Do Risks Come With Accessing Geo-Restricted Streaming Services?

Have you ever tried to watch Netflix from two different countries? If no, then let me tell you that there are different content accesses you will have according to the target audience of the location. You will observe such drastic differences on other platforms also like Amazon Prime, Hulu, and many more other streaming services. Understandably, it can be annoying for the subscriber to get access to limited content as per the specific country and they try different ways to get access to their favorite shows.

Do you know what do these phenomena of limited access known as? The practice is associated with the term Geo-blocking or Geo-restricted. The trend of this practice is being followed by big companies like Netflix. Many countries do not have any problem regarding geo-restricted but many countries still block user’s bases on the region.

Why Content Varies By Country?

You might be wondering why the practice of geo-blocking is getting popular throughout the globe then let me tell you. This is mostly due to the copyrights, meaning the entities who are the owner of the specific piece of content want to earn more revenues so they prefer to sell their rights to use their content at the most maximum price they get. Now you may be thinking that why Netflix or Hulu do not have access to the content, because they may not be the highest bidder in the respective country so the content owner sells their content to some other platforms.

Additionally, in some specific countries, the distribution of some content seems unprofitable or wastage of the content. The reason for the fact is differences in the likes, dislikes, tastes of people so it is not simple to outline a single content taste for all the nations, in this regard streaming services are the best.

To support the above-mentioned argument, let’s take an example of star Wars is not popular in China, so it is not a good decision to buy and sell the rights to stream it for the businessman. That becomes an annoying decision for those who love to watch star wars.

There are different ways with the help of advancement in technologies people are using to get access to geo-restricted content. Each technique has its productive side to get the best streaming services but also come up with the dark sides of it. The list of such tools is mentioned:

• Anonymizers
• Proxy server
• Anonymity networks
• VPN services

Risks Of Using Anonymizers

Do you know the usage of Anonymizers to get access to geo-restricted sites?  It comes in different forms but the most widespread one use in the web form in which user types in the website that we need to access.  HTTP/HTTPS are the network protocols that run between the anonymizer site and the user’s PC. This practice can be time-consuming as the anonymizer get the request yours and retrieve the desired content from the real source and then set it back to you. It allows you to translate the search in different languages that help you get the content in the respective language of the region.

It contains its dark side also, as you may do not know that who is running the sites, or someone may capture your data and transfer or transfer it with the affiliated sites with your search engine. Ultimately the goal is to make money and they do it by messing with your web browsing session.

Risks Of Using Proxy Servers

It is one of the productive ways to get access to geo-blocking sites. It is an application that plays its role as an intermediary between the website you want to get and your server. It is different from anonymizer services as it is often deployed on the corporate network to cache data.

There are some risks you should expect while using it such as you are unaware of who is running proxy servers, so someone can capture the sensitive data of yours so your data can be shared to any site to use in any way they want. So it is not suggested to use any proxy service until you know exactly what the security policy is and who is running them.

Risks Of Using VPN Services

In this current era, you might be familiar with VPN services. Usually, most users utilize the best VPNs for accessing geo-restricted streaming services. It plays its role in masking your identity with an anonymous IP address. For example: if you are in china and want to get access to the content that has streaming right in the US so you can use a VPN connection to change your home network with a US-based IP address. So that is how you get access to the content you want, but not all VPN services provide the best privacy protections. You must need to find the best VPN services for streaming services.

Keep in mind, if the advantages are amazing for the VPN so it brings risks also. If you did not subscribe with the trustable and well-known VPN you can put your personal information in danger with your hand. If the respective VPN has a no-log policy means that the VPN provider does not collect or even check your activity otherwise there is no guarantee that your online activities are safe.

If you want to know more regarding getting access to geo-restricted sites then find below the link:

Who is using the Geo-restricted services?

It is the practice that is using by the companies to block access to their content according to the location. Take the example of US Netflix as it has the permission of specific content unlike other countries Netflix.

How can I bypass geo-blocking websites?

You can use VPN services, proxy service, and smart DNS.

Is Geo-restricted practice is effective?

Yes, if used correctly. It is good for security purposes like stopping hackers to get information from your website.

Author Bio: Jade Nazareth is a writer at topvpnservice. She takes a keen interest in writing how-to guides and awareness blogs related to cybersecurity measures and software. To instill a little cyber-knowledge in her readers using layman’s terms is what she aims to do.