After Netflix crackdown on border-hopping, Canadians ready to return to piracy
I&#x27;ve been rather stunned at how no one has come up with a strong workaround to this yet. It&#x27;s really quite simple, we just need slick, easy-to-use software for it.<p>Make software that both turns your home computer into a single-user VPN server, that lets you set the maximum upload bandwidth to ~5mbit&#x2F;s or so, and lets you <i>only</i> pass through Netflix content; and also gives you a VPN client that lets you connect to another&#x27;s computer and <i>only</i> uses the VPN for Netflix content, allowing your web browser and everything else to continue working through your regular ISP. The whitelisting eliminates the traditional concern of someone using your connection for torrents or worse illegal content. The bandwidth limiting ensures smooth QoS for your own network. Latency here is not a concern at all ... it&#x27;s streaming video.<p>Once you have this software, it&#x27;s simply a matter of setting up a message forum somewhere where people say, &quot;I am from &#x27;country X&#x27; and want to watch content from &#x27;country Y&#x27;&quot;, and waiting for someone in the reverse situation to come along. As long as your connections are always-on, this works perfectly.<p>As an alternative to the fact that more people will want US Netflix than any other region, people could also offer server-only access for nominal Paypal fees. Eg lease out a 5mbit&#x2F;s link for $10&#x2F;mo. The price would naturally follow supply and demand.<p>I can change my IP any time, and there is no possible way Netflix can ban my hostmask as a VPN (all of Time Warner Cable in Columbus, Ohio.)<p>And if this forces Netflix to start charging by billing region ... <i>good</i>!! Now we can offer services that let people pay for the regions they want to access! Or if they try and block that too, then perhaps people sharing VPNs can share their account logins next.<p>Either way, this is a cat-and-mouse game with a <i>very clear</i> end-game. Why the hell is no one working on this problem? There are <i>millions</i> of people affected by this VPN block nonsense.<p>On that note, I have a US 300&#x2F;20 connection I&#x27;d be happy to share, and I can do the software the hard way with BSD&#x2F;pf. Is there anyone with an always-on JP connection that would like to trade with me? I would also be willing to pay someone for a residential ISP VPN connection in Japan, which I would use exclusively for Netflix only. I&#x27;d really love to be able to use Netflix Japan again; it&#x27;s helped a lot with my listening comprehension in studying the language.<p>(Side note: this proxy software wouldn&#x27;t have to be <i>just</i> Netflix. It could be a wonderful anti-geolocking system. The major VPN and VPS models are clearly detectable and blockable. This could allow fine-grained whitelisting or blacklisting and decentralization of VPN services.)