Geolocked content no longer supported
I thought to repost it here for discussion; there's another copy in Feedback for PIA.
PIA recently released a new policy about geo-locked content. It can be foundhere. For those who aren't really inclined to read the link it just means that you can't use the VPN to access netflix. Or anything else that could be considered violating a geolock.
PIA recently released a new policy about geo-locked content. It can be foundhere. For those who aren't really inclined to read the link it just means that you can't use the VPN to access netflix. Or anything else that could be considered violating a geolock.
The way I read the policy that would also include geolocks which prevent people from accessing sites outside of their country. Of course I am thinking of places like China, UAE, and other such instances.
After speaking with chat support I was instructed that this only applied to copyright as per US law. It is my understanding that the law applicable is the law where the person is resident. This would leave open the possibility of being unable to use the VPN to access perfectly lawful content in your own country if that content is protected by copyright in another country (goodby fair use doctrine).
Also, the post makes references to "international laws," which they are abiding by. International laws generally don't apply to private actors like companies and really only to states.
My reading of the situation is that PIA is using fictional laws in attempt to propagate a distinctly American notion of copyrights. Which is largely out of step with the rest of Western democracies. Their net also is much wider than they intimated to me via chat.
I find this distincly disappointing.
I find this distincly disappointing.
Comments
PIA is just saying they cannot legally get away with doing this step for you.
*Edit* I object to you impersonating me UBob. Furthermore you are plainly wrong about how this is being done. I am not going to educate you since you do not read, and cannot understand anything.
First of all, you OS, browser and applications can all leak. The VPN helps quite a bit, but there are always ways around any precaution.
The easiest way to determine what nation a user is in for a service is also the one most likely to have huge numbers of false results. That is a simple ping. Do this from any three servers not at the same location and you can narrow down the geolocation to within a few meters. But congested networks, and all manner of other things can cause this to show drastically different results.
So most geo-locked content sellers are not going to resort to this. Instead they opt for something that looks like it will work, but has almost no chance of locking out customers in the right areas. The good news is that these "solutions" are pathetic. If you know what you are doing, they will never mess with you.
Without spoiling the means they are actually using, or how easy it is to counter, here is a free application to get past the Netflix geolock.
https://www.smartflix.io/
I have not tried it since I do not use Netflix. But there are plenty of such fixes for the problem.
PIA is merely stating that they can't lend their "support" for circumvention of geo-blocking, anymore than can they lend their support for downloading copyrighted movies via bittorrent. Basically the same issue -- PIA won't lend their technical support for violating copyrights, or in the case of Netflix national licensing restrictions. If you want to do so than you're on your own -- don't fill out a support ticket and ask for their help.
Where I do object to this new policy statement is it appears that PIA was just looking for an easy way out of having to respond to the numerous complaints from customers who have found that geoblocking circumvention no longer works for them. I've had the same thing happen myself with accessing BBC iPlayer. It used to work for me when I'd connect to UK London or UK Southampton. Now it doesn't. However, I understand enough about how the game is played to know it's not PIA's fault. They got blacklisted by BBC. With the lack of IPv4 addresses there may not be anything PIA can do about it. But too many other PIA customers are too naive to understand that.
I believe this new policy reflects PIA looking for an easy excuse, rather than having to explain, over and over again, the technical limitations of the service they offer. Instead, they chose the easy way out with a policy statement that says they won't "support" geoblocking circumvention. Indeed, when it comes to being blacklisted (as many vpns have found themselves to be) there is little they can do to "support" geoblocking circumvention. They certainly can't make any guarantees because what may work today can easily get blacklisted tomorrow. Sure, you can jump ship and go to another vpn, and maybe that special site you want to access will work today. But don't be surprised if in a week or two that other vpn also finds itself blacklisted from the site you're trying to access.
Therefore, from a marketing and legal standpoint, "Enjoy unrestricted access even when you are abroad! Stream iPlayer by BBC..." etc. is over-broad and potentially misleading.
However, I in no way agree with the idiot Robert Lazar and his sock puppets (4chanfan, _Omninegro_, Marco_Wollank, TiffanyNichols, et al) who believes this in any way has something to do with CISA and "monitoring."
I use Linux.
For anyone else this would be more than enough explanation. But I have to presume you need some details. Fine.
Linux is not Windows. Linux is free as in freedom and even as in free beer. You do not have to pay to use any good copy of Linux. You only need to get a copy. Since you are not paying for it, the server costs would come out of the developers pocket. Instead I and many other Linux users grabs a copy of whatever versions of Linux I want off of Torrents.
So you see? Torrents have legitimate and very legal uses too. Just because someone can steal stuff via a torrent, that does not mean they must. So torrents will remain supported.
And you are quite wrong about Linux. Linux is the backbone of the entire Internet, and even the cell phone you rely on for half your posts here.
"Android is a mobile operating system (OS) currently developed by Google, based on the Linux kernel and designed primarily for touchscreen mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets."
That is the very first line of the Wikipedia page. And you just again confirmed that account is used by robert_lazar.
The way it reads to me is; there are laws in place, PIA is bound by these laws, PIA will not help you break these laws. What's the problem? Now, nowhere does it say that you won't be able to use PIA's service to break these laws all it says is that they won't be supporting and assisting you in doing so. If you decide to break these laws do you need PIA's permission to do so? Do they have to help you to do so and in fact become your accomplice?
I just don't get it. What are people expecting? Is it at all rational for any PIA user to expect PIA to assist that user in doing something illegal?
Comparing this situation to PIA's position on torrenting is just stupid. BitTorrent is a communications protocol, it's perfectly legal, why wouldn't they offer support and assistance with it.
as a postscript i have found out that uninstalling and reinstalling PIA seems to allow access again.
Using a vpn service, PIA or otherwise, should give no trouble circumventing your blocked torrent sites. However you'll definitely want to have DNS leak protection enabled in the PIA app since most UK gov't mandated site blocking is done at the DNS level.