Trump New US President, What Next for Netflix Users Who Bypass Geo-Restrictions with VPNs?

There are a lot of speculations around the President-elect Trump’s measures for Internet and data security, post-January. Most users, who are mostly shocked by his win, have one advice, switch to proxy servers, VPN or Tor websites if you don’t want the government to spy on you.

The Congress’s take on security issue

Amid the loud allegations that Russian hackers were behind the Presidential election win of the Republican business tycoon Trump, ironically, in his campaign, never did he once raise or graze the idea of cyber security. The only aspect related to the Internet that Trump was vocal about was strengthening the cyber defense against militant attacks. Cyber security will now involve the active participation of the U.S Department of Justice which will coordinate with a review team to audit the government’s IT systems.

Another concern related to cyber security and surveillance is the renewals of section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Survey Act (FISA) which is specific to target certain people (non-citizens) of interest. Trump is more likely to actively dive in and strengthen pro-surveillance than the old government.

The wedge between the pro-advocates of free-will and the government grows deeper with the approach each wants to take on dealing with the latest Yahoo and DNC Bank data breach. While both agree that the situation demands immediate action, there is a strong rift in the details.

The common man stuck in between is confused whether to stay hidden from the government by switching to proxy servers and VPN or stay as is. For, those who wish to switch to VPN’s, there is one huge drawback, Netflix’s intolerance to access from proxy sites.

Netflix’s intolerance to proxy sites

If you’re accessing Netflix, it wants the user to adhere to its usage ways. Going by the latest press release from Netflix, it is evident that the servers want to block any unauthorized access through VPN proxies. VPN’s, apart from providing online anonymity, also are known to circumvent licensing restrictions. The company has proactively launched a surveillance team to track down VPN users and block their access from both infrastructure and content.

Although Netflix has frowned upon the use of VPN’s and has had a strong geo-restriction, the current news comes as a step towards making broadcasting more global culling the need to resort to a proxy. Insiders say that this contemplative move of restricting proxy servers is targeted at the Chinese audience (21.6 million users). By blocking off access, Netflix strives towards entering the Chinese market. While Netflix is trying to make its brand strong, users are left with no choice but to play by its rules.