9 replies to this topic

[mm22]

I found a link to a YouTube video, described as "german party song", and tried to view it from Hong Kong. The message I got instead was "This video is not available in your country." (see attachment)

As it is the first time I see this message in Hong Kong and I don't think the content is blocked by the central government (doesn't seem to have anything to do with the June 4th movement...) I guess there is some kind of copyright issue and certain content is only shown in certain regions.

Is that so? I didn't know you could set that on YouTube.


 not_available_you_tube.JPG   16.33K   5 downloads

[Baniboy]

I have run into that too, when trying to view [uncensored] music videos, that sucks...(And one time I just tried viewing a completely normal music video but the same message..) Just use a proxy to access that, like 1stunblocker.com or something and you can access it.

You can use Tor, for almost complete anonymity, it's really safe.

Anyway, censorship sucks, especially when you can go around it with a few clicks...

[shadowx]

I beleive that the issue is because YT are now filtering content based on the country the copyright is held in (so probably germany in your example) and the country you are veiwing it in (hong kong) and if the copyright doesnt match up (for example in germany it might be legal to view copyrighted materials with certain conditions, but in hong kong it is against copyright laws to view any copyrighted materials regardless) then YT will block access so as not to get itself in trouble.

As for getting around this issue you might be able to define the preferences or settings in YT but if not you might be able to use a proxy server located in germany (or whatever country you want really, the source country is a good idea, so america for MTV/ABC stuff etc...).

Quote

Anyway, censorship sucks, especially when you can go around it with a few clicks...

It does but YT dont have a choice, its either that or pay billions in copyright payments.

Edited by shadowx, 04 June 2009 - 12:07 PM.

[harrison858]

hmm... Yea thats very smart of YouTube to do that. If YT got introuble for some reason i guess it would be the end of it. Of course, people would vote against it and hire lawyers.

Proxy servers are kind of slow for me.

[networker]

I ran into the same problem as well.It's frustrating when the u.s border is only a few miles away though. I don't know anything about proxy servers or if they'd be
worth trying.

[mm22]

I actually found this video on YouTube citing 2 or 3 methods to get around the problem, some of them, like tor.de already mentioned in this post



I haven't tried any of them yet, it is not a big issue to me... but using a proxy could have other advantages like increased anonymity, am I right?

[k_nitin_r]

Hi!

I've had the issue with a couple of other websites. BBC, for instance, acquires the rights to broadcast some content in a particular geographical location so if you aren't in that location, you'd get a message indicating that you can't view the content. It's primarily a licensing issue for BBC, but as the previous poster mentions, it could be because your government forbids such content.

Regards,
Nitin Reddy

[mm22]

k_nitin_r, on Jun 8 2009, 01:42 PM, said:

I've had the issue with a couple of other websites. BBC, for instance, acquires the rights to broadcast some content in a particular geographical location so if you aren't in that location, you'd get a message indicating that you can't view the content. It's primarily a licensing issue for BBC, but as the previous poster mentions, it could be because your government forbids such content.

Is all this an indication that the World Wide Web is not as international as its name and fame might suggest? Or maybe it is finally paying the price of being too "wild" before and big players (like YouTube and BBC) are starting to be willing to pay money and decrease their audience in order to do things properly and comply with local and international regulations. After all no other media can claim a reach as wide as the Web so it just seems strange for it to be "limited" but that is what normally happens with TV stations being localized to a certain area.

Just now I am thinking about satellite TV which is I assume available worldwide or at least in an area covering multiple countries, provided you have the right equipment (dish, decoder etc.). How is the "confinement" carried out in this case? Is a decoder whose sale is only legal in certain countries the only form of copyright enforcement?

[shadowx]

RE: proxies for youtube, if you google free proxy or something similar you will be given a huge list of free proxies you can use, some might work, others might not.

But beware, if you are in certain countries like china for example the use of proxies might be frowned upon or even illegal. Also in a lot of workplaces you arent allowed to use proxies as they can bypass security and other restrictions. But if at home and if its legal then theres nothing wrong with giving it a go

You can also look for lists of proxy IP addresses which you can then enter into the settings in your browser.

[Baniboy]

mm22, on Jun 8 2009, 05:21 AM, said:

I haven't tried any of them yet, it is not a big issue to me... but using a proxy could have other advantages like increased anonymity, am I right?

Tor is way better than a proxy server. Anyway, they aren't that slow, when I'm using a proxy, the video loads a little slower than usual but the video doesn't get interrupted.

If you're using tor, your connection can't be traced afterwards(almost impossible). It's the safest free way, if you want topay, you can try using a proxy that doesn't keep logs