Slingshot Global Mode on for all customers

Forums › 2degrees (including Slingshot, Orcon, Flip, Stuff Fibre, MyRepublic, 2talk and Vocus) › Slingshot Global Mode on for all customers

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aka Fast Raccoon !
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#1080821 4-Jul-2014 11:34

And that time is ticking now.... I think within a week we'll see someone (content provider) have an issue with it...

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loceff13

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#1080833 4-Jul-2014 11:40

Atleast Slingshot probably won't fold to Sky's threats anytime soon

shk292

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#1080837 4-Jul-2014 11:42

Jas777: Wonder how the UK government will feel about this as Slingshot is openly advocating ripping them off.

That's an interesting one because UK Gov doesn't want BBC iplayer used overseas and there is no way to pay for this service. And there's a big difference between a few geeks quietly doing this via unotelly etc, and all of an ISP's customers getting the service by default. A great USP for Slingshot while it lasts, but I have a feeling it will rapidly backfire for all of us

garvani

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#1080838 4-Jul-2014 11:46

Surely legal has done there homework on this. The isp i mentioned earlier was Fyx, it backfired for them really fast. Slingshot have tested the waters and have had the service for a year or more so im hoping they know what they are doing! Otherwise its back to a DNS provider/vpn.

NonprayingMantis

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#1080849 4-Jul-2014 11:47

shk292:
Jas777: Wonder how the UK government will feel about this as Slingshot is openly advocating ripping them off.

That's an interesting one because UK Gov doesn't want BBC iplayer used overseas and there is no way to pay for this service. And there's a big difference between a few geeks quietly doing this via unotelly etc, and all of an ISP's customers getting the service by default. A great USP for Slingshot while it lasts, but I have a feeling it will rapidly backfire for all of us

Yep, BBC makes $$$ selling content to NZ providers (like Sky, TVNZ, Quickflix, and presumably Lightbox).
If people in NZ are able to access the free uk service - paid for by licence fees of UK residents - then the buyers over here will rightfully demand the BBC lowers their fees because their 'exclusive' deals wont be exclusive anymore.

If the BBC wants to continue making money from the providers here, they will need to put the kibosh on the likes of Slingshot doing this sort of thing - whether directly (by lobbying for law change in NZ) or indirectly (by changing the way their CDN works instead of just relying on IP based authentication)

jjnz1

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#1080856 4-Jul-2014 12:01

Does anyone have a DNS register/spreadsheet for these services (Netflix etc?)

I while ago I tried to use my VPN to figure out what servers were used by Netflix in the US against what was accessible from here, in the hope of creating my own private 'global mode'.

I also tried to create a list of netflix IPs that I can route over the VPN while still having other traffic route within NZ- with no success.

Anyone have these lists?

Jas777

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#1080864 4-Jul-2014 12:13

NonprayingMantis:
shk292:
Jas777: Wonder how the UK government will feel about this as Slingshot is openly advocating ripping them off.

That's an interesting one because UK Gov doesn't want BBC iplayer used overseas and there is no way to pay for this service. And there's a big difference between a few geeks quietly doing this via unotelly etc, and all of an ISP's customers getting the service by default. A great USP for Slingshot while it lasts, but I have a feeling it will rapidly backfire for all of us

Yep, BBC makes $$$ selling content to NZ providers (like Sky, TVNZ, Quickflix, and presumably Lightbox).
If people in NZ are able to access the free uk service - paid for by licence fees of UK residents - then the buyers over here will rightfully demand the BBC lowers their fees because their 'exclusive' deals wont be exclusive anymore.

If the BBC wants to continue making money from the providers here, they will need to put the kibosh on the likes of Slingshot doing this sort of thing - whether directly (by lobbying for law change in NZ) or indirectly (by changing the way their CDN works instead of just relying on IP based authentication)

It is interesting one. I would imagine that those that think it is fine to view the content even though they haven't contributed to it would be happy if the same thing was to happen in NZ if there was a licence fee and the NZ taxpayers had ti contribute more as can't sell content overseas for price get now.

Giggs

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#1080915 4-Jul-2014 12:54

Beccara: Heh, I hope the NZ company behind GlobalMode in NZ has a damm good legal team!

Putting aside the legalities of someone accessing the likes of Netflix (which I think is legal by the way), if Slingshot can get sued for providing a platform for some to do it then so should Microsoft et al for giving me the technology to rip CDs, car manufacturers for giving me a vehicle I can break the speed limit in and gun makers for giving me a weapon I can kill someone with (actually I like that idea), etc etc

NonprayingMantis

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#1080932 4-Jul-2014 13:04

Giggs:
Beccara: Heh, I hope the NZ company behind GlobalMode in NZ has a damm good legal team!

Putting aside the legalities of someone accessing the likes of Netflix (which I think is legal by the way), if Slingshot can get sued for providing a platform for some to do it then so should Microsoft et al for giving me the technology to rip CDs, car manufacturers for giving me a vehicle I can break the speed limit in and gun makers for giving me a weapon I can kill someone with (actually I like that idea), etc etc

There is likely a difference between those things based on the intent and promoted uses.

Selling cars designed for legal road driving, which could also be used for driving ilegally, is different from selling cars and actively promoting them as "perfect for speeding and using for hit and runs"

Likewise, Microsoft never promotes CD ripping software as something you can use to illegally copy music, even though you can use it for that.

