[gother]

A thread for chat about smart dns , vpns etc services.
Please no chat about illegal services or illegal boxes etc here.
VPNS and Smart dns services are perfectly leagal.

[-GONZO-]

I use Unblock-Us mainly for Netflix as it allows me access to other Netflix regions instead of just the US. I occasionally use it for Crackle too.

[gother]

I use UNOTELLY as they offer a smart dns and a vpn.
Netflix regions they cover are uk , usa , canada , norway , brazil , mexico , ireland plus a couple of others.
Also they give direct links to cw , nbc etc and you get a 8 day free trial plus if you like and share them on facebook you get a months smart dns free.

[nexstar]

Quote:

Originally Posted by gother

VPNS and Smart dns services are perfectly leagal.

Not according to the mods here, they're not. They are a 'legally grey' area which is why the Premier League thread was taken down in its entirety.

Graham

[gother]

Quote:

Originally Posted by nexstar

Not according to the mods here, they're not. They are a 'legally grey' area which is why the Premier League thread was taken down in its entirety.

Graham

Well no offence to dspy mods but they need to read this. http://www.cactusvpn.com/vpn/legal/

Yes it is! Contrary to popular public opinion, VPNs are perfectly legal in almost all countries. According to recent globally trends, internet regulations are being enacted with the sole aim of increasing internet monitoring. For instance in America file-sharing will soon be monitored, and in the UK plans are underway to monitor and store all internet-communications. In order to counter this increased government surveillance, most people are opting to subscribe to VPN service providers to ensure their privacy.

As pointed out; privacy, freedom, and the relative anonymity of the internet that people currently enjoy will be short lived if intelligence agencies and copyright lobby groups have their way. However, privacy conscious internet users can simply hide their IP by subscribing to a VPN service provider and escape the undue scrutiny. There are also other free VPN service providers in the market but they do not guarantee the safety of your documents and communications, since they do not encrypt the data before routing.

Nevertheless, the legality of VPN depends mainly on how you use it. The general rule is, as long as you are not using it for illegal activities, then it is legal to use a VPN. However, even if you use the VPN to engage in some dubious activities, this does not necessary make the service provider liable.
VPN services have numerous benefits that include:

Allows you to your hide IP address- Your new IP depends on your provider’s server.
Increased Privacy and Security- The data sent is usually encrypted to guarantee information safety and security.
Access to blocked applications and websites- By allowing you to mask your IP address, it becomes easy to get past restrictions set by certain websites and applications.
Easy to install, use and configure- It only takes a few clicks to use the service.

On the other hand, the scope of illegal activities vary from one VPN service provider to another, depending on terms of reference of the country they operating in and other laws binding them. Other than that most VPN providers have a common protocol in regard to illegal activities, and in case a notice is forwarded to them against the activity of one of their users, necessary action is usually taken against them. ‘Necessary’ in this sense is relative depending on the jurisdiction.
Some of the activities that are considered illegal include:

Child pornography
Online fraud of any kind
Hacking of email and social media accounts
Free download of copyrighted content
Spam emails and messages

In other countries where human rights, like freedom of speech and expression, have not fully taken root, VPNs have been banned. Take for example Iran where over 25% of internet users use VPNs, and where the government recently announced a crackdown on all ‘privacy enhancing tools’ that do not abide by local law. Luckily for internet privacy enthusiasts, the architecture of the internet is so complex yet flexible that in the event VPNs were banned by all governments, there would still be a loophole to offer people privacy and security.

To sum it up, VPNs are legal as long as they are used for legal activities.

[nexstar]

Quote:

Originally Posted by gother

To sum it up, VPNs are legal as long as they are used for legal activities.

I think that is the crux of the matter though. If I break the Terms of Service of a streaming site by accessing it from outside of their defined area, is that act illegal or does it just break their ToS under the terms of which they can cancel my account?

There is no theft involved as I am paying for the service. There is no deception involved as I'm signed up with a UK credit card using a UK address. If their ToS also stated I had to wear a yellow hat all day on a Wednesday and I didn't do it, would that be an illegal act? I suspect not.

Indeed, if the Australians get their way, it seems that there could be a case of 'Poacher turned Gamekeeper' soon as they are trying to make it illegal to actually included geo-blocking clauses within the ToS:

http://www.zdnet.com/geoblocking-in-...ed-7000018646/

I, for one, hope they succeed.

