How To Watch Internet TV Across International Borders 206
colinneagle writes "Living in the U.S., one of my greatest regrets is that I can't watch BBC video with iPlayer. If I were living in the U.K., I'd feel the same away about not being able to watch shows on Hulu. But, with a Web proxy or a virtual private network (VPN) and an IP address in a country where the content is available, you can watch these shows. Technically, it's easy to set your browser up to use a Web proxy or VPN software. With a Web proxy and Windows XP, for example, you just go to Internet Options, click the Connections tab, and then click LAN Settings. Next, under Proxy server you click to select the 'Use a proxy server for your LAN' check box. Finally, you enter the IP address of the proxy server and in the Port box, type the IP number that is used by the proxy server for client connections—that's usually 8080. It's usually pretty simple to do that in any browser and operating system. There are also programs, such as Proxy Switchy, for Chrome that makes it easy to switch from one proxy to another in a single session. When you use a proxy, though, all your traffic is still open to network administrators. If you want to visit another country and watch their TV in privacy, you'll need a VPN."
Is that news? (Score:5, Insightful)
Really?
Re:Is that news? (Score:5, Interesting)
Not per se: It's not novel to most slashdotters. it's news in that its happening at unprecedented levels to bypass the horrible media layers injected into a currently popular international event.
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Re: (Score:2)
Except that VPNs are worth billions of dollars to institutional users(like banks). You can't just say "nope, block it"
Re:Is that news? (Score:4, Insightful)
The billion-dollar institutions can easily get their VPN's whitelisted while the rest of us suffer. Don't think for a minute that Citibank's fate is tied to yours.
Re:Is that news? (Score:4, Interesting)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
How? How would you shut down VPNs that works though SSH tunnels? If you block SSH, you kill the internet, so you can't block it, and since you can't snoop into SSH traffic, you can't filter stuff out either.
That's just to give an example.
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
The problem is, when you finally get through to watch it, it's extremely boring. Who can I call to correct this serious issue?
Re:Is that news? (Score:5, Funny)
Slashdot: News for noobs, Stuff that we all know
I lol'ed... (Score:2)
people in the office stared as I let out a hearty "guffaw"
Re: (Score:3)
Exactly.
What I do: ssh -ND 9090 root@(my server).com
Then configure my browser to use localhost:9090 as a SOCKS proxy.
Re: (Score:2)
I actually configure all software on my laptop to use proxy "localhost:9999", and do something similar to what you do. :)
Whenever I don't want to tunnel traffic (due to bad connection quality, or some other reason), I just run
ssh -fND 9999 localhost.
Saves me having to change proxies all over the place.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
That's exactly what I though, the article just mentions 15-20 year old technologies, and how the can be used, and have been used for years. This isn't news, in any circle, or any way. Except in the past, that is.
Re: (Score:2)
FILM AT ELEVEN.
What slashdot reader is this written for? (Score:5, Funny)
A: Someone who doesn't know what a proxy is, or how to set one up?
B: Someone who isn't wise enough to google how to watch internet media that is region blocked?
D: Gnomes
C: Someone who accidentally stumbled onto slashdot today?
The answer is D! Because the others are all make-believe!
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
The answer is D! Because the others are all make-believe!
C: Someone who accidentally stumbled onto slashdot today?
Not entirely true; I've hit /. with StumbleUpon before, so it's possible someone could very well accidentally stumble onto /.
Re: (Score:2)
Dammit! You just ruinned a good joke. You're probably the same guy that ruinned the solar-powered flashlight joke with the rechargable battery comment.
Re: (Score:3)
Re: (Score:2)
Here is my experience: Italy to the US (Score:3, Interesting)
Here is my experience: Italy to the US [blogspot.com]
Re:Here is my experience: US to UK (Score:2)
Since I like to watch UK streaming tv, I signed up with a VPS provider who along with their US datacenters, has a datacenter in the UK, and added a UK VPS to my account, along with the two others I have in their Dallas DC. An install of OpenVPN and Squid on the Ubuntu 10.04 OS and I'm off to watching UK TV. So far, its worked perfectly. I'm loaning it currently to friends who are rabid Olympics fans. Oh and the good part? The VPS is an OpenVZ 512mb container, choice of all sorts of Linux distros, and with 3
Re: (Score:2)
Interesting blog post, but you didn't say the level of bandwidth your place in Italy was subscribing to, nor the amount of money you were paying for your proxy/VPN service in New York. The StrongVPN service says it starts at $7 a month. Did you really only pay $7, or did you get one of their better packages? Also, is that starting rate $7 their true base price, or would I have to get locked into a contract for 2 years in order to get that rate?
