 claimed. Because of this, CPV is more likely to be successful in determining how much farther away a user's real location is from their claimed location. According to the researchers, "CPV correctly rejected 97% (1,749 of 1,803) of fraudulent location assertions that were >200km [~125 miles] away from the adversaries' true locations".
Why cloak location?
The use of VPNs to access content not otherwise available in a given market has long been a tactic used by people wanting to use officially licensed platforms to consume media. Often, the targets of such activity are streaming video platforms such as Netflix—with the end user paying both for content and a VPN through which to access it. With Netflix going global in January, the need to go to such technical lengths has lessened somewhat, though the US catalog continues to have more content. In 2013, an Australian consumer lobby encouraged the use of VPNs due to the disparity, which Sony executives pressured Netflix to curtail.
Similarly, another frequent target of location cloaking is BBC's iPlayer service. Unlike Netflix—a private company funded by a subscription model—programming produced by the BBC is funded with the proceeds of a compulsory television license (in effect, a tax). Consequently, the iPlayer service is unavailable outside the United Kingdom. This arrangement has peculiar implications. First, potential foreign customers have no mechanism by which they can pay the license fee to view iPlayer programs. Second, and most troubling, is that UK residents who hold a television license, and who are overseas on holiday or a protracted work assignment, won't have access either. At minimum, in the latter case, users have a reasonable expectation of service which is presently not provided—a legitimate case for location cloaking currently being curtailed by geolocation methods. This access issue was recently highlighted by UK culture secretary John Whittingdale.
What do you think?
Do you implement geolocation in your projects? Have you had to resort to using a VPN in order to overcome region restrictions? Share your experiences in the comments.
- PayPal's overbroad rules unfairly punish VPN users (ZDNet)
- ACCC warns site-blocking Bill may be used to 'intimidate' VPN users (ZDNet)
- ESPN exploring streaming deals with Amazon, others (ZDNet)
- 5 lessons IT learned from the Netflix cloud journey (TechRepublic)
- Locate devices on your wireless network in seconds with Fing (TechRepublic)
James Sanders is a Writer for TechRepublic. Since 2013, he has been a regular contributor to TechRepublic and Tech Pro Research.