You probably already know that you can use a VPN to circumvent regional blocks on content by making it look like you're in a different country or region, but have you thought about why streaming services work so hard to prevent this practice? Is it actually illegal?
Whether circumventing region blocks is essentially the same as piracy has come up a few times over the years. The answer isn't clear-cut, because the two practices do share some similarities—but that doesn't make them the same!
I'm not a lawyer, no lawyer has looked at this, and there is no legal advice here. It's always your responsibility to know and comply with the laws where you live.
VPNs themselves aren’t illegal
First I should make clear that VPN technology isn't illegal . Just like BitTorrent technology isn't illegal. These are just methods of encrypting and moving data from points A to point B. The trouble only comes when you use these technologies to do something illegal.
Piracy is illegal (it's against copyright law) so using a VPN, or BitTorrent to commit piracy is therefore illegal, but not the enabling technology itself.
That said, some particularly oppressive regimes in the world have either made VPNs illegal, or strictly regulate and monitor them . For now, that's the exception rather than the rule, but yes VPNs can be illegal depending on where you live .
Streaming services use region locks for licensing reasons
The next question that needs answering is why streaming services only have programs in some regions and not others. The answer is that it comes down to licensing rights. When a streaming service bids for the right to host and distribute a movie or show, it has to do so for different legal jurisdictions across the world.
If someone already has the rights to show, for example, Star Trek in a specific country, then Netflix would be infringing on the right that entity paid for to benefit from selling that program in that region.
Streaming services have a duty to prevent the content they host from being accessed in places they don't have the right to offer that content. This is why the terms of service for these services specifically prohibit it.
So, at the very least, using a VPN to evade a geoblock is a breach of your contract with that streaming service, and is grounds for action as laid out in that agreement. That might include banning you from the service, or, in extreme cases, taking you to court for contract breach, though as far as I can tell, neither of these things have actually happened. It's theoretical at this point.
Breaking terms of service isn’t the same as piracy (or is it?)
So is the breach of that agreement tantamount ot piracy? Legally, it doesn't seem so. In a 2016 paper by Marketa Trimble the author states:
Absent a contractual provision prohibiting circumvention, the status of geoblocking evasion under the law of various countries is currently unclear. Specific legislation on the evasion of geoblocking does not exist; whether the evasion of geoblocking is covered by copyright law provisions on technological protection measures or retransmission has been disputed, and anti-computer-hacking laws may be applicable in some countries, to a limited degree. In some countries the providers of geoblocking circumvention tools could be held liable for facilitating access to restricted content.
In a 2022 paper titled The Circumvention of Geo-Blocking and Copyrights Infringement the author M’Bia Hortense De-Yolande notes:
The legality of getting around geo-blocking is a bit of a grey area. Some copyright experts claim that anyone who promotes devices or programs such as the use of VPN and other proxies that encourage people to infringe copyright are breaking the law. However, some companies believe that consumers who bypass measures employed to geographically restrict copyrighted content should be exempt because they are only accessing products and services that are being provided knowingly and willingly by the copyright holder.
However, in some substantive ways, using a VPN to avoid a content block resembles piracy. You're gaining access to content that you do not have the legal right to see. You are depriving the legal rights owner in your region (if any) from the money they would have received from you buying the content from them.
Then there are legal frameworks like the Digital Millennium Copyright Act , which makes it illegal to circumvent copyright protection. If you frame geoblocking as a form of copyright protection, then it runs afoul of being no different from piracy.
It’s a terms-of-service violation and (probably) not a crime
Based on what I've read on the issue so far, this is largely a case of the law not catching up to technology. Regional licensing is a holdover from before the internet made this an issue. Region blocking for DVDs and Blu-ray discs was an early form of geoblocking, which people got around by modifying their players or importing players from that region. This wasn't seen as piracy, though you could make similar arguments as for VPN unblocking.
Perhaps at some point countries like the USA or entities like the EU will explicitly make circumventing geoblocks illegal, though one would hope instead they do away with the concept as a whole and rework the licensing regime. Until then, your biggest worry is exactly how mad your streaming provider will be if they catch you doing it, but no more than that.
