The Internet has made the world more accessible, brought people together, and removed boundaries. Of course, there’s the whole porn thing too. Unfortunately, some artificial borders still exist, namely legal issues. For example, geographical-based content access has been driving me mad for years. You know what I’m talking about. You click on a video and you get a message saying “this video is not available in your country”. For me, the biggest offender has been sites like Hulu and Netflix. Because of some legal restriction, content that is visible to one country is not visible to me.
There have been ways around it. Some software will trick these sites into thinking you live elsewhere. It’s a bit of a hassle though so I personally have not explored those options. Last week, I was given a link to a solution I think works better than anything I’ve seen. Hola Unblocker is a simple and easy to use extension for your web browser. There is nothing to set up and no fiddling around with settings. You just install the extension and that’s all that’s required from you. You can toggle it on and off if you want.
I tested it with Hulu, Fox, and CBS. It works great with those sites. It did not work with Comedy Central. It’s not perfect but there’s a ton of content that’s available to me now that was blocked previously. I didn’t try it with Netflix but it’s supposed to work with that site as well.
If you live outside the United States, the above video won’t be playable. Let that be a test if you choose to install the browser extension. I can see it!
Games too. Erwin, perhaps you can shed some light on this. Please explain to me why a digital download of a game is more expensive in Australia compared to other countries. If I want Simcity to download it will cost me $79 in Oz. I happen to know that it costs $59 in the US. Seriously? $20 more? No packaging involved, no shipping. It’s the same computer bits (probably coming from the same server). The only explanation is that this is a stupid tax on those who don’t know what a proxy is.
Bryan, I think the short answer is just greed. Before digital distribution became feasible and popular, games in Australia were sold at a considerable markup in packaged goods form. Once digital distribution was a reality, I think game publishers decided that if Australians were used to paying the markup with boxed games, they’d pay the markup over the Internet as well.
You should just let me send you a free copy of SimCity.