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Comment by _wolfie_ | Hacker News Reader

> Netflix, Spotify and others are investing heavily into VPN detection technology

I never understood why. It seems to me that only effect of this "investing" is surge in piracy.

I assume the push comes from the original license holders of the content, wanting to bargain effectively with multiple parties region by region around the world.

Back in the day Netflix really didnt seem to care about region blocking beyond the most basic check, and why would they - you pay your subs and you get content.

Being able to get more content by proxying to say the US etc actually got them more subscribers not less.

Why can't they do region locking based on the billing address of the credit/debit card used to pay for their services?

Travel. Content is licensed to geographic areas, not people/billing areas.

I understand the legal _why_, but legal stuff is maleable, much like most things that people have created.

> but legal stuff is maleable

... but I don't think Disney is.

(And yes, Disney+ is technically only available outside of Asia - while some services inside of Asia is branded Disney+, they are not even the same system at all!)

Which is utterly, brainlessly, grubbily stupid as a facet of modern digital content streaming. Aside from being absurd in principle, will large numbers of people suddenly migrate to another country so they can use its Netflix selection? Probably not.

My guess would be that they are required to enforce geoblocking as part of their licensing agreements with the studios.

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