What do data mining and Doctor Who have in common?
Start with data mining. Some companies sell different versions of a database or subscription service, based on your location. They determine your location based on your computer’s IP address. For example, if you live in the UK and you want full access the UK version of the database, then you pay full price, but if you want to add other locations, you can get it at a fraction of the cost. In other cases, due to licensing restrictions, if you have an IP address outside a specific country, you simply can’t access the website.
It is the same for Doctor Who. If you live inside the UK, you can watch Doctor Who live and streaming via the BBC. However, if you try to access from the United States, you get this message.
Basically, you can’t view it without having an IP address in the UK.
But you really want to access a particular website and crunch all that data… or you want to really watch Doctor Who live, the day it comes out. What do you do?
Simple: Sign up for a VPN service.
Not all VPN options are the same. Some have point to point utility. For example: from your laptop you can securely connect to your company’s office router. This is what most telecommuters are used to. This is not the type of VPN I am talking about. The VPN I am talking about is a location select-able VPN. How it works: I buy access to the service. Next I can browse the Internet, securely, appearing as if I am in San Francisco, Dallas, Amsterdam or London (London is in the UK).
So go out and get your private VPN. It will take a few minutes to install the VPN client on your Mac or PC. Next, data mine or watch Doctor Who to your heart’s content.
Some VPN services:
http://witopia.net
https://www.privateinternetaccess.com/
http://www.ipvanish.com/
The 12th Doctor’s first episode premieres live on the BBC Saturday August 23rd at 7:50 GMT.