Geolocation is a pinpoint to your device’s location by using your IP address or your Wifi (Addresses and Accuracy, 2019). If Wally had a device, geolocation is a feature that you could use when trying to find him in a Where’s Wally image.
Geolocation is a technological border that tends to enforce more effective restrictions than a physical border.
Do you ever get annoyed that you can’t find a program when you hear its on Netflix? Turns out it’s only on the US Netflix, not the Irish Netflix. You can blame geolocation for ruining your movie night in. When googling a good tv series or movie to use as an example there, I googled “good tv series on US Netflix”. As seen in image A, along came a link for “VPN for Netflix” (Pino and Tambini, 2019). A virtual private network can be used to hide your internet traffic, masking the location of an IP address (Lifewire, 2019). Think of geolocation as the physical wall, and a virtual private network as someone trying to get over that wall without getting noticed.
So let me introduce a con of geolocation: The underlying reason you have less to watch on Netflix is because they are using your geolocation to enforce their copyright regulations and licences. Your IP address is a sweet give away that you are not within the US border, but in my case in Ireland, to be more exact Dublin, and to be even more exact, the Berkeley library, Trinity College Dublin (Image B).
In this case, VPNs are used to try mask the location of an IP address in attempt to access the superior U.S content. Netflix are aware that people use VPNs to bypass geolocation methods, so they do not allow users to stream through a VPN connection (Netflix, 2019). If they detect that you are trying to access their service via VPN, they will deny access to you by presenting an error (Image C). Unfortunately for me, Netflix has become really good at detecting VPNs.
What is the worse than having limited content (Image D)? Having no content.
Spotify, the music streaming application, is only available in certain countries due to licencing (Quora.com, 2019) (thankfully including Ireland, Apple Music is overrated). The technological border presented by Spotify prevents people from e.g. Peru from availing of their service. Although, geolocation on Spotify has one upside to it- a great playlist (Image F).
To continue my list of questions- What’s worse than no content?
Paying for content and being restricted access due to a geoblock. In a similar sense to geolocation, geoblock is a technological border that restricts your access based on your location. Up until 2018, Europe enforced a geoblock. Before then, when travelling to Spain with my Irish Netflix account, I was refused access to the service for the duration of my vacation. I actually had to talk to the account-holders of my Netflix (also known as my parents) during the holiday. Outrageous, I know!
Europe has claimed there’s a free-border between countries (Koikkalainen, 2019), yet with geoblocking in place a technological border existed. Thankfully, In 2018 Europe has removed this geoblock (TechCrunch, 2019).
Geolocation has an effect on a particular information system in the U.S: online gambling. The complexity of the law and regulations revolving online-gambling in the U.S creates a grey area for compliance within state borders.
Geolocation is the technique used by gambling providers to enforce these regulations and laws. Online-gambling providers can guarantee their customers are within the correct state border to avail of their gambling services by using geolocation. PAiLottery.com is a gambling company within the state of Pennsylvania. To avail of their games for money, their customers must be within the Pennsylvania border (Pennsylvania iLottery, 2019). If their system can not determine the customer’s geolocation, they will be denied access to the games. Geolocation benefits PAiLottery.com, ensuring they do not violate state laws. On the other hand, geolocation creates a disadvantage for the user, denying them access if they are not within the border.
After discussing the restraints of geolocation, I think it’s best to leave the following link as a finishing note:
BEST VPNS !
References
Addresses, I. and Accuracy, G. (2019). Inside Secrets About IP Address Geolocation. [online] WhatIsMyIPAddress.com. Available at: https://whatismyipaddress.com/geolocation-accuracy [Accessed 24 Feb. 2019].
Business Insider. (2019). It’s 10 times better to be a Netflix subscriber in the US than in some other countries. [online] Available at: https://www.businessinsider.com/the-best-and-worst-countries-for-netflix-by-library-of-movies-and-shows-2016-2?r=US&IR=T [Accessed 24 Feb. 2019].
Geolocation.com. (2019). Geolocate the Location of an IP Address | Geolocation. [online] Available at: https://www.geolocation.com/ [Accessed 24 Feb. 2019].
Koikkalainen (2019). Free Movement in Europe: Past and Present. [online] migrationpolicy.org. Available at: https://www.migrationpolicy.org/article/free-movement-europe-past-and-present/ [Accessed 24 Feb. 2019].
Lifewire. (2019). What Exactly is a VPN & Why Use One?. [online] Available at: https://www.lifewire.com/what-is-a-vpn-2377977 [Accessed 24 Feb. 2019].
Netflix (2019). Netflix says ‘You seem to be using an unblocker or proxy.’. [online] Netflix. Available at: https://help.netflix.com/en/node/277 [Accessed 24 Feb. 2019].
Pennsylvania iLottery. (2019). What is geolocation and how does it work?. [online] Available at: https://help.pailottery.com/hc/en-us/articles/360000311827-What-is-geolocation-and-how-does-it-work- [Accessed 24 Feb. 2019].
Pino, N. and Tambini, O. (2019). The best Netflix series in the US (January 2019): fantastic Netflix shows. [online] TechRadar. Available at: https://www.techradar.com/news/television/best-netflix-series-25-great-netflix-tv-shows-1288230 [Accessed 24 Feb. 2019].
Quora.com. (2019). Why is Spotify not available in all countries? – Quora. [online] Available at: https://www.quora.com/Why-is-Spotify-not-available-in-all-countries [Accessed 24 Feb. 2019].
TechCrunch. (2019). Europe agrees to end geoblocks on travelers’ digital subscriptions by 2018. [online] Available at: https://techcrunch.com/2017/02/08/europe-agrees-to-end-geoblocks-on-travelers-digital-subscriptions-by-2018/ [Accessed 24 Feb. 2019].
Beyond The Border 