wco81

Netflix being pushed by studios to crack down on spoofing services, including VPN.

http://arstechnica.com/business/2016...nd-unblockers/


Lame, lame, lame.

tmiw

It sounds like they're going to focus more on the commercial VPN services, so that might be good news for those willing to set up OpenVPN or similar on their home routers. Upload speeds will be the biggest challenge for that, however, but ~5 megabits/second should be enough to watch Netflix in 480p and possibly 720p.

FN-GM

Not for long! - http://www.theguardian.com/technolog...n-on-vpn-users

gfunkdave

Yes, that's what we're discussing. I think people who make their own VPN from a home connection will still be fine. If not, I bet a bridged VPN will work. (probably)

We'll see!

tmiw

How hard they try to enforce it will ultimately depend on how their contracts with the studios are written. They may just enforce it by blocking IPs of known VPNs if they just need to keep their customers from watching content from a country other than their home country. Otherwise they might have to inspect running services/applications on the client side to definitively block VPN use.

wco81

Yeah couldn't they detect the known VPN protocols or tunneled packets?

If it's just blacklisting known VPN servers, easy to get around.

They really should grant users with US billing address access to US content wherever they are.

I believe iTunes does it that way, regardless of where you are, it uses your billing address to access content for that country.

So presumably the tv shows and movies you'd download for rent or purchase would depend on which country iTunes Store you're accessing.

Of course the studios probably have deals with exclusive distributors for different country. That's a pre-digital thing that tech companies have to deal with.

I would think the most popular shows are the Netflix originals and those should be available everywhere?

tmiw

From Netflix's perspective, there's little/no difference in the traffic from a VPN'd PC vs. someone accessing them directly except for the IP it's coming from. AT&T was able to tell whether people were tethering without buying a tethering plan somehow though, so perhaps Netflix can do something similar to root out VPNs?

FN-GM

If its like the BBC iPlayer it won't work. Plus Netflix won't know where the VPN originated. That is the whole point of a VPN.

superangrypenguin

HUH?

tmiw

He's saying that a VPN doesn't show your actual address to Netflix. As for BBC's player, I wonder how they can tell despite using a VPN.

FN-GM

What is there not to get? When connected to via a VPN Netflix will not know where the original computer is. All they can see is the VPN server. Thats why people use it for torrenting.

superangrypenguin

Ah ok. Thanks for the clarification. ^

Calliopeflyer

Do you mean BBC iPlayer won't work with a VPN for you? It works for me.

FN-GM

Last time I checked it didn't work.

Calliopeflyer

Are you using an actual VPN or a DNS service, which is more of a proxy? I watched The Abominable Bride and Doctor Who just last week, using Tunnelbear as my VPN.

I just checked and I am watching Doctor Who on BBC's iPlayer as I type this.