If you’ve ever tried visiting a site or link on a website, and rather than having your intended information, you’ve got a message that content isn’t accessible in your region, you encountered a geo-restriction issue.
We have explained in-depth in this article about how geo-restriction technology operates or what it truly is and if you want to get a deeper understanding of the subject (how to overcome it or whether it is legal or not, or why it is used), this article will help you in finding your answers.
How do Geo-Restrictions Work?
It’s pretty straightforward – geographical restrictions are possible, and when you link to them, websites will see your location. So, all a website has to do is verify if it’s whitelisted or blacklisted when it gets a link request from your computer. It will guide you to a zone page if it’s blacklisted (like Netflix does when it redirects you to the library available in your country). Alternatively, the Web site will even deny your link application and send a message telling you that the service in your region is not available.
Usually a website gets information on your geo-location from;
- Your device’s GPS
- The device’s GSM (2G) or CDMA (3G) cell ID
- Your IP address
- WiFi and/or Bluetooth MAC address
- The location of your WiFi connection
- Your RFID (Radio-Frequency Identification)
Reasons for Geo-Restrictions
Price Discrimination
Geo-restrictions may be used to implement pricing discrimination. The fact that varying prices are reflected depending on the country from which the online consumer communicates. To help slice the globe into different business sectors, internet retailers and airline firms earn a greater return.
Legal Reasons
For legal purposes, geo-restriction approaches may also be used by the authorities. The UK Government uses geo-blocks, for instance, to ensure that their TV programming is only available in the UK since it is all funded by taxpayers’ funds.
Agreements
Content distributors (such as Netflix, BBC iPlayer, Hulu, etc.) have little access to any of their contents but are entitled to broadcast. So, it is the original owner of copyright who determines whether the material should be broadcast internationally or not. If it is not permitted, the content platforms must comply, and geo-restriction tech helps them.
Blackouts
Geo-blocks in the United States are frequently used in blackouts, a phenomenon “popular” among broadcasters, domestic networks, sports leagues, and organizations. Geo-restrictions can essentially be used to guarantee that such sports activities do not stream in a region where:
- Distribution rights are the exclusive property of national networks.
- The event is already broadcasted locally.
- The event in question is taking place.
Licensing
If they wish to stream their contents into a given region, copyright holders and service distributors have to buy licensing rights. It can be pretty costly (particularly when you consider other taxes for countries that might occur), it is not hard to believe that it is out of the question to purchase licensing laws worldwide.
Laws Requirements
Often, to work in a country or territory, some companies are subject to various international and national regulations and may require such companies to employ measures of geo-restrictions.
Is Geo-Restriction Legal?
Currently, the EU appears to be the only position where legal action against geo-restriction methods is currently being taken. Here’s a short recap of the events:
While it sounds nice, there has been no prohibition since a legal loophole indicated there was no restriction, if geo-blocking was required to ensure conformity with legal provisions. In 2008 the EU prohibited what it would describe as ‘unjustified geo-blocking.’ The prohibition did not involve media such as video games and eBooks.
A few months after the EU introduced rules for digital media portability. In theory, the new regulations specify that the content providers that provide paid services in the EU Member States need to have a form of roaming. Sky Go and NOW TV are excellent examples of how things work, allowing consumers who are in the EU Member States to access UK content from a foreign country for up to 30 days.
A new EU legislation was introduced by the end of 2018, effectively eliminating geo-blocking of e-commerce. However, in Europe, the Non-EU countries may not follow this law because geo-blocking in these areas is not treated as a legal issue.
Geo-blocking is considered a common procedure in countries like North America and Australia as a means to protect authors, TV/filmmakers, and other content creators’ copyrights. There are no apparent laws in effect in countries such as Asia, the Middle East, South America, and Africa that specify whether or not geo-blocking is legal. Normally there too, it is practiced.
