OT Hide your location from Youtube/Google moderators?

[John Doe]

Anybody know if Youtube/Google moderators can tell what country
you're from? I would guess that they can see your Internet address?
Is the only way to prevent that, by going through a proxy? But if you
do, would they easily tell that you're using a proxy?

Any recommendations for a reliable proxy?

Thanks.

 

[Loren Pechtel]

Anybody know if Youtube/Google moderators can tell what country
you're from? I would guess that they can see your Internet address?
Is the only way to prevent that, by going through a proxy? But if you
do, would they easily tell that you're using a proxy?

Any recommendations for a reliable proxy?

Thanks.

A VPN would stop them from knowing but of course they would know it
was via a VPN.

Set up a new browser installation (this might mean a new Windows
installation) and never use it without a VPN if you don't want the NSA
to figure out where you're really from.

(And realize that what the NSA is doing isn't actually unusual, only
the fuss about it is.)

 

[John Doe]

A VPN would stop them from knowing but of course they would know it
was via a VPN.

I read a bit about that. MOney Internet connection sucks for
bandwidth right now. A VPN consumes bandwidth to help other users,
right?

Assuming that's true... I would rather pay a few dollars a month for
something that doesn't involve overhead bandwidth.

(And realize that what the NSA is doing isn't actually unusual,
only the fuss about it is.)

In certain areas our federal gov't acts technologically illiterate.
So I wonder how it can keep up in any area.

 

[Paul]

Anybody know if Youtube/Google moderators can tell what country
you're from? I would guess that they can see your Internet address?
Is the only way to prevent that, by going through a proxy? But if you
do, would they easily tell that you're using a proxy?

Any recommendations for a reliable proxy?

Thanks.

I don't have an answer for you. This is what I've got
on the topic, a paper I downloaded a while back.

"Towards Street-Level Client-Independent IP Geolocation"

https://www.usenix.org/legacy/events/nsdi11/tech/full_papers/Wang_Yong.pdf

And this site has this to say about it.

http://www.i-programmer.info/news/8...-method-accurate-to-a-few-hundred-meters.html

"The only defense is to use a proxy server but
the technique can detect this and flag the fact
that the user's location cannot be determined."

So yes, they should be able to determine you're using a proxy.
Why that should bother them, I don't know.

You can try a tool like this. But it doesn't have any
Flash widgets it tests with. With proxy in place, you'd
try this and see where it locates you. I don't think
Flash has any "magical powers" - if it was possible
to do a traceroute perhaps, from your end... ?

http://browserspy.dk/geolocation.php

If I try "tracert google.com" in Command Prompt, my
WAN address is in the trace. So all a web site needs
to do, is install code on your computer that can do
the equivalent of tracert. Now, if Flash could do that,
we'd be away to the races.

And if you check with a search engine, there are a ton of
weirdos out there, working on this. All trying to figure
out a way of running a traceroute, to snag your details.
So yes, "unhiding users" appears to be a desired function
in the software community.

http://stackoverflow.com/questions/6598296/is-it-possible-to-send-an-icmp-echo-request-from-a-swf

Paul

 

[JJ]

Anybody know if Youtube/Google moderators can tell what country
you're from? I would guess that they can see your Internet address?
Is the only way to prevent that, by going through a proxy? But if you
do, would they easily tell that you're using a proxy?

Any recommendations for a reliable proxy?

VPN, but it's not free.

TOR or I2P, but you may not be able to choose the proxy location which is
going to be used to access the website. Only random proxy.

 

[John Doe]

Correction...
Like a follow-up poster mentioned, I was talking about Tor, not VPN.
So my reply might have been confusing.

 

[Loren Pechtel]

I read a bit about that. MOney Internet connection sucks for
bandwidth right now. A VPN consumes bandwidth to help other users,
right?

No. You're mixing it up with TOR.

 

[Flasherly]

You may get Google's "Sorry" page. I do when Google can't see an
absolute address. 'We're so sorry,' but I'm even sadder since leaving
Google sometime before getting into suspicious categories, like
someone echoing out of Moscow, which I do now while waiting for due
responsibility taken, to cut up the Internet into little despotic
realms as God, the NSA, and the Republic of Kenya intends.