Taking that analogy back to global mode and slingshot. Originally they promoted global mode as something for your foreign friend to use to access netflix etc when they were staying here. That is different from saying "hey guys, we added this thing and we encourage you to use it to breach the terms of service of the following other companies: Netflix, BBC iPlayer, iTunes etc"

Giggs

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#1080952 4-Jul-2014 13:25

NonprayingMantis:
Giggs:
Beccara: Heh, I hope the NZ company behind GlobalMode in NZ has a damm good legal team!

Putting aside the legalities of someone accessing the likes of Netflix (which I think is legal by the way), if Slingshot can get sued for providing a platform for some to do it then so should Microsoft et al for giving me the technology to rip CDs, car manufacturers for giving me a vehicle I can break the speed limit in and gun makers for giving me a weapon I can kill someone with (actually I like that idea), etc etc

There is likely a difference between those things based on the intent and promoted uses.

Selling cars designed for legal road driving, which could also be used for driving ilegally, is different from selling cars and actively promoting them as "perfect for speeding and using for hit and runs"

Likewise, Microsoft never promotes CD ripping software as something you can use to illegally copy music, even though you can use it for that.

Taking that analogy back to global mode and slingshot. Originally they promoted global mode as something for your foreign friend to use to access netflix etc when they were staying here. That is different from saying "hey guys, we added this thing and we encourage you to use it to breach the terms of service of the following other companies: Netflix, BBC iPlayer, iTunes etc"

Fair point although I am not sure Netflix (for example) cares if you breach their terms if they are happy to take your money. Perhaps the BBC should allow overseas subscriptions.

I think the only way global mode could be stopped is if content providers could bring pressure to bear on the government. But it was a National government who allowed parallel importation in the first place in the name of competition when in the late 1990's they changed the Copyright Act so who knows how receptive they would be.

graemeh

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#1080955 4-Jul-2014 13:33

Can anyone identify a New Zealand law that Slingshot break in offering this service?

davidcole

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#1080956 4-Jul-2014 13:36

graemeh: Can anyone identify a New Zealand law that Slingshot break in offering this service?

They're not - afaik (It's been untested also).

What people are pointing out, that advertising in NZ media is likely to call attention to their service and some incumbent content providers in NZ may get snotty about it as it's cutting revenue they would be traditionally expecting (read: Sky).

There are other paid services around, but they don't advertise in mainstream media, and operate out of countries like the bahamas (unblock us).

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NonprayingMantis

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#1080957 4-Jul-2014 13:38

Giggs:
NonprayingMantis:
Giggs:
Beccara: Heh, I hope the NZ company behind GlobalMode in NZ has a damm good legal team!

Putting aside the legalities of someone accessing the likes of Netflix (which I think is legal by the way), if Slingshot can get sued for providing a platform for some to do it then so should Microsoft et al for giving me the technology to rip CDs, car manufacturers for giving me a vehicle I can break the speed limit in and gun makers for giving me a weapon I can kill someone with (actually I like that idea), etc etc

There is likely a difference between those things based on the intent and promoted uses.

Selling cars designed for legal road driving, which could also be used for driving ilegally, is different from selling cars and actively promoting them as "perfect for speeding and using for hit and runs"

Likewise, Microsoft never promotes CD ripping software as something you can use to illegally copy music, even though you can use it for that.

Taking that analogy back to global mode and slingshot. Originally they promoted global mode as something for your foreign friend to use to access netflix etc when they were staying here. That is different from saying "hey guys, we added this thing and we encourage you to use it to breach the terms of service of the following other companies: Netflix, BBC iPlayer, iTunes etc"

Fair point although I am not sure Netflix (for example) cares if you breach their terms if they are happy to take your money. Perhaps the BBC should allow overseas subscriptions.

I think the only way global mode could be stopped is if content providers could bring pressure to bear on the government. But it was a National government who allowed parallel importation in the first place in the name of competition when in the late 1990's they changed the Copyright Act so who knows how receptive they would be.

of course they care. If they didn't care, then they wouldn't even put in geo blocking in the first place.

They will care because their contracts they have with the studios will require they put reasonable measure in place to stop people accessing the content that shouldn't be able to. A few years ago, IP based blocking was 'reasonable', but now it is clear that it is no longer effective and the studios will demand better measures.

The studios that Netflix buys content from will be saying to them something like:

"Hey Netflix, you only bought rights for countries A B C, but your methods of stopping people in countries X Y and Z from buying Netflix are not effective. you don't have the right to sell to those people. Either cough up the dough for the content rights to those countries, put better controls in place to stop kiwis and ozzies from accessing the service, or we will sue the pants off you"

When it is small scale, it's not worth the studios bothering with that line of argument, but as soon as big ISPs start promoting it and making it very easy, you can bet there are going to be some emails flying back and forth between lawyers about it.
Maybe we'll get away with it because NZ is still small, but maybe not. If Ozzie sees Slingshot getting away with it, then how long before iiNet does the same thing, or ISPs in countries like China, India etc.

NonprayingMantis

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#1080958 4-Jul-2014 13:38

graemeh: Can anyone identify a New Zealand law that Slingshot break in offering this service?

It's not illegal.

graemeh

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#1080971 4-Jul-2014 13:52

NonprayingMantis:
graemeh: Can anyone identify a New Zealand law that Slingshot break in offering this service?

It's not illegal.

That is exactly the point I was trying to make to all those who think Sky and others will stop Slingshot from doing this.

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