I'm asking because I have family in the UK, and I'd rather not l
Re: (Score:2)
Since when is SlashDot a how-to site? (Score:3, Insightful)
Next thing you know we'll have all the bullshit that goes along with ask.com and ehow.
Re:Since when is SlashDot a how-to site? (Score:5, Insightful)
Next thing you know we'll have all the bullshit that goes along with ask.com and ehow.
Slashdot's official mission is "News for nerds", I think that this qualifies. During a major event like the Olympics a common complaint amongst techies and non-techies alike is that they are unable to view coverage because of their location. This is informing people that their is technology that enables users to bypass the restriction. I clicked on the story and read the comments because I found it interesting.
Re: (Score:3)
"How to configure Windows XP to use a proxy" is not news. It's a not-for-nerds tutorial.
Re: (Score:2)
"How to configure Windows XP to use a proxy" is not news. It's a not-for-nerds tutorial.
Since the Olympics are such a major event an exception was deemed appropriate and it is something most of us probably did not know before reading it here on Slashdot . But I agree with both you and mj1856 in that I hope this is not going to become a regular occurrence.
Re: (Score:2)
Yes, because the world is full or sports-loving nerds who can't google!
We call them not-nerds where I come from!
Re: (Score:2)
Slashdot's official mission is "News for nerds", I think that this qualifies.
How? Proxies and tunneling is over a decade old, and can be one of the first results while googleing. What sort of nerd can't use google? What sort of so-called-nerd hasn't heard about VPNs or proxies?
Also, nerds don't usually care about sports events, wherever they may be.
Next week.... (Score:5, Funny)
Your mouse. How to move it left and right AND up and down on your screen.
Re:Next week.... (Score:5, Funny)
omg, my mouse has two buttons and a wheel between them! i hope this is a continuing series!
Re: (Score:2)
I saw that too!! It was amazing! Did you keep watching and see that the wheel can also be clicked on as well!!!
I hear next week they are going to talk about this thing with letters on it. I hope they cover the ESC key and where there ANY key is. Som many things ask me to hit the ANY key and I end up having to hit the computer power button because I can't find it.
Re: (Score:2)
Your mouse. How to move it left and right AND up and down on your screen.
Chapter 3: Moving Diagonally.
(How to successfully combine left/right with up/down.)
Re: (Score:2)
Reminds me of George Carlin talking about the magazines for absolutely everything, including Walking: "Here's a great article, putting one foot in front of the other!"
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
WOW! Slow down there, brainy!
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Excuse me but... (Score:2)
... WTF is this "story" about (beside the obvious) and how is this news for nerds?
Re: (Score:2)
At least this is all there was to it:
The first rule of usenet is you don't speak about usenet
How to watch US TV in Canada (Score:2)
Set up your over-the-air TV antenna close to the US border.
Oh wait, if you are like most Canadians, you probably do that already.
*cue rim-shot*
Re: (Score:2)
Or just buy cable. In my travels through Canada I noticed all the cable systems pick-up and rebroadcast ABC, NBC, CBS, FOX, CW stations from Maine, New York, Michigan, North Dakota, and Washington states. (Good thing too since I couldn't find any Canadian shows worth watching... except Red Green.)
X-Forwareded-For (Score:5, Informative)
Re: (Score:2)
I'm not sure what that means.. Can you Google that for me?
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:3)
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/x-forwarded-for-header/ [mozilla.org]
Whoops, I'll just leave this here...
Re: (Score:2)
Of course sometimes you can just set the X-Forwarded-For attribute in your browser to an IP address inside the country. A fair amount of web servers are set up to blindly trust it. A lot cheaper than a proxy when it works.
There are lots of free open proxies too, but that doesn't mean they're reliable or stable.
I realize your solution is free as well, but is it really more reliable than hunting around for free open proxies?
Or just use Bittorrent (Score:2, Insightful)
If you're going to steal BBC Video (since you never paid the TV tax), then you might as well do it the easy method and just do a torrent download.
To be honest though I've not really found much on BBC I wanted to watch. "Doctor Who" and "BBC News" is the only thing that comes to mind and both of those I can get legally (via Syfy or PBS). Plus there are other alternatives like France24, NNK-japan, and RT which come free through my antenna.
