Fun Hidden Camera Video Shows How Mad Geo-Blocking Really Is

Article by George Norman (Cybersecurity Editor)

on 06 Apr 2016

Oh, you’re interested in this cool video and you want to watch it? Sorry, that’s a no, we can’t allow you to do that. The video is not available in your region, you see.

Why? Well, which answer do you prefer? The one where we tell you we’re doing this to fight online piracy, the one where we tell you about our complicated licensing deals, or the one where we invoke anti-competitive business practices in the EU? Or perhaps we just don’t like you, but you’ll never hear us say that.

Geo-blocking is the annoying practice of blocking access to websites, online services and other online content, based on the user’s geographical location. It could be because the service is not available in the country yet. But most often, it’s because the content provider chose not to make it available in the country.



Unfortunately, not being able to access websites and online content is a fact of life for millions of users in certain regions around the world. And there’s little they can do about it. Either they find a way to circumvent this sort of online censorship, or they learn to live with it.

But living with geo-restrictions is madness, utter madness. BEUC, the European Consumer Organisation, found a way to highlight just how mad geographical restrictions are: it applied the concept to a real-life store. Would you be okay with a shop refusing your business or asking you to pay more because you’re from a certain region? No you wouldn’t! And neither were the people from this hidden cam video.



The EU’s Single Market is one of its greatest achievements. It refers to the EU as one territory, where there are no borders and no regulatory obstacles to prevent the free movement of goods and services. This means that EU citizens are free to shop anywhere they want and purchase anything their hearts desire.

Being asked to show your password to purchase something is unthinkable in EU’s Single Market, and so is being asked to pay a different price simply because you’re from a certain country. While something like that is unthinkable in the real world, it is common practice online.

“We believe discriminatory territorial practices should stop,” says BEUC, “and we ask the EU to do two things: First, consumers should be allowed to access content such as sport events, music streams, movies and TV programmes from any provider in the EU. This would curb piracy (accessing the content from unauthorised sources) and help all consumers to enjoy Europe’s cultural diversity. Secondly, the rules preventing discrimination on the basis a consumer’s place of residence when selling goods or services need to be sharpened.”

BEUC wants the European Parliament to stop unjustified geo-blocking, which is great if you’re from the EU. No more geo-restrictions for you, hooray. But what if you’re not from the EU and you’re fed up with this geo-blocking bullshit? The answer is simple: you need a VPN.



VPNs work like this: they encrypt your connection, hide your real IP address, and spoof your location. By using an encrypted connection, the VPN keeps you safe, it protects against snoopers and cybercriminals who want to steal your data. By hiding your real IP address, the VPN protects your anonymity. And by spoofing your location, the VPN tricks websites into thinking you’re from a different location.

Not that long ago, I invited you to try these five VPNs. Now I can invite you to try one other: the recently released Avira Phantom VPN. It offers 500MB of free traffic per month, no questions asked, upping it to 1GB if you register. And unlimited traffic if you get the paid version.

With Avira Phantom VPN, you can trick websites into thinking you’re from Austria, Switzerland, Germany, Spain, Sweden, UK, US, and other locations.



Download Avira Phantom VPN for Windows right here on FindMySoft.



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