Streaming services such as Netflix, Hulu and Disney+ are fast replacing the traditional over-the-air or cable TV services. Customers prefer to subscribe to these due to the availability of on-demand content. In today's world, everyone is busy with work, family and life in general.

They don't have time to sit around to wait for their favorite programs. They want to see it whenever they feel like it, hence the big uptake in streaming service subscriptions. However, the downside of streaming services is that the providers will usually implement geo blocking to prevent customers from outside a certain region from accessing some contents.

Is using a VPN legal?

While virtual private networks may conjure images of illegal activities and mysterious figures on the dark web, in United States and most Western democracies, using a VPN is still perfectly legal. In fact, most of the businesses using it for security reasons and provides a secure network connection to the employee's devices via corporate VPN encryption.

VPNs help anonymize the digital activities of their users. Because of this, ISPs and governments find it hard to track, monitor, or otherwise control the activities of VPN users.

However, keep in mind that not all VPNs are safe to use and any illegal activity conducted over a VPN remains just as illegal. For example, violating the Digital Millenium Copyright Act or downloading child pornography, are still illegal even with a VPN. The countries that have banned VPNs include China, Russia, Belarus, Iran, Iraq, Oman, Turkey, Uganda, North Korea, United Arab Emirates and Venezuela.

Why streaming businesses implement geo blocking?

There are many reasons why steaming service providers go to the effort to deploy geo blocking. The main reason is because of licensing restrictions. Movie studios like to dictate when and where specific contents can be streamed. Any licensing deals with streaming providers includes clauses such as which region can access certain contents as well as when. Streaming customers from the United States usually will get access the earliest for most contents. Regions further away such as Southeast Asian countries may only get access months later. If you need any kind of information on this article related topic click here: 911re