As for the Premier League, does denying people ability to watch 3pm kick-offs in the UK actually make us turn up at football grounds in droves? I doubt it. If they really want us to turn up more then they should use their resources to impose caps on the price of tickets so that we could actually afford to turn up more. [/RANT]

Graham

[ovbg]

It is all a lot less grey than some people assume. Remember, many of these VPN's and SmartDNS's are just about accessing content blocked in certain regions.

These geo-restrictions are just terms and conditions on a corporate website, they are not actually law. Just because a company says that people who live in a certain country can't watch their TV shows, and says so on their website, doesn't mean that they are actually making this a law.

Now, there are important rules to remember. If something costs money, people must not try and get that service for nothing. i.e. people trying to watch Netflix for nothing is theft.

If you pay Netflix, but watch from a different country, that is not theft as Netflix get's paid, and they pay the content providers etc - just their terms and conditions are broken.

Likewise, if a company retransmits a pay TV service like Sky sport without paying Sky, then that is also theft. (So, if you see a service that retransmits Sky sports without pay Sky, don't subscribe to them)

But accessing fully legitimate services in other countries via VPN or Smart DNS is just the modern way of buying DVD's from the US and playing region 1 in the UK - that is region blocked to, but not illegal to do.

In fact, the Australian government has just recommended drafts to amend the copyright law to make sure it is clear that such acts are fully legal. (It is not like it is illegal now, just not clear as can be seen in this thread)

Quote:

Recommendation 5: The Committee recommends that the Australian Government amend the Copyright Act’s section 10(1) anti-circumvention provisions to clarify and secure consumers’ rights to circumvent technological protection measures that control geographic market segmentation.

Quote:

Recommendation 6: The Committee further recommends that the Australian Government investigate options to educate Australian consumers and businesses as to:

the extent to which they may circumvent geo-blocking mechanisms in order to access cheaper legitimate goods;

the tools and techniques which they may use to do so; and

the way in which their rights under the Australian Consumer Law may be affected should they choose to do so.

Quote:

Recommendation 9: The Committee recommends that the Australian Government consider enacting a ban on geo-blocking as an option of last resort, should persistent market failure exist in spite of the changes to the Competition and Consumer Act and the Copyright Act recommended in this report.

Recommendation 10: That the Australian Government investigate the feasibility of amending the Competition and Consumer Act so that contracts or terms of service which seek to enforce geo-blocking are considered void.

Read more: http://www.theage.com.au/digital-lif...#ixzz2bX9PY3se

Source: The Age

[Beagslife]

I've used OverPlay and UnBlock-Us in the past, along with a host of Hide my IP type services.

I finally settled on OverPlay's SmartDNS service. It gives me what I need, along with flexibility and good support backup when needed. I'd imagine some of the other services aren't too far behind, but reliability over a number of years now, has me down as a loyal customer.

I'm Irish and live abroad. These type of services allow me to watch Irish content. The Geo blocking is generally used because content is not licensed for that territory. If there was an easy, legal way for a national broadcaster to do that, I'm sure they would have no problem with it. Unfortunately, even though you may only ever wish to watch, Irish home produced content and sport, they will also have 'Desperate Housewives' and 'Eastenders' on their web Player. Hence the real problem.

Hopefully, as technology evolves, content will be made available based on your nationality, or your links to a region.

MC

[ovbg]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Beagslife

Hopefully, as technology evolves, content will be made available based on your nationality, or your links to a region.

MC

That's a very good point. In fact, already this can be seen. USTVNow is an American service a bit similar to TVCatchup or Filmon where they stream live American TV services. Their basic package includes ABC, NBC, CBS etc and is available to American citizens abroad can use with no geo-blocking. They also stream 200 UScsble channels, for a high fee, which the money goes to Dish Networks, so it's legit.

It is still very rare though. In most cases streaming sites are blocked for the licensing reasons you suggest.

[Thunderballs]

I did a bit of research around these services.

HideMyAss seems to get very mixed reports on ability to stream HD content.

https://www.streamvia.com/ offers a VPN USA and UK package that includes a unblock-us type service for netflix etc.. More expensive than unblock us but with the benefit for a couple of quid more of a VPN service too when you may want to use one for better security etc...

That sounds like a good deal to me.

I have no personal experience of any of these services.

[Peter the Great]

Quote:

Originally Posted by nexstar

Not according to the mods here, they're not. They are a 'legally grey' area which is why the Premier League thread was taken down in its entirety.

Graham

If they were illegal many well known businesses up and down the Country would be breaking the law. Where I work they use a US based proxy so the likes of streaming sites like Hulu and Netflix USA work.

