When the Government proposed their ‘Telecommunications (Interception and Access) Amendment (Data Retention) Bill 2014‘ we were all outraged & vowed to vote it down …
Of course those in power paid no notice & collection & storage of your metadata began.
Then the Copyright Amendment (Online Infringement) Bill 2015 was proposed & passed allowing for the ‘blocking of sites that have the primary purpose of infringing copyright or facilitating the infringement of copyright’ i.e. Bye bye Pirate Bay & all of the better known BitTorrent sites – of course this has made little difference to the ‘Nation of Pirates’ and down-loading of free-to-air content that is delayed & trickle-fed down-under has continued unabated.
Now Netflix, the bastion of those who are prepared to pay for content otherwise denied to us, have begun ‘geo-blocking’ – restricting those smart enough to have bought access to the US Netflix service so that they can sample the full array of Digital Offerings, to the mere third that has been served up to the Second-Rate citizens of Australia.
Enough Already … If the media cartels cannot see their business practices eroding their ‘copyright protection’ and refuse to treat all consumers as equals, then it’s inevitable that the revolution will steamroll their firewalls & find other ways to get the content we all want!
So how to become a true digital citizen?
First a good VPN (Virtual Private Network) – a method of connecting anonymously with a server located elsewhere & exchanging encrypted data that’s impervious to Government ‘sniffing’. There are many around, but I can recommend Slick VPN as a reputable & innovative supplier of a quality service. It’s important to select a provider that proactively seeks routes around any ‘blockages’ that content providers may attempt to enforce. They also need to have a wide network of servers to accept your encrypted connection so that the chances of becoming ‘blocked’ are minimal.
A Word of Warning: Whilst accessing financial institutions may seem like the ideal time to ensure privacy, DO NOT try to access whilst connected via a VPN – Banks have built in safe guards that are sure to be triggered if you appear to be accessing from random points around the globe! I like to keep a VPN-free browser set-up for when accessing these secured services.
With the right VPN you should easily be able to privately access the sites & content that you want.
Something special for Netflix users …
You’re probably now aware of the changing catalogue of Netflix … in fact it’s different for each country & constantly changing which means a title you spotted last week may be gone before you watch it. Now there is uNoGS” – or the unofficial Netflix online Global Search – that allows you to search Netflix’s catalogue across every country (Where they exist).
Once you’ve found what you are looking for, you change your VPN settings to indicate that’s where you are connecting from … And with Slick VPN that’s simple!
Privacy & YOUR choice of content – it’s a digital nirvana!