Re: (Score:2)
You should checkout Sherlock and TopGear.
BBCA delivers (Score:2)
I watch TopGear as often as I can thanks to BBC America (the original BBC version, not the wretched, bastardized, hillbilly, neck of red American version). I'm a fan of Jeremy Clarkson on the show, love his wit and overall disdain for American cars.
Re: (Score:2)
You should checkout Sherlock and TopGear.
Question: Can you stream Wheeler Dealers? It airs on Discovery UK, if that matters...
I love that show.
Re: (Score:2)
Its on the Velocity channel a lot.
Re: (Score:2)
Second vote for Sherlock, it's awesome.
Nerds would probably also appreciate QI (is that on BBC?), there have been an assortment of fabulous UK shows over the years including, but not limited to, Ultraviolet, Edge of Darkness, Jekyll, Coupling, Hustle, Spooks.
Re:Or just use Bittorrent (Score:5, Interesting)
There are *a lot* of people, expats and otherwise, that would be absolutely fine with paying for some sort of international license for the BBC. I see this "you're stealing BBC" crap from Brits, but they are not giving an option to us and we're asking for it.
Re: (Score:2)
Are governments allowed to assess a tax (or fee) outside of their own territory?
Yes, they do it all the time (Score:3)
Are governments allowed to assess a tax (or fee) outside of their own territory?
Yes.
Long Answer:
The US routinely assess taxes on its citizens everywhere in the world (it is one of the only, if not the only, country to do this to its citizens). When I lived in the UK I had to file returns in both countries. Had I lived in Hong Kong or Switzerland, I would have had to pay the difference between their tax rate and the higher US tax rate to Uncle Sam.
As far a fees go, just about anyone who has applied for any k
Re: (Score:3)
they are not giving an option to us and we're asking for it
The BBC lack international broadcast rights for much of their content.
The olympics is licenced to the BBC for UK broadcast and Internet distribution. It's licenced to someone else in North America. The BBC can't legally transmit it to America.
Similar constraints apply to almost all of the content they don't create in-house, and they create remarkably little these days.
Of the content they do create, international sales (e.g. Top Gear and the output from their Natural History unit) are a significant source of
Re: (Score:2)
Yes, but what about Dr. Who? Sherlock?
Also, I haven't heard of any company streaming the olympics in Argentina either.
Re: (Score:2)
I'd gladly pay for plenty of UK shows. But I can't, even if I want to. They don't actually loose any revenue, since there's no way for me to give them money, so how can I feel guilty about it?
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Does BBC have a channel on youtube? What do I search for?
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Setting up is easy... the hard part is (Score:4, Interesting)
finding a decent open proxy. They go down all the time with no warning. So pay up and get a commercial account or be prepared to make open proxy hunting a part of your daily/weekly routine.
I used to play a MMRPG that banned my entire continent's IP... I still remember the feeling of joy upon finding a fast open proxy outside my banned zone!
Re: (Score:2)
finding a decent open proxy. They go down all the time with no warning. So pay up and get a commercial account or be prepared to make open proxy hunting a part of your daily/weekly routine.
I used to play a MMRPG that banned my entire continent's IP... I still remember the feeling of joy upon finding a fast open proxy outside my banned zone!
How do you feel about sharing the details of that proxy? :-)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Are there good updated lists to get free open proxies?
Attention know-it-alls (Score:5, Insightful)
Some people might find this useful, so let's not get too carried away with our technical superiority. If you don't find the story informative, don't read it.
It never ceases to amaze me how many people on messageboards will weight in on a topic that they're not interested in just to say "I'm not interested in this topic." On /. we seem to have people who do nothing but post inane comments about how they're not interested in a particular story, usually in the Idle section. I find it amusing because clicking two buttons to post a reply was an even bigger waste of their time than the few seconds they spent reading the summary.
Re: (Score:3)
People don't come to Slashdot for the stories. They're badly written, usually days behind the mainstream and other tech media and frequently misrepresent stuff.
People come to Slashdot for the comments.
I don't want to read comments from people too fucking stupid to use Google to work out how to set up a proxy. I don't expect regular readers of Slashdot to need to use Google to find out how to set up a proxy.
I don't understand why this story exists. I'm reading it for the comedy value, and so that I can help
Isn't this what VPS are for? (Score:2)
Another alternative is...change your DNS! (Score:2, Interesting)
http://unblock-us.com/ is what I have been using. They have a free trial and the experience has been pain free. Long term cost would be $4.99 / mo
I'm not sure exactly how it works, but it just does! (Can someone chime in on how they do it without a VPN??)
