# IPTV



## Mortgage u/w (Feb 6, 2014)

It seems IPTV is a common service these days - I am even seeing ads on social media.

My understanding is these services are not legal (or are they?)

With so many people signing up and multiple providers out there, is it worth jumping on the bandwagon? How do you choose the right provider and what kind of repercussions will there be should this all boil over?


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## Beaver101 (Nov 14, 2011)

^ What the heck is IPTV? I ignore (almost) all ads on social media along with the social media itself (except for CMF).


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## Mukhang pera (Feb 26, 2016)

Me too, out of touch with the modern world I suppose. No idea what is IPTV. But then, I eschew "social media". I will, however, admit to using FB Messenger to message and video chat with friends in other countries. I have an FB a/c under a fake name for that.


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## cainvest (May 1, 2013)

Mortgage u/w said:


> My understanding is these services are not legal (or are they?)


It can be used for both legal and illegal viewing, depends on the providers you use.


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## gardner (Feb 13, 2014)

The "illegality" has to do with the type of licensing, or lack thereof, on the part of the provider. Usually they have a totally valid content license to broadcast or stream all the content in, say, Belarus, but not in Canada. Then they sell or sublicense access to Canadians -- or really anyone -- in violation of their licensing agreement. It is roughly the same effect you get by using a VPN to watch UK Netflix. It is certainly not illegal in the sense that you may expect the RCMP to break down your door. The main consequence of its illegality is that the American movie lobby is constantly going after them and getting their infrastructure and network footprint disrupted with negative effects to subscribers. That and they are a bit shady and have lousy quality of service reputation.


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## Mortgage u/w (Feb 6, 2014)

IPTV is basically an app a programmer will upload on most commonly a firestick which provides you access to thousands of channels and movies across the world. Word of mouth is the main source of selling this service. Relatively new, I only mentioned social media because I am surprised that such a service is being advertised on public platforms,

If anyone has IPTV, I'd be curious to know your experience.


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## Beaver101 (Nov 14, 2011)

Mukhang pera said:


> Me too, out of touch with the modern world I suppose. No idea what is IPTV. But then, I eschew "social media". I will, however, admit to using FB Messenger to message and video chat with friends in other countries. I have an FB a/c under a fake name for that.


 ... fake name for FakeBook ... sounds appropriate. Cool.


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## ian (Jun 18, 2016)

Mortgage u/w said:


> IPTV is basically an app a programmer will upload on most commonly a firestick which provides you access to thousands of channels and movies across the world. Word of mouth is the main source of selling this service. Relatively new, I only mentioned social media because I am surprised that such a service is being advertised on public platforms,
> 
> If anyone has IPTV, I'd be curious to know your experience.


We have acorn, britbox, netflix, etc. Firestick. Daughter introduced it to us. Thousands of movies, tv series without the ads. We watch a great deal of UK drama, some very good series. We do not bother with cable very much other than news, current affairs. Even then, we record so that we can skip the ads. We increased our internet use, cut much cable.

Cable subscriptions are going down in NA because of this.


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## Ponderling (Mar 1, 2013)

Very common with ...pardon the term... I am quite multicultural accepting, but the best way to say it is it is very prevalent in 'ethnic communities' who once might have got home country programming from a satellite dish.

They now get it from an IP box that takes Ethernet (or wifi) on one end, and an HDMI signal to feed the TV, and an ap on a computer or smartphine or custom remote to control the data poured out the HDMI port.


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## ian (Jun 18, 2016)

Ponderling said:


> Very common with ...pardon the term... I am quite multicultural accepting, but the best way to say it is it is very prevalent in 'ethnic communities' who once might have got home country programming from a satellite dish.
> 
> They now get it from an IP box that takes Ethernet (or wifi) on one end, and an HDMI signal to feed the TV, and an ap on a computer or smartphine or custom remote to control the data poured out the HDMI port.


We are definitely multicultural........ Not. . DW from a small c conservative evangelical small town Ontario anglo saxon/swiss background. Me from a small l liberal Scottish Presbyterian Quebec background.

We watch a great deal of BBC and ITV UK programming without the adverts.

Lot of folks with children are also on Disney and Discovery channels. Not to mention History TV. Lots of parental controls. So much better than than much of the garbage on US cable sites.

I do not believe that your realize how pervasive IP TV is......and not just because of multicultural programming.

We are seniors, fossils. If we have migrated in this direction I can only imagine that younger people, our children's age, are moving to it at a greater speed.

It reminds me of years ago, when my parents, long time Bell customers, signed up for third party long distance because of the huge price savings. I thought at the time if they moved, the writing was on the wall for land lines and for and inexpensive international long distance.

Just take a look at the cable billing trends in NA. Cable providers are concerned.