Methods to Bypass Geo-Restriction on Apps and Games
Method – 1: VPN Services
PROS
- Easy to use
- Prevents bandwidth throttling
- Cannot be blocked by ISP
CONS
- Affects connection speed
A best online gaming VPN allows you to circumvent geo-blocks by substituting the IP address you are attached to with the VPN host address. So, you can access geo-restricted websites that are not accessible in your region.
VPNs are very simple to use, and ISPs cannot actually block them (like Smart DNS services can). Also, since a VPN uses encryption, it can prevent your ISP from throttling your bandwidth too.
However, you should be aware that your connection speeds can be affected by VPN encryption. It’s not to assume that your online speeds will plunge by 100% but you might encounter some slowdowns depending on the strength of your encryption and VPN protocol.
Method – 2: Proxy Servers
PROS
- Archived results in local cache to provide faster returns
- No interference with the connection speed
- Can be used online directly from the browser
CONS
- Bandwidth limitations
- Real IP can be exposed
- No tech support
A proxy server serves as an intermediary between you and the network. It submits requests for the connection to the appropriate website on your behalf. But, it does so by having its own IP address rather than your own. It lets you quickly circumvent geo-blocks.
In comparison, a proxy server can make quicker replies to your requests using local caching. Basically, the server would not have to transfer the request to the network to save time if it already has the material you request in its local cache.
In comparison, certain members do not use encryption, so the online speed won’t be compromised. However, it’s not really relevant since many proxy servers have restrictions on the bandwidth that prohibit you from achieving the fast speeds you want.
Other concerns include the shortage of technological assistance, the overcrowding of many (mainly free) servers, and the proxies that use HTTP access, which expose your true IP address to a proxy’s user.
Method – 3: Smart DNS Services
PROS
- Easy to use
- Do not interfere with the connection speed
- Pre-unblocked websites
CONS
- ISP can block the Smart DNS
A Smart DNS is a service that can be used to mask the actual DNS address that your ISP assigns to you. Your DNS address also includes details that will show your exact geo-location even if it is not similar to your IP address. The substitution of it with a new address that involves data that points to where the material is accessible in a region is a good way to bypass geo-blocks.
In addition, a Smart DNS can intercept the requests that you make for connections to any website you want to reach and overwrite all information in your geographic location with new information connected to a separate, “whitelisted” location.
Smart DNS services do not use encryption, enabling you to access geo-restricted content when taking advantage of the original ISP speeds. Moreover, the bulk of Smart DNS services have links to an immense list of pre-unblocked websites you can access directly without blocking.
The problem, however, is that your ISP can block the Smart DNS. You cannot find that website in the list of pre-blocked websites. But this is not a major concern, because you can ask the provider to add the website to the list.
Method – 4: Tor (The Onion Router)
PROS
- Easy to use
- Tor traffic is bounced between multiple relays, hiding your digital traffic and encrypting it too.
CONS
- An ISP can block Tor relays
- Tor can be blocked by government
Tor is a free anonymous network that masks your IP address on the Internet so that geo-blocks are easily circumvented. Your digital footprint is also concealed, and your online traffic between Tor multiple relays is bounced and encrypted.
However, there are some issues with the operation. Firstly, volunteers run the relays, so that they are not 100 percent trustworthy precisely. For instance, a relay can shut down by an ISP if found (which can happen with exit relays, where Tor traffic is no longer encrypted).
In comparison, the number of Tor relays currently is 6,000 to 7,000, for a total of around 2 million Tor users. This means that relays are always overcrowded and slow online speeds may be possible.
Conclusion
All services have their benefits and drawbacks, but it seems like Tor is less successful when there are not enough relays to serve a vast number of users because it could be blocked by your ISP or government.
VPNs, Smart DNS and proxies are very interconnecting, but Smart DNS and VPNs are best options. You should preferably select a vpn provider that provides you with access to all these services at once so that you can switch between them freely based on which services fit better for you.
