Every once and a while an video or audio stream comes along that yells at me in bold helvetica “American Only”. Nothing drives me crazy more than being told I can’t partake in the media goodness because I’m 10 minutes from the American border. I could easily delve into a tirade against copyright laws, but I’ll save it for another time. What I really want to talk about is Hotspot Shield. It exists because a majority of the world lives outside of the US border (go figure), and we want to watch modern video as much as you guys stuck in the US.
The developers point out that it gives you a secure VPN connection while you’re at the library or local Starbucks, but what us geeks really hear when we see that written–AMERICAN IP ADDRESS. That’s right, Hotspot Shield tricks the internet into think you’re on an American connection. What does this mean for those outside the US? Hulu access, Lala access, and access to anything that those “democratic” media conglomerates in the US are currently producing.
The internet is a little more “free” today thanks to Hotspot Shield.
