Free VPn no longer works with Hulu they are blocking it now
Free VPN server 2 work fine with Hulu
freevpn DOES show ads. it shows as a toolbar of advertisments on explorer, that goes away if you deactivate a “.dll” from the options dialog box.
also, it changes your start page in both explorer and firefox.
so, enough “fooling around” for me (who knows what else is doing!)
i would try something else.
Why so? Because nothing free in this world, service cost money, ads is one way to have a good equipment. And as earlier someone said “free cheese only in mousetrap” – in this case its ads.
“The reasons are usually to do with content licensing restrictions, or because US visitors (or visitors from other advanced economies) are of a higher value from a monetization perspective.”
Or sheer laziness on the part of the programmers.