[ExI] New Network Sitcom

[Emlyn]

2009/3/28 BillK <pharos at gmail.com>:
> On 3/27/09, ben wrote:
>>
>>http://television.aol.com/show/video/partner/abc/better-off-ted/better-off-ted-pilot/187472-189347
>>
>>  It seems that this is only for /american/ extropians.
>>  Apparently I'm not good enough to be allowed to view it.
>>
> Well, there are ways and means. But you have to jump through a fair
> number of hoops and be a bit geekish. Is it worth the trouble to watch
> a TV program?
> I can't be bothered, but the following hints may help those interested.
>
>
> All US-only websites or country-based restriction relies on the IP
> address. Blocks of IP addresses are issued and assigned to specific
> country in bulk. When an IP address is translated to be located in an
> unsupported countries, access will be blocked. So in order to bypass
> the IP address based blocking ban, just mask the real location with an
> IP address to one within the supported country, primarily United
> States.
>
> There are several methods of doing this.
> The easiest is to use a Web based proxy server.
> First, you find a US based proxy server, type in the URL you want to
> access, and click GO.  Because you are bouncing through the proxy
> server it will appear as though you are coming from the US.
>
> That will work for many sites, but it also depends on the proxy
> server. Some are better than others. (And some may be dangerous, to
> trap the unwary).
>
> The aol link above is actually for an ABC tv show.
> When you get through to ABC, you will find that ABC insist that you
> download and install their own video player software so that you are
> forced to watch their ads.
> (Another no no for me).
>
> If you still want to do this, your pc has to meet ABC's requirements.
> 512MB Windows XP/Vista - Internet Explorer, Firefox
> Mac - Firefox, Safari.
> (Linux need not apply).
>
> If you are *still* determined to watch their tv, go to this proxy list site:
> <http://proxy.org/cgi_proxies.shtml>
> copy and paste the show URL into the box and click on the first proxy
> site in the list.
> You will probably have to bypass all your security software temporarily.
> (You *do* have security software, don't you?).
>
> With a bit of luck you'll eventually manage to get to see the show.
>
> Whether your computer will ever recover from the experience, is
> another matter.  :)
>
> BillK

I haven't had any success with Proxies and streaming video. I think
the servers streaming the video don't use protocols that the proxies
understand, so it just doesn't seem to work (for me). Also, proxies
just give me the willies; what an excellent way to have your machine
totally owned.

Another thing to consider is that streaming video is a lot of data
over a short period of time. Most proxies aren't going to let you do
that (because it goes through them), or just wont support a data rate
that is fast enough.

Something better maybe is a vpn. I've had some success with Hotspot
Shield in the past (http://www.hotspotshield.com/), although when I've
tried to use it more recently, it's been too slow (probably a victim
of its own success).

I've been thinking of getting a commercial vpn to the US, does anyone
have experience with this? It'll become even more pertinent if
Australia really implements the internet censorship that's currently
being trialed:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_censorship_in_Australia

Also, and I'm going to show my ignorance of how the net really works
here, is there any way from outside the US to be directly assigned a
supposedly US based ip address? That is, can we directly subvert this
mapping of ip-address to country?

-- 
Emlyn

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