4 ms·

Used VPN for cheaper YT Premium? Congrats, your subscription has been canceled

27 points by miles 2y ago

znpy 2y ago
Everyday youtube feels more and more like an extortion. By the way, I wonder if that kind of geo-discrimination would be legal in the eu.
- __m 2y ago
  It’s not legal within the EU. So if you subscribe in the Netherlands, the provider can’t restrict you from using it in another EU country
throwaway44773 2y ago
Of course, monopolists force you to pay extortionist prices for their services in your local market, while they get to take advantage of the global market to keep down their expenses, and move their revenue around to avoid taxes. If corporations get to be global citizens, why can't humans be free to buy anywhere in the world, and move anywhere in the world however they please.
noprocrasted 2y ago
I’m pretty convinced this will result in a loss. People savvy enough to use a VPN and pull this trick are also savvy enough to use ad blockers and most likely do use them already. So now instead of Google getting $2/month (or whatever the price these people were paying), they get $0. Congrats I guess!
- halJordan 2y ago
  Oh you haven't heard? Youtube is a/b testing in-stream ads. They're gonna get their advertising onto your eyeballs.
  - brokenmachine 2y ago
    Not my eyeballs.
ElCapitanMarkla 2y ago
I tried this out a couple of years ago as more of an experiment than anything else. $20 for a years worth of Argentinian YouTube or whatever it was. Within a couple of hours they locked my account and kept my money.
rtpg 2y ago
Regional restrictions are always a bit terrifying to navigate because there are so many one-way streets. Change your Spotify credit card 2 years after you moved, realize you now can’t access a bunch of music you previously could. Same with a bunch of cross-region stuff. I get so much of this is downstream of rights agreements and ultimately I don’t have the right to keep everything forever, but it’s annoying!
- dzhiurgis 2y ago
  Paying for a iCloud family plan, but your "country" is different from theirs? Yes you can share storage, but not TV/Music subscription... Don't even get me started on EV charging apps that are only available in local app store. Decided to switch country on your account so you can finally download above? Well cancel all your Family Subscriptions first (it might take up to 2 weeks for Apple's servers to update and we will keep iCloud data for 2 weeks).
- Rygian 2y ago
  > ultimately I don’t have the right to keep everything forever You meant to write "ultimately I don’t have the right to keep _renting a time limited access_ to everything forever" If the music is in your hard drive, you have the ability to keep it forever.
  - JohnFen 2y ago
    > you have the ability to keep it forever. And the right to do so.
mococa 2y ago
He was lucky that only the registration was canceled; knowing Google, it could have affected the entire Google account.
- a2128 2y ago
  A few months ago Google suddenly emailed me saying they're changing my account region to Russia, the country threatening to invade us, and I couldn't figure out a way to do anything about it. It was quite insulting. My theory for why is that I used a Finnish VPN, and Google famously uses outdated GeoIP databases which believed the IP to be in Russia, despite every other public lookup I could find saying it's in Finland. Whenever I would visit a Google site not logged in, it'd be served in Russian. So eventually they decided I must be Russian.
- belter 2y ago
  And the Android phone bricked at the distance....
  - BenjiWiebe 2y ago
    Has this ever happened? I have heard of people losing their Google account.
    - wetpaws 2y ago
      [dead]

27 points by miles 2y ago

znpy 2y ago

Everyday youtube feels more and more like an extortion. By the way, I wonder if that kind of geo-discrimination would be legal in the eu.

__m 2y ago
It’s not legal within the EU. So if you subscribe in the Netherlands, the provider can’t restrict you from using it in another EU country

throwaway44773 2y ago

Of course, monopolists force you to pay extortionist prices for their services in your local market, while they get to take advantage of the global market to keep down their expenses, and move their revenue around to avoid taxes. If corporations get to be global citizens, why can't humans be free to buy anywhere in the world, and move anywhere in the world however they please.

noprocrasted 2y ago

I’m pretty convinced this will result in a loss. People savvy enough to use a VPN and pull this trick are also savvy enough to use ad blockers and most likely do use them already. So now instead of Google getting $2/month (or whatever the price these people were paying), they get $0. Congrats I guess!

halJordan 2y ago
Oh you haven't heard? Youtube is a/b testing in-stream ads. They're gonna get their advertising onto your eyeballs.
- brokenmachine 2y ago
  Not my eyeballs.

ElCapitanMarkla 2y ago

I tried this out a couple of years ago as more of an experiment than anything else. $20 for a years worth of Argentinian YouTube or whatever it was. Within a couple of hours they locked my account and kept my money.

rtpg 2y ago

Regional restrictions are always a bit terrifying to navigate because there are so many one-way streets. Change your Spotify credit card 2 years after you moved, realize you now can’t access a bunch of music you previously could. Same with a bunch of cross-region stuff. I get so much of this is downstream of rights agreements and ultimately I don’t have the right to keep everything forever, but it’s annoying!

dzhiurgis 2y ago
Paying for a iCloud family plan, but your "country" is different from theirs? Yes you can share storage, but not TV/Music subscription... Don't even get me started on EV charging apps that are only available in local app store. Decided to switch country on your account so you can finally download above? Well cancel all your Family Subscriptions first (it might take up to 2 weeks for Apple's servers to update and we will keep iCloud data for 2 weeks).
Rygian 2y ago
> ultimately I don’t have the right to keep everything forever You meant to write "ultimately I don’t have the right to keep _renting a time limited access_ to everything forever" If the music is in your hard drive, you have the ability to keep it forever.
- JohnFen 2y ago
  > you have the ability to keep it forever. And the right to do so.

mococa 2y ago

He was lucky that only the registration was canceled; knowing Google, it could have affected the entire Google account.

a2128 2y ago
A few months ago Google suddenly emailed me saying they're changing my account region to Russia, the country threatening to invade us, and I couldn't figure out a way to do anything about it. It was quite insulting. My theory for why is that I used a Finnish VPN, and Google famously uses outdated GeoIP databases which believed the IP to be in Russia, despite every other public lookup I could find saying it's in Finland. Whenever I would visit a Google site not logged in, it'd be served in Russian. So eventually they decided I must be Russian.
belter 2y ago
And the Android phone bricked at the distance....
- BenjiWiebe 2y ago
  Has this ever happened? I have heard of people losing their Google account.
  - wetpaws 2y ago
    [dead]