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Comment by madmulita | Hacker News Reader

"Sorry, WaterBear is not available in your country yet but we hope to be there soon!"

I guess I'll keep pirating.

> Where is WaterBear available?

> WaterBear is available in Australia, Austria, Belgium, Bermuda, Bonaire, Bulgaria, Canada, Cook Islands, Croatia, Cyprus, Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Kenya, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Mozambique, New Zealand, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovenia, Slovakia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom and the USA.

This will hopefully save some people a click.

Yet they don't even SAY that if you're not in one of those countries.

> Watch hundreds of award-winning documentaries, anywhere, for free

It would be nice if they removed 'anywhere' in that case.

I mean, isn't the US "anywhere"? The world doesn't exist outside the US

Get a wireguard vpn from mulvad.

Interesting thought: isn't using a vpn a form of pirating? Can you even "pirate" something that is offered free (just not to you)?

Legal and moral definition of piracy vary.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Online_piracy

Unfortunately, if you don't have permission to download then you may be committing piracy. In this case, entire countries apparently don't have permission.

If the system is guessing location based on IP address, then granting permission based on that guess, then I expect their permission grant should be valid. How would a user know that they have bugs in their permission system?

If you connect directly first, are told "no", then bypass the system with a VPN: You probably understand that you aren't supposed to have access.

What will happen if you commit this type of piracy? I don't think there's a loss of revenue, or damages so pursuing pirates likely isn't worth it.

Obligatory, I am not a lawyer.

Pretty much. Intent matters.

If you connect over a VPN with the purpose of circumventing geoblocking, it could be judged equivalent to copyright infringement in many jurisdictions.

If you just default to connect over VPN and weren’t aware that by doing so you now have access to content you otherwise would not be allowed to access in your area, you’re in the clear.

No a vpn gives you an ip number in the country where the vpn provider has servers.

Makes it appear as if you are accessing the internet from that country.

I don't have moral issues with it whatsoever.

Morally of course I agree, I think the parent was wondering if this technically violates copyright law, though. It seems like it might if WaterBear doesn't have the right to distribute their content in your country for whatever reason.

Right.

Content creator: Can you distribute my content? Only in $list-of-countries though.

Distributor: Sure.

If the distributor permits VPNs, how are they sure they are authorized to distribute?

More likely:

Content creator: Can you distribute my content everywhere?

Distributor: Sure. But because of $reasons, it will only be $list-of-countries

> isn't using a vpn a form of pirating?

sorry, what?

Sorry, of course I did not mean in general but only in this specific context where the purpose is to spoof your location in order to circumvent location-based restrictions.

Same for me. Message appears right on the front page.

Which country are you connecting from?

Not parent, but I get the same message connecting from Uruguay.

Lucky you, I'm in Peronistan.

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