3 ms·

There’s a third, valid reason you should use a VPN: accessing geo-restricted content. This use case doesn’t require any privacy guarantees above a normal user-

There’s a third, valid reason you should use a VPN: accessing geo-restricted content. This use case doesn’t require any privacy guarantees above a normal user-ISP relationship.

pasbesoin 9y ago
This has been locked down -- presumably including using targeting services provided by some businesses that apparently don't get reported on, much -- to the point where I've started talking about the "curated" Web/Internet. There are already large, shadowy forces increasingly differentiating traffic. This also includes access at all via a VPN; more and more, I run into web sites that refuse to serve you at all if you hit them with an IP address associated with a VPN. Or, they put you through rounds of Recaptcha. At first, it was just the big commercial streamers. Now, it's a lot more.
- mythrwy 9y ago
  Yes. And this applies much of the time even if you run your own VPN from a data center.
  - pasbesoin 9y ago
    That, I wasn't aware of. It's been on my mind to set one up. I principally use a VPN to keep Comcast and Verizon out of my business (there's no need I endorse for them to sniff -- much less inject into -- my traffic). As archive.is and others and now increasingly even Google block me and make me jump through hoops, I'd been thinking rolling my own was the next step. I suppose I can switch to business class Internet at home and run a local server, but... Curated Internet. One not of our choosing...
erikb 9y ago
Is that still possible? Around a year ago services like Netflix started to block VPNs to avoid exactly this usecase.
- TillE 9y ago
  EarthVPN has stopped working for me for BBC iPlayer, but NordVPN works fine. I think they change the IPs every so often.
- lagadu 9y ago
  Absolutely. It seems they only blocked a few specific large providers and service types. I often route my netflix traffic through a smaller provider and I never got any service interruption.

There’s a third, valid reason you should use a VPN: accessing geo-restricted content. This use case doesn’t require any privacy guarantees above a normal user-ISP relationship.

pasbesoin 9y ago

This has been locked down -- presumably including using targeting services provided by some businesses that apparently don't get reported on, much -- to the point where I've started talking about the "curated" Web/Internet. There are already large, shadowy forces increasingly differentiating traffic. This also includes access at all via a VPN; more and more, I run into web sites that refuse to serve you at all if you hit them with an IP address associated with a VPN. Or, they put you through rounds of Recaptcha. At first, it was just the big commercial streamers. Now, it's a lot more.

mythrwy 9y ago
Yes. And this applies much of the time even if you run your own VPN from a data center.
- pasbesoin 9y ago
  That, I wasn't aware of. It's been on my mind to set one up. I principally use a VPN to keep Comcast and Verizon out of my business (there's no need I endorse for them to sniff -- much less inject into -- my traffic). As archive.is and others and now increasingly even Google block me and make me jump through hoops, I'd been thinking rolling my own was the next step. I suppose I can switch to business class Internet at home and run a local server, but... Curated Internet. One not of our choosing...

erikb 9y ago

Is that still possible? Around a year ago services like Netflix started to block VPNs to avoid exactly this usecase.

TillE 9y ago
EarthVPN has stopped working for me for BBC iPlayer, but NordVPN works fine. I think they change the IPs every so often.
lagadu 9y ago
Absolutely. It seems they only blocked a few specific large providers and service types. I often route my netflix traffic through a smaller provider and I never got any service interruption.