[Beagslife]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Thunderballs

I did a bit of research around these services.

HideMyAss seems to get very mixed reports on ability to stream HD content.

https://www.streamvia.com/ offers a VPN USA and UK package that includes a unblock-us type service for netflix etc.. More expensive than unblock us but with the benefit for a couple of quid more of a VPN service too when you may want to use one for better security etc...

That sounds like a good deal to me.

I have no personal experience of any of these services.

OverPlay also offers a full VPN service for US$9.95 a month. I started off with that (it also includes SmartDNS) but found that the SmartDNS was really all that I needed. I think the real beauty of a DNS service, is that when streaming your broadband speeds are not affected.

MC

[Pat from Poole]

I subscribed to Overplay Smart DNS over the weekend so that I could get access to Al Jazeera Sports. Really impressed with what I have seen so far. Thanks very much to everybody on this forum for all the really useful info.

I have one more question about Overplay Smart DNS. Do you have to actually renew your subscription each month, or will it automatically renew and take the money from you without you having to physically process a payment on your Visa card?

Al Jazeera Sports seems to automatically renew if you take out a monthly subscription, but it wasn't wholly clear to me from the Overplay site as to how the subscriptions work with them.

Cheers.

[simola]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pat from Poole

I subscribed to Overplay Smart DNS over the weekend so that I could get access to Al Jazeera Sports. Really impressed with what I have seen so far. Thanks very much to everybody on this forum for all the really useful info.

I have one more question about Overplay Smart DNS. Do you have to actually renew your subscription each month, or will it automatically renew and take the money from you without you having to physically process a payment on your Visa card?

Al Jazeera Sports seems to automatically renew if you take out a monthly subscription, but it wasn't wholly clear to me from the Overplay site as to how the subscriptions work with them.

Cheers.

If you log into you overplay account and go to My Account > Subscriptions you'll be able to see if your subscription is set to auto renew.

If it is....and you need to cancel it's easy to do.

[Pat from Poole]

Great, thanks very much for that.

[Fatwaz]

interesting thread,hopefully one of you kind people can give me some advice.i'm off to the states in a bit and am looking into ways to watch sky go on my nexus 7 tablet via a vpn or smart dns.can anyone recommend which is better and a company to try?don't mind paying for a month to get it to work.there's a couple i've read about but still not sure which if any is best (overplay,vpnuk,hidemyass)

any help appreciated

[gother]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fatwaz

interesting thread,hopefully one of you kind people can give me some advice.i'm off to the states in a bit and am looking into ways to watch sky go on my nexus 7 tablet via a vpn or smart dns.can anyone recommend which is better and a company to try?don't mind paying for a month to get it to work.there's a couple i've read about but still not sure which if any is best (overplay,vpnuk,hidemyass)

any help appreciated

Give unotelly.com a try you get 8 day free trial anyway before having to pay a single penny so nothing to lose

[gother]

Unblock-us may be doing a vpn service too? They are beta testing something.

[-GONZO-]

Quote:

Originally Posted by gother

Unblock-us may be doing a vpn service too? They are beta testing something.

And it's not that

[gother]

Quote:

Originally Posted by -GONZO-

And it's not that

Spoil sport just a hint the will it tempt me to come back to unblock from unotelly?

[-GONZO-]

Quote:

Originally Posted by gother

Spoil sport just a hint the will it tempt me to come back to unblock from unotelly?

Well what can I say that I think I'm allowed to say.

It's most definitely something that unotelly and others don't do.
If its something your not too bothered about then it probably won't interest you at all.
However if its something that does interest you then your gonna love it and think it's awesome

[thedoofa]

It's actually something pretty amazing - then again I'm slightly biased!

It's a new service called NetProtect, where you can unblock, block any site you like - route it via any country you like. It's pretty simple really. All over DNS btw - this is *not* a VPN.

It will be launching in the fall - NetProtect is trying to hand back the control to you. It's your internet afterall! Enough of "supported" sites, you can support what ever you like.

If any of you are unblock-us subscribers who would like to get on the beta at some stage, let me know and I'll see what I can do.

[Philip Wales]

I use Un block us for Netflix and find it very good.

[denial_orstupid]

for people using the aj streaming for footie , do i need the full vpn service from overplay or can i just use the cheaper smart dns for it ?


many thanks
dan

[ovbg]

Just the cheaper Smart DNS, although that hasn't been configured for the iPad (yet) only the web browser.