 

[s|b]

Anybody know if Youtube/Google moderators can tell what country
you're from? I would guess that they can see your Internet address?
Is the only way to prevent that, by going through a proxy? But if you
do, would they easily tell that you're using a proxy?

Any recommendations for a reliable proxy?

Use TorBrowser? Or a bootable CD-ROM with Tails?

 

[John Doe]

I don't think anybody needs your Internet address to know who you
are, Flasherly.

 

[Flasherly]

I don't think anybody needs your Internet address to know who you
are, Flasherly.

Well, you do know most don't and wouldn't care about who's tracking
their facebook reality from such as an Android handheld. In terms of
other means, less likely than Google Chrome on a PC, though, that
might presuppose familiar cookie trackers, actually, which are
becoming obsolete in ongoing terms of CSS programming subsets for
HTML5. But what's really burning my butt, is why you even bother
screwing with watch-dog moderatored forum tactics, especially if
they're locking in on you through joint-venture IT/NSA resources, when
you can always come here and let me squeeze the free space between
your ears. Gee whiz, and that's for free, even. Am I not fun enough?

 

[John Doe]

What I've read so far suggests that a VPN will do well for making
multiple Youtube accounts for posting comments, as censorship
requires.

Any recommendations? I'm not very concerned about privacy in the
flow of data or downloading copyrighted material. One other thing
that looks potentially fun is maybe using a betting site to watch
an otherwise unavailable sporting event, on a website that I don't
have access to now (probably to do with being in the U.S.).

 

[John Doe]

https://www.ibvpn.com/billing/cart.php?a=confproduct&i=1

"Important! Do NOT use any proxy or VPN solution while you make the
order, otherwise it will be automatically marked as fraud"

How can they tell?

 

[JJ]

https://www.ibvpn.com/billing/cart.php?a=confproduct&i=1

"Important! Do NOT use any proxy or VPN solution while you make the
order, otherwise it will be automatically marked as fraud"

How can they tell?

Because it's easy to track the company that provide an IP.

 

[Loren Pechtel]

https://www.ibvpn.com/billing/cart.php?a=confproduct&i=1

"Important! Do NOT use any proxy or VPN solution while you make the
order, otherwise it will be automatically marked as fraud"

How can they tell?

Easy enough, they know the IPs of the commerical VPN providers.

 

[John Doe]

John Doe wrote:

Because it's easy to track the company that provide an IP.

Understood. So how do VPNs get away with fooling entertainment
content providers into thinking that the request is coming from the
same country?

 

[John Doe]

In other words... Why don't entertainment content providers ban all
VPNs?

 

[John Doe]

http://asia.cnet.com/blogs/testing-five-vpns-thatll-get-you-back-on-
youtube-facebook-in-china-62115910.htm

"the TV-streaming service Hulu is a no-go as it's blocked all VPNs"

 

[JJ]

Understood. So how do VPNs get away with fooling entertainment
content providers into thinking that the request is coming from the
same country?

They're not fooling. VPN providers can either rent dedicated servers or
actually have a branch office (with servers) in other countries. They'll
simply redirect requests to those servers.

http://asia.cnet.com/blogs/testing-five-vpns-thatll-get-you-back-on-
youtube-facebook-in-china-62115910.htm

"the TV-streaming service Hulu is a no-go as it's blocked all VPNs"

That's their policy, not us, as consumers. The only thing that make them ban
a VPN provider is because it's been used mostly for hackings/pishings (by
their customers), and the provider doesn't take any action even though
complaints have been reported.

 

[John Doe]

John Doe wrote:

Not that it matters, but I didn't understand the answer to that,
either.

That's their policy, not us, as consumers. The only thing that
make them ban a VPN provider is because it's been used mostly
for hackings/pishings (by their customers), and the provider
doesn't take any action even though complaints have reported.

Huh?

Since Hulu is an entertainment content provider, the apparent
reason they ban VPNs (assuming it's true) is because VPNs are
commonly used to thwart their geography-based media protection
scheme.