Breaking Bad

Is it just me....or are you champing at the bit for the next installment of BREAKING BAD?

Now...if only there was some way of getting it moments after it finishes screening in the States....

[evil laugh grows louder and louder]

Doing the geoblock

There's been a bit of brow beating recently in the tech areas of the Sydney papers about the morality of geoblocking and subsequent watching of services such as NetFlix and Hulu Plus etc. This is an interesting progression from what used to be written about - namely bittorrenting and demonstrates that as the speed of the web has increased, so too has the viewing habits of the users. Where once, people waited a few hours for a free torrent of their favourite show to download, now we want it instantaneously and more interestingly, are willing to pay for it.

This is where the moral argument comes into play. Is it less 'evil' to pay for a service in the USA than to download a free torrent? Services such as Netflix and Hulu do pay producers for their content, but the rights are for US content and it can be argued Australians are ripping off producers by not contributing to the Australian companies that pay substantial prices for Australian distribution.

Personally, I think that the world is changing, and in this internet age, we shouldn't be limiting ourselves to these ideas of geography anymore. The internet is a medium which joins the globe together, and copyright laws and distribution rights are lagging behind the reality of the everyday consumer. If we want a movie, we'll find it. If we want to see the latest episode of Dexter, we'll download or stream it. TV is old and boring, and cable is better, but too damn expensive. Streaming is the new way forward. Even Foxtel is getting into the act with its new Foxtel Play service, recognising the shift in Australian's viewing habits. However, it is still at the moment a poor cousin to what Australians can access through a bit of simple geo-blocking and a subscription to Netflix and Hulu Plus.

How to geo block? I've tried a couple of DNS blocking services (simply for research purposes for this article of course) - Unblock US and Smart DNS. Both have a short free trial and both work extremely well for the purpose they're designed for - giving access to people outside the U.S. to the popular sites. Setup is easy and you don't have to be locked into your computer to watch, as a simple bit of back door fiddling allows consoles such as Xbox and PS3 to gain you access through your loungeroom TV.

So why wait? Unblock Netflix today!

The world really is your oyster!