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## Mortgage u/w (Feb 6, 2014)

IPTV unlocks thousands of channels. Some are savvy enough to jailbreak their own Firestick for access to IPTV. Most however pay a monthly subscription of 10-15$ per month to have this access. It prevents the need to have separate subscriptions.

I wouldn’t say this is common to the ethnic communities. It’s appealing to anyone willing to cut their cable. At that price, you hardly get Netflix.


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## ian (Jun 18, 2016)

Mortgage u/w said:


> IPTV unlocks thousands of channels. Some are savvy enough to jailbreak their own Firestick for access to IPTV. Most however pay a monthly subscription of 10-15$ per month to have this access. It prevents the need to have separate subscriptions.
> 
> I wouldn’t say this is common to the ethnic communities. It’s appealing to anyone willing to cut their cable. At that price, you hardly get Netflix.


Agree. Compared to IPV cable is an overpriced channel jail. We cut most of our cable, increased our internet service. Much more value for money based on our preferences.


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## Plugging Along (Jan 3, 2011)

Mortgage u/w said:


> IPTV unlocks thousands of channels. Some are savvy enough to jailbreak their own Firestick for access to IPTV. Most however pay a monthly subscription of 10-15$ per month to have this access. It prevents the need to have separate subscriptions.
> 
> I wouldn’t say this is common to the ethnic communities. It’s appealing to anyone willing to cut their cable. At that price, you hardly get Netflix.


We set up IPTV for my elderly dad. He was paying $150 for his cable, but only watched a few channels. The problem was the channels wanted were at the highest tier. He didn't have internet, computer, or anything, so that was the most difficult part of the initial set up (imagine thats not the case here). The other difficulty is he doesn't read english well, so can't navigate. 

Our experience has been it was hard to set up for him, because we had to find a way to filter out over 20K+ channels to what he watches and make it accessible. This was fixed using favorites, but with our service providers, they kept resetting and rehanging the stations, so he would have to start over almost monthly, sometimes even more frequently. My dad has very little to during the day if he cannot go visit my mom, so tv is about the ONLY thing he can do. When it goes down or changes, it's a little stressful for him. However, the changed was almost a $100 savings a month, and that's because we had to pay for internet when didn't before. 

If you don't mind things changing often, then there is never a shortage of stations. It can take forever is the guide hasn't uploaded. We also have changed providers at least 3 times in the past 14 months to try and find the right one. Other than that, my dad hasn't mind it. We did have to do a lot of set up, but I think that is my spouse as he wanted to be able to do things remotely.


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## Jamesdean (Jan 4, 2021)

Let's not forget that the big Telco companies benefit from this as well as IPTV requires fast, stable and unlimited internet


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## ian (Jun 18, 2016)

Jamesdean said:


> Let's not forget that the big Telco companies benefit from this as well as IPTV requires fast, stable and unlimited internet


We cut cable options, went to unlimited fast internet. Very, very happy. we wonder why we did not do this earlier.


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## james4beach (Nov 15, 2012)

I have no idea what IPTV is.

I have a standard TV with a Roku box connected to it. The Roku was $25 and connects to the TV with HDMI. Works great. I have one Netflix subscription ($10/month) and that's all I pay for.

With the Roku, I can watch Netflix, Youtube, but there's also free access to local CBC TV stations, plus TV Ontario (documentaries etc), and Global TV.



Mukhang pera said:


> I have an FB a/c under a fake name for that.


Any tips on how to set up a fake account in Facebook?

I'm encountering things in life that require a Facebook account -- and I don't have any plans to use FB myself. So I need to create a fake account / fake name. I tried creating one before but Facebook froze it and demanded that I provide ID to prove this is my name.


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## Plugging Along (Jan 3, 2011)

Jamesdean said:


> Let's not forget that the big Telco companies benefit from this as well as IPTV requires fast, stable and unlimited internet


for my dad, we dido the big telco. It’s a smaller company, unlimited,not super fast for $35 a month. My dad keeps it on ALL day with minimal problems.


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## Mukhang pera (Feb 26, 2016)

james4beach said:


> ...
> Any tips on how to set up a fake account in Facebook?
> 
> I'm encountering things in life that require a Facebook account -- and I don't have any plans to use FB myself. So I need to create a fake account / fake name. I tried creating one before but Facebook froze it and demanded that I provide ID to prove this is my name.


Let me see if I can get back to you on that. I set mine up maybe 8-10 years ago. It was not difficult then. Maybe more hoops to jump though now. Even for those things where I agree to give such things as my real name, I always give some phoney information, such as a false birthdate. I try to give away as little personal/identifying info as possible. Same as when a firm I worked for put my name on their masthead online. I told them to remove it. I want no online presence if can avoid it. 

