I mostly focus on privacy and security here at
PCMag, but I know from our surveys that about 25
percent of readers use VPNs to access blocked
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where customers live. The US might have shows
that aren’t available in the UK, and vice versa.
VPNs are great for accessing region-blocked
content—that is, online content that’s accessible
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Companies are able to screen out your location by
looking at your IP address. When you use a VPN,
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which changes your public IP address. By selecting
a VPN server in the region with the content you
want to watch, you can make it appear as if you’re
in the area approved for viewing.
This works in theory, but using a VPN to access
blocked content is a tricky thing. First, you have to
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want to access, which is usually accomplished by a
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service that does what you need, it might not
continue to do so. Streaming companies actively
block VPNs, so a service that works today may not
work tomorrow.
If you’ve found an online stream of the sports
program you can no longer access, though, a VPN
might help! Friends have told me the MLB streams
baseball games for free, but only for those who live
outside the US. Those same friends have used
VPNs to get around that restriction by making it
appear that they are in a location that can access
those free MLB streams.
Max Eddy
@wmaxeddy