$.02,
-TJJ
Re: (Score:3)
If I understand correctly, for the vast majority of traffic they provide ordinary DNS resolver service.
When you attempt to access something on their list of stuff-that-needs-to-be-proxied (e.g. Netflix, Hulu, etc.) their DNS servers don't return the canonical result, but instead point toward proxy servers run by unblock-us. Data is then automatically proxied as needed.
Re: (Score:2)
I am currently paying $5 a month for a vps in the uk. Costs no more then the unblock-us stuff and you have far more functionality. I also use static routes based on RIPE subnets in my openvpn configuration that routes traffic across either my UK or DE hosts (both cost me $5 a month, and I will be switching my US one as well (that one is costing me $25 a month, but I found one for around $5 a month). I only need the basic VPS, I'm not running intensive applications.
Slashdot: time travel for your brain! (Score:5, Funny)
Dear Slashdot,
I've been doing exactly this for, oh, I dunno, 8 or 9 years. I even have several fellow /.ers as clients on my VPN/proxy/privacy service. Thank you, Soulskill, for this lovely little time capsule from 2004.
Stay tuned for our next story, where a young startup named Apple plans to change the world with a new kind of graphic calculator, tentatively called "Newton".
Replacement for proxy switchy please? (Score:2)
There are also programs, such as Proxy Switchy
Proxy switchy gets angry on my desktop linux box, recently it starts whining because its not on gnome or kde and refusing to work, for not apparent reason other than it would be fun to complain. Too bad, before they put that detection code in proxy switchy it worked perfectly.
Anyone have a suggestion for an alternative that is less buggy, or at least does not have that bug?
Or not watch it? (Score:2)
When I spent some time in Japan, I didn't watch any American TV and nothing bad happened. The USA was still there when I came back, and it turns out that I didn't miss any shows worth watching (and most of what I would have watched is on Netflix anyway).
Re: (Score:2)
When I spent some time in Japan, I didn't watch any American TV and nothing bad happened. The USA was still there when I came back, and it turns out that I didn't miss any shows worth watching (and most of what I would have watched is on Netflix anyway).
Oh, geez. There's so many unhelpful, sarcastic ways this can be answered. Let's just stick to two:
Yes, but given how many doomsayers there are nowadays, the USA might not be there tomorrow. Or at the very least, November, when the entire country will end if we don't vote correctly. It's frustrating, really.
Even in the USA, I get my news (political or otherwise) through the web, not TV
Okay, now, turn that around, smart guy. How many shows in Japan do you miss?
Well, I'm not really that much in to TV, so there's no shows in Japan that I miss enough to watch to watch from here. When I'm in Japan, I love to watch the morning talk shows where they visit restaurants and try our their specialties, but not enough to go out of my way to watch them.
Could have been better (Score:3)
Really necessary to proxy everything? (Score:5, Interesting)
2 years ago I decided that I wanted to view stuff through the BBC's iPlayer, forgetting that most of the good stuff from the BBC makes it here, and what doesn't make it here tends to be the dregs. Anyway, I found an open proxy in the UK and was barely able to get video across it. That was just the starting point. From there I looked at all of the HTTP communications (with Live HTTP Headers) and using FoxyProxy was able to just have certain pieces of data going through the proxy. I narrowed it down to just a few small HTTP communications that were being checked for location, and just proxied those. I got good streaming video after that because the actual video was being served up by Akamai. I wound up being served BBC video content from a server in Arizona.
Given that BBC America has most of the better stuff from the BBC, I haven't bothered messing with that kind of thing in several years.
This kind of thing may not work now, but it's worth checking to see just how much data really does have to be proxied/vpned if you are doing that kind of thing.
Re: (Score:2)
most of the good stuff from the BBC makes it here
You forgot the qualifier of "eventually". Also acceptable would be "maybe". There's plenty of good shows I've found on netflix that won't see the light of day on BBCA.
Given that BBC America has most of the better stuff from the BBC
Like Star Trek: TNG? Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves? Battlestar Galactica? Gordon Ramsay cursing at people?
Add in that it's only available with a giant expensive bundle of crap cable/sat subscription, and is not even HD for most providers. And then the biggest insult, having to watch the few good shows cut down and defaced with horribly ta
Slightly Related... (Score:2)
but geo-location blocking by the NHL is pretty much my last hurdle before cutting the cable cord.