I am content not to exist as far as the rest of the world is concerned. I do not think I would care to live in a big city anymore. On someone's camera from the minute you walk out your door until you walk back in. Maybe even on camera once back in, for sure if you don't pull the drapes. Cities are festooned with cameras. Even now, ubiquitous doorbell cameras, dashboard cameras, and on and on.


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## james4beach (Nov 15, 2012)

Mukhang pera said:


> Let me see if I can get back to you on that. I set mine up maybe 8-10 years ago. It was not difficult then. Maybe more hoops to jump though now.


I'm thinking I'll survey some of the most common first and last names and then fashion an identity based out of that, something that's plausible. The fact Facebook challenged me and wants so hard to make sure it's a real name, is what's extremely creepy and almost terrifying about Facebook. They want these to be true marketing profiles on people, and who knows what they do with the data.

The police also get access, I'm sure. Lots of great data on what people are up to, no warrant required.


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## bgc_fan (Apr 5, 2009)

james4beach said:


> I'm thinking I'll survey some of the most common first and last names and then fashion an identity based out of that, something that's plausible. The fact Facebook challenged me and wants so hard to make sure it's a real name, is what's extremely creepy and almost terrifying about Facebook. They want these to be true marketing profiles on people, and who knows what they do with the data.
> 
> The police also get access, I'm sure. Lots of great data on what people are up to, no warrant required.


You have friends/relatives on Facebook? I bet there's already shadow profile based on you already, but you just don't know it yet.


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## james4beach (Nov 15, 2012)

bgc_fan said:


> You have friends/relatives on Facebook? I bet there's already shadow profile based on you already, but you just don't know it yet.


Yeah I probably do have friends on Facebook but I doubt they post much about me. I try to only use fake names online and don't go around snapping selfies of my life.


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## cainvest (May 1, 2013)

james4beach said:


> The fact Facebook challenged me and wants so hard to make sure it's a real name, is what's extremely creepy and almost terrifying about Facebook.


Must be new, my FB account isn't even a real name ... didn't have any troubles creating it.


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## bgc_fan (Apr 5, 2009)

james4beach said:


> Yeah I probably do have friends on Facebook but I doubt they post much about me. I try to only use fake names online and don't go around snapping selfies of my life.


But are you ever in any of their pictures?


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## Beaver101 (Nov 14, 2011)

bgc_fan said:


> *You have friends/relatives* on Facebook? I bet there's already shadow profile based on you already, but you just don't know it yet.


 ... makes sense. 

What about (ex)-colleagues, and/or (ex) bosses? Are they allowed to post about their colleagues as "friends" there? Or do they require your permission first? Needless to say, I don't use nor look at FB.


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## cainvest (May 1, 2013)

james4beach said:


> The fact Facebook challenged me and wants so hard to make sure it's a real name, is what's extremely creepy and almost terrifying about Facebook.


So it took me about one minute to create a new gmail account followed by a new Facebook account. It didn't like that I set my first name as "T" so I changed it to "Tim" (not my real name) which it accepted. What's so creepy about that?


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## Money172375 (Jun 29, 2018)

james4beach said:


> Yeah I probably do have friends on Facebook but I doubt they post much about me. I try to only use fake names online and don't go around snapping selfies of my life.


I’ve told this story before. I use FB occasionally. I asked FB for all the info they have on me. I was surprised they had all the names and phone numbers of all my contacts. Many of them who don’t have Facebook accounts. So, even though you may not have a FB account, they have info on you.


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## kcowan2000 (Mar 24, 2020)

In ?Mexico , we use CinemaHD and OlaTV10'on our Firestick to get English programming. No charge, but you have to deal with technology. Crave and GEM are all IPTV. And many others. We also still have Netflix. New season of Ozark today.


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## bgc_fan (Apr 5, 2009)

Beaver101 said:


> ... makes sense.
> 
> What about (ex)-colleagues, and/or (ex) bosses? Are they allowed to post about their colleagues as "friends" there? Or do they require your permission first? Needless to say, I don't use nor look at FB.


I really don't use FB much and there are a bunch of settings. I think there is something about permission about tagging others, but I don't know.

But I do recall when I cared to look at it, you have an option to tag people in photos. If that person isn't on FB, they basically collect all these people who are tagged and look for common social circles and create a profile like that. Then when someone new joins and looks like they are connected, FB will prompt you with the photos and ask if this is you and start filling in the blanks.

Edit: I imagine that at this point, they're more sophisticated than that, going through people's contact lists and making relationships based on those.


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## james4beach (Nov 15, 2012)

cainvest said:


> So it took me about one minute to create a new gmail account followed by a new Facebook account. It didn't like that I set my first name as "T" so I changed it to "Tim" (not my real name) which it accepted. What's so creepy about that?


