Thread: VOD Netflix/Streaming Services
View Single Post
Old 22-04-2015, 12:38   #1613
OLD BOY
Rise above the players
 
Join Date: Mar 2008
Location: Wokingham
Services: 2 V6 with 360 software, ITVX, 4+, Prime, Netflix, Apple+, Disney+, Paramount+, Discovery+
Posts: 15,086
OLD BOY is cast in bronzeOLD BOY is cast in bronzeOLD BOY is cast in bronzeOLD BOY is cast in bronze
OLD BOY is cast in bronzeOLD BOY is cast in bronzeOLD BOY is cast in bronzeOLD BOY is cast in bronzeOLD BOY is cast in bronzeOLD BOY is cast in bronzeOLD BOY is cast in bronzeOLD BOY is cast in bronzeOLD BOY is cast in bronzeOLD BOY is cast in bronzeOLD BOY is cast in bronzeOLD BOY is cast in bronzeOLD BOY is cast in bronzeOLD BOY is cast in bronzeOLD BOY is cast in bronzeOLD BOY is cast in bronzeOLD BOY is cast in bronzeOLD BOY is cast in bronze
Re: Netflix/Streaming Services
Quote:
Originally Posted by steveh View Post
It's the IP address that is used to determine the location, there isn't another way of spoofing the location.

For those confused on what these services do:

Each time you go to netflix.com it will use a database to convert your broadband IP address into a country so it knows what territory to serve you up. What a smart DNS does is act like a normal DNS server but replace the DNS entries for the streaming service you want to access with a proxy server located in the country that the streaming service serves.

So instead of a lookup for netflix.com resolving to (say) 1.2.3.4 as normal, it will now resolve to (say) 5.6.7.8, which will be the smart DNS company's proxy server. That proxy will then relay your HTTP requests to 1.2.3.4, making netflix.com think that the request originated at the proxy server and serving up the territory for the country where it thinks the proxy server is located, not where it originally came from.

Obviously it would be trivial for Netflix to cut out smart DNS services if they wanted to as they can easily spot the IP addresses of the proxy servers where there are way more subscribers than a normal broadband connection. However, that would impact on their sales and as long as the content owners don't put pressure on them they're happy just to ignore them.
Can't they just require a login and find your location/status from their records?
OLD BOY is offline