01.Shopping without walls Geo-blocking prevents shoppers in some
countries from accessing cheaper prices overseas through
Internet Service Provider (ISP) restrictions. We look at how
international companies such as Amazon, Apple and Microsoft
conduct geo-blocking, and offer some tips to circumvent the
price discrimination. What is geo-blocking? The internet is a
borderless world – news, shopping and social interaction with
people from all over the world is at our fingertips. But some
online retailers haven’t yet embraced this fact, relying instead
on copyright and licensing restrictions to vary prices around
the world – what’s known as “geo-blocking”. Restricting access
to content based on geographic location is a popular strategy
used by multinational tech giants so they can set different
prices in different regions of the globe. The frustrating
reality of geo-blocking is common for Australian consumers, who
are often charged hefty mark-ups on products from companies such
as Apple, Microsoft and Amazon, base