paint-brush
How IP Obfuscation Works for Streaming Geo-Restricted Contentby@jasonwalmsley
2,761 reads
2,761 reads

How IP Obfuscation Works for Streaming Geo-Restricted Content

by Jason WalmsleyNovember 11th, 2020
Read on Terminal Reader
Read this story w/o Javascript
tldt arrow

Too Long; Didn't Read

IP obfuscation is a process of making the geographic location of a user to be concealed or masked. Streaming services are becoming the new method of content delivery to the audience worldwide. Netflix, Hulu, Disney Plus, HBO, SonyLiv, and many other channels produce movies, TV shows, and web series. These streaming services have limited licensing rights and can only be accessed from certain regions. These geo-restrictions make viewers and users think about ways to access and watch their favorite channels and shows.

Companies Mentioned

Mention Thumbnail
Mention Thumbnail
featured image - How IP Obfuscation Works for Streaming Geo-Restricted Content
Jason Walmsley HackerNoon profile picture

IP obfuscation is a process of making the geographic location of a user to be concealed or masked. IP obfuscation, which is also known as geo-spoofing, includes everything that makes a user's identity to be hidden or made anonymous with different methods.

To make them attain numerous benefits, including accessing geo-restricted sites and/or different websites that you need to hide your identity from.

How Does Obfuscation Technology Work?

On the other hand, streaming services are becoming the new method of content delivery to the audience worldwide. Netflix, Hulu, Disney Plus, HBO, SonyLiv, and many other channels produce movies, TV shows, and web series to keep the entertainment industry alive.

However, these streaming services have limited licensing rights and can only be accessed from certain regions. That is why we often see people searching for solutions to access this content. For example, there is a big hype of American streaming services or channels outside the US, such as HBO Max or Hulu from anywhere in the world.

Similarly, there are many ex-pats or travelers around the world looking for channels from their respective countries, such as Hulu in Singapore or BBC
iPlayer outside the UK, and the list goes on.

Even the channels like Netflix that are available worldwide can have different libraries for different regions. These geo-restrictions make viewers and users think about ways to access and watch their favorite channels and shows, and that is where IP obfuscation comes into play.

The online or internet-enabled devices are usually tracked with IP address and GPS location both; however, geo-spoofing techniques make a false location and signal to be created for your device's decoy location. The false location creation could then be used for multiple reasons, including geo-streaming.

While interviewing an editor of StreamingRant, we asked how viewers from different regions can watch content that is geo-restricted in their region, and his answer was "by geo-spoofing their locations." He further mentioned that "one of the best IP obfuscation techniques we have analyzed is obfuscated VPN servers."

Simply put, a VPN or any other IP obfuscation technique could be used to hide your geographic location. It makes the streaming service think that you are accessing the channel or platform from a location that is allowed or not restricted. It makes you access the streaming channels as well as watch your favorite shows and movies online.

Apart from VPNs, Network cloaking is another obfuscation technique. It attempts to provide wireless security by hiding the network name from public broadcast. But, since the service set identifier (SSID) is transmitted in various ways, network cloaking is not considered a robust security measure. Hiding the SSID broadcast on a router may inadvertently cause constant SSID disclosure by the network interface controller.

Why Should You Use IP Obfuscation?

Well, the uses of IP obfuscation could be various when termed into the wide picture. However, if we narrow it down to streaming the geo-restricted content, one of the most important benefits that could be attained is spoofing the streaming services for your location.

The streaming services have imposed regional restrictions on their platforms. Such as, Disney Plus is accessible in the USA, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the Netherlands. To get access to Disney Plus from any other region, you will have to trick or spoof your location from one of these regions.

This is why using IP obfuscation becomes essential in streaming geo-restricted content. Moreover, the other benefits of IP obfuscation could be safe and protected surfing and streaming. You could not be identified, and your personal information will remain protected from hackers or other users through this technique.

Final Words

Well, IP obfuscation is a concept well known in the tech world, and it has been surveilling the world for a long time now. However, after introducing digital content production and streaming services, it has gained prominence and importance.

Streaming services that produce content for specific regions could be accessed through IP obfuscation techniques, especially obfuscated VPN servers. This brings a wide range of movies, TV shows, and web-series to be available with ease, and you can binge-watch any of it regardless of what region you are in.