Disclaimer: I am not a lawyer. While using a proxy server might violate the usage license of your ISP or the site you are using, it is as far as I know, not illegal. Still, if you are cautious or in doubt, check with a real lawyer or just refrain from using this type of tool.
For anyone who lives outside the US (or is a US citizen but goes outside the country for vacation), one of the more frustrating aspects of most of the TV streaming services I wrote about earlier is that they are restricted to users accessing the site from the United States. On the flip-side, the BBC's iPlayer is restricted to UK users only, because the BBC is funded by the British public.
OK, fine, I understand the BBC position. If I paid taxes to sponsor the programming, I might be miffed if the rest of the world had free access too. But what if you are a UK resident who happens to go on holiday to another part of Europe? Should you really have to miss "EastEnders?" I say, "no."
So, how do you access sites restricted by location? The same way savvy Chinese users can break pas the Great Firewall of China: proxy servers.
