AdamCollings April 19th 2018, 6:57 pm
Reed Benson wrote:
I've seen BBC stuff on Netflix before, especially in other countries. My VPN can give me access to many different versions of the service, you see.
Actually, using a UK server might help me watch it on the BBC website itself...
(Is this unethical?)
Hmm.
There's a question.
On one hand, BBC shows are financed through the taxes of British citizens. They get to watch these shows for free because they've already paid for them. It could be argued that because you're not paying any tax to the British government that you're not entitled to see it for free. If you're paying for content, then you're not stealing. You're probably just violating a terms-of-service.
But then there is the ethical responsibility of artists to make their art available to all who are willing to pay for it. Do artists have such a responsibility. Many may oppose this idea, but I might argue that yes -a little bit. I've spent so much of my life with money I am willing to hand over, in order to legally consume content that I am interested in, but I'm not allowed to, because it's just not available.
I personally choose not to use VPNs to bypass geographic blocking. But I'm also strongly opposed to exclusive licensing and geo-blocking.
Then again, I'm also a hypocrite because my book is temporarily in Kindle Unlimited, which means it's only purchasable from Amazon (although it IS available worldwide and readable by anyone with an eReader, computer, smart phone or tablet).