The NHL offers a service called Gamecenter Live that allows you to stream live games to a computer or certain STBs. All games except those from within your broadcasting region. For me, it's the Canucks as I live in Vancouver.
I can't watch the Canucks live over this service because of the blackout restrictions imposed by the NHL. And they even have terms in their contract stating that if you use technical means t
What? (Score:2)
Wait, there is a slashdot article on the front page detailing how to violate various broadcasters copyrights? I mean, I know it's preaching to the choir, but I'm astounded this is an actual article.
IPlayer in particular isn't region-locked because the BBC hates foreigners; the service is paid for by television licenses, which people outside of England (obviously) aren't paying. It's much more than just defeating a region-locking scheme, it's basically piracy. Seeing it front and center is crazy.
Re: (Score:2)
Until the BBC offers television licenses to foreigners or finds some other way to sell the access, then I have no choice but to pirate BBC - and since they wouldn't be getting revenue from me anyway they cannot claim that I have caused them any damages, so my "crime" is nothing other than victim-less piracy. If I live in Canada but can tune in American TV and radio stations, am I stealing their content since I most likely won't be visiting the sponsors of their programs?
That said, what about UK citizens wh
Re: (Score:3)
I pay my TV licence (ok TV tax) in the UK gladly.
The BBC is one of the few things I think we do well in the world - the journalism and news reporting is beyond world class - it's world beating. Impartial reporting, truly global coverage. That can be hard to believe sitting in England, but as soon as you spend long enough abroad to try any other country it makes you appreciate how good the Beeb really is. Just try any southern-mediterranean broadcaster, Chinese state television, Russian state television, Fox
Not new, but using a VPS is better then a proxy (Score:2)
I have been using vps's for a very long time. Recently I added 2 new ones, one in the UK and one in Germany, in addition to my existing US one (which I will be switching soon to a cheaper one).
The US one I have been using for years is somewhat pricey, at around $25 a month, as an early adopter one gets to pay a premium. However I have looked recently and found much cheaper ones (I only need a basic VPS).
I run openvpn on the US based VPS, with the UK and DE ones connecting to it as a client (In addition to
Re: (Score:3)
The last time I tried the problem was in the flash players/plugin making direct connections to content by ignoring the http_proxy settings of the browser. Setting the default route to the VPN made it work, long story short: proxy settings in browser might not be enough.
Re: (Score:2)
So, in short, flash is problematic?
No news here either.
Re: (Score:3)
So tunnel all the traffic via ssh or something.
They will never know.
Do the proxying a layer below.
Re: (Score:2)
Maybe they're saving the torrent tutorial for next week's filler article.
Re: (Score:2)
The BBC is made from British taxpayer money, for British citizens. Where is the problem with that? I don't get it. Especially since they have plenty of stuff available for international audiences.
Would Slashdot also run a story about a hack that gets one subscriber status on Slashdot without paying? If some other big site did, how many Slashdotters would utterly pee themselves?
Re:TV on the web? (Score:4, Informative)
Tax? i thought it was a licence fee, and you get iplayer access in UK irrespective of if you pay or not, and don't outsside the UK irrespective of if you pay or not.
Re: (Score:2)
Licens fee, taxes -- same difference? Though thanks for the correction, that was sloppy of me.
When you happen upon the browser of a slashdot subscriber, you can see stories before they go live, even though you're not the one who subscribed!!!!111. Clearly the approach isn't perfect, so even though it has decent motives at heart, pirate away.
See what I did there?
And yes, I'm a hypocrit
Re: (Score:2)
Yes, particularly as this hack circumvents the need to pay for international iPlayer [wikipedia.org], where you pay a monthly fee for access to iPlayer programmes.
Re: (Score:3)
Well, strictly speaking, nothing is "necessary", you always have to qualify with "necessary for X". E.g. Roads are necessary for driving cars, which in turn is necessary for disease, pollution and slavery, while Dr. Who is necessary to learn about sonic screwdrivers.
Re: (Score:2)
But exploiting the citizens of other countries is an American tradition! Just be glad your oil is offshore at the North Sea and not on your soil or we would be tempted to re-occupy your nation for the benefit of our beloved corporations. And yes, I said "re-occupy" as the first occupation was back in WWII when we saved your ass and didn't even charge you for the service.