How You Can Watch BBC iPlayer Wherever You Are in 2021

Have you noticed the increasing number of websites that are becoming inaccessible?  Once upon a time you could click on pretty much any YouTube video but nowadays so many are country restricted i.e. you can only watch from specific countries.    I was trying to watch a movie clip the other day and I got this message.  It was a YouTube video from Channel 4 the British TV channel.  Which is odd really as this happened from the UK and I could access all of the actual Channel 4 site and the thousands of programmes on it (including where the clip was from).

channel 4 blocked

I see it more and more, sometimes with more information but very rarely.  The reason is normally due to licensing issues or restrictions, the technology used to block you is called Geotargeting.  The restrictions are based on your IP address – many web sites now look up your location from this.  Sometimes it’s for good things perhaps to customise your experience of their site. All the search engines for example will customize your results to your actual location. So if you just search for ‘plumber’ you’ll get results of local plumbers not from the other side of the world.

The problem is that there seem to be far, far more restrictions than there are benefits to this technology.  I watch a lot of shows on Channel 4 and love this one in particular – Escape to the Chateau which is broadcast on Channel 4 live and through their website for free.  However as soon as you step outside the United Kingdom our old friend geo-targeting will block access to not only Channel 4 but all the other UK TV sites too.



For example try and watch something on Hulu when not in the USA and you’ll get blocked, watch the BBC Iplayer outside the UK and the same thing happens. More and more sites are doing this – literally thousands of different websites will only allow you to watch certain things on their sites depending on your location. Sometimes the lookup gets things wrong, this is because the database which lists all the IP addresses and their locations doesn’t always get updated.  I’ve often managed to watch UK shows from a French hotel because my IP address is incorrectly listed as British.  However this is all a bit haphazard and you certainly can’t rely on this happening.

To ensure you can watch what you like you need to start using VPNs or proxies to obscure your location.  These middle man servers present their own IP address to the web servers when you connect.  Therefore if you select an elite proxy or VPN in the appropriate country you should be fine to access the sites.
The service I use has lots of servers in different countries in order to make this more accessible.  For example the above site is watchable from Switzerland despite being blocked in the UK.  Connect via a Swiss server and you can watch  the above video with out a problem.  If you want to watch the BBC or Channel 4 then you need a UK server, for Hulu or NBC then select a US one and so on.

There can be some restrictions and issues with using this technology primarily because the media sites try and block their use.  Some sites are better than others at achieving this, the BBC was quite relaxed until recently when it started blocking a lot of VPNs. There are plenty that work though and you should always check before investing in a long term subscription to see if it works properly with the stations you need.

When you get the right VPN though, you’ll wonder how you lived without them.  They open up literally thousands of great sites from all over the world.  Most of the best VPNs come with subscriptions that cover lots of countries so don’t restrict your viewing.  I recently used a VPN to watch the Test Match cricket on Indian TV then switched to watch Match of the Day on BBC later all from a US based computer.

Student Harnesses His College Computers to Mine Money

Updated March 2021.

Not real money of course, but a version of the digital currencies that seem to be always in the news at the moment. A student who has not been named in Imperial College London, one of the UK’s top Universities has been sneakily setting up all the computers to mine dogecoins for his account.  This is one of the very newest digital currencies, and ironically one which was initially setup as a joke.  That seems to be changing now though, in December 2020 Elon Musk even tweeted in support of Dogecoin. He actually suggested that it might one day become the major currency of the planet.  It was largely believed to be a joke but the value of the crypto currency soared anyway.

Crypto crime

The cryptocurrency is one tipped to one day replace bitcoins and become the ipso facto standard for digital currency, although it should be added there are quite a few of those! Mining refers to the act of solving computer algorithms which earn the user dogecoin credits. It’s normally not worth mining many of these currencies as normally the costs of the cpus and electricity used are more than the value of the currency mined. However obviously if someone else is paying all the bills, then the economics of it change drastically.  Basically the costs in mining most crypto currency are energy and resource based, so if you can use these for free you can’t really lose (unless you get caught of course).

As the value and potential of these currencies rise then incidents like these are likely to increase too. It’s the second report in a week we’ve seen of these sort of events although I’m sure there are many more. For example some years ago, in Harvard somebody tied up the college’s supercomputer – Odyssey to do exactly the same thing. Obviously there is a huge problem for college’s with the events as the computers are effectively not available to other students for more legitimate uses. As many have found college computer resources are often not entirely used for their specified purpose.

The simple fact that many overlook in committing these crimes, is the perception that the coins are anonymous.  Although that’s only partly true – gaining and using computers themselves is rarely anonymous – access can normally be tracked very easily.  Even if you don’t use physical access like entering the buildings and using the computers directly – you’re still not safe.  Remote access is usually fairly easy to trace unless you use privacy tools like next gen proxies or VPNs with military grade encryption.  This can hide your connection details if you do it right, most people involved in stuff like this rarely cover their track with any sort of proxy however.



The student in Imperial has now been banned from using the research computing facilities for the foreseeable future – the college issued a statement that such uses was strictly forbidden. Unfortunately for the student involved his 30,000 Dogecoins that he has produced using this method will hardly be sufficient reward – they are currently worth approximately £20!  It should be mentioned that now, the value has risen considerably but probably not enough to justify the crime.  The value now would be nearer £200 a slightly more respectable value, although if Bitcoins had been mined they would be worth considerably more.

There are similar ‘crimes’ taking place in other areas too, harnessing other peoples computers and networks can be very lucrative.  From creation of huge Bot networks which are rented out online, to running things like ticket proxies for running multiple accounts to buy things like concert tickets and sneakers.