Get around geo-blocking with free download

Michael Sutherland-Shaw
A&E Reporter

Students can download a new program on campus computers, which allows them to access Internet content forbidden to web surfers outside of the United States.  

“We have a zero content filter,” said Kevin Adams, associate director of IT at Humber.  He explained that with the current IT mandate at Humber, it’s not their place or responsibility to interfere with students and professors on what they want to download on school computers.

The program, Hotspot Shield, allows you to hide your IP while online and access all content without censorship.

 As content moves online, everyone wants to have the ability to access it, though for Canadians it has been a difficult task as they are denied access to a number of U.S. TV sites.

“It’s a total piss off. I hate how American websites like NBC.com block content and make me wait until CTV gets it,” said fourth year business student, Chris Macdonald.

TV critic Bill Brioux said Canadians are upset about being geo-blocked.

“Canadian consumers who want to see stuff on Hulu or NBC.com are frustrated because the majority are geo-blocked,” he said.

Geo-blocking is a technology that is used to prevent access to web sites from visitors outside of the country.  
Brioux said Canadians are geo-blocked because domestic broadcasters buy the rights to the U.S. content, and have to negotiate separate digital rights to put it on their sites.

Putting limits on accessibility is another example of how, “they’re looking for money as an extension of their content,” said Brioux.

Brioux said the negative side of this is when stations like CTV or Global buy the rights to these programs, they have already aired in the States and are old by the time they are accessible to Canadian users.

However, “you can now go to sites like anchorfree.com and you can cloak your Internet provider service so that the site you’re trying to read can’t tell whether you live in the States or Canada,” said Brioux.

Hotspot Shield is available for free at www.freeanchor.com