Thanks, sounds like I should try this again.


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## Mukhang pera (Feb 26, 2016)

james4beach said:


> Thanks, sounds like I should try this again.


I think you should. After my post above, and your query, I don't have much to offer, but I think you should be able to manage it.


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## Retired Peasant (Apr 22, 2013)

james4beach said:


> I have no idea what IPTV is.











Internet Protocol television - Wikipedia







en.wikipedia.org






> I'm encountering things in life that require a Facebook account -- and I don't have any plans to use FB myself.


Can you give some examples that require a FB acct?


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## kcowan2000 (Mar 24, 2020)

Retired Peasant said:


> Internet Protocol television - Wikipedia
> 
> 
> 
> ...


For every independent IPTV offering, there is at least one FB group:
E.g. OLA TV Support
Cinema Help Group


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## Retired Peasant (Apr 22, 2013)

I don't have IPTV, but is it 'required' to have facebook to use it? Without a facebook account, I can still read stuff on it.


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## afulldeck (Mar 28, 2012)

james4beach said:


> I have no idea what IPTV is.
> 
> I have a standard TV with a Roku box connected to it. The Roku was $25 and connects to the TV with HDMI. Works great. I have one Netflix subscription ($10/month) and that's all I pay for.
> 
> ...


Create the account. When they ask for the ID, create a pdf that say "f*&k you Zuckerberg", encrypt it and send it in. That will work for about 1 year...


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## Spudd (Oct 11, 2011)

Some of the things people are mentioning in this thread are just streaming services, not IPTV. Examples: Crave, Gem, Netflix, Britbox, etc.

My understanding of IPTV is that it is the broadcast of live TV channels over the internet. So you can watch your local ABC station in real time, for example, using your IPTV box.









Internet Protocol television - Wikipedia







en.wikipedia.org





And I don't think Facebook has anything to do with it.


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## kcowan2000 (Mar 24, 2020)

Anything that says streaming is using IPTV. CinemaHD does movies and TV shows without commercials. All free. Many IPTV offerings are just pirating TV Network feeds for a fee. I am watching the AO on TSN5 from OlaTV. Later I will watch the NFL playoffs. Streaming is not against the law yet in Canada. Downloading a la Kodi is and so requires VPN for security. I do not use a VPN.

There is no connection with FB. Resellers use FB to get new clients.


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## Mortgage u/w (Feb 6, 2014)

Just to clarify, IPTV has nothing to do with FB or any other social media platform. I'm also not referring to streaming services such as Crave, Netflix, etc. I'm referring to streaming off internet all channels worldwide. Similar to 'jailbreaking' a Firestick or Apple TV box.

My mention to social media was that IPTV providers are now advertising on social media to get clients. I question this since I always assumed IPTV was, and still is, an illegal service - especially since you need to hide your VPN.


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## bgc_fan (Apr 5, 2009)

Mortgage u/w said:


> Just to clarify, IPTV has nothing to do with FB or any other social media platform. I'm also not referring to streaming services such as Crave, Netflix, etc. I'm referring to streaming off internet all channels worldwide. Similar to 'jailbreaking' a Firestick or Apple TV box.
> 
> My mention to social media was that IPTV providers are now advertising on social media to get clients. I question this since I always assumed IPTV was, and still is, an illegal service - especially since you need to hide your VPN.


I'm going to say there's a bit of a grey area there. The illegal part would be if someone has the broadcasting rights to a particular show in Canada (let's say Friends), but you're watching it a Friends episode feed based from England. However, what if you're watching a show based in Bulgaria (just for the sake of argument), that has no one who holds the distribution rights in Canada? Are you infringing on someone's property when no one in Canada "owns" it?

Edit: I remember there was a big issue with fan subtitled Anime decades ago. No one in NA had distribution rights, so while it is considered copyright infringement, no one would prosecute because no one had any standing in NA. But once a distributor got the rights to certain titles, those fan-subs would disappear.


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## Plugging Along (Jan 3, 2011)

Mortgage u/w said:


> Just to clarify, IPTV has nothing to do with FB or any other social media platform. I'm also not referring to streaming services such as Crave, Netflix, etc. I'm referring to streaming off internet all channels worldwide. Similar to 'jailbreaking' a Firestick or Apple TV box.
> 
> My mention to social media was that IPTV providers are now advertising on social media to get clients. I question this since I always assumed IPTV was, and still is, an illegal service - especially since you need to hide your VPN.


It's 'grey' some more, some less grey than others. As I mentioned before, the providers change all the time, and the service isn't always reliable. If you can get it setup properly and don't mind that it's not always a stable provider, then it's well worth it. Also, is really good for if you are looking for something really specific. We have a vpn, but it primarily so we can help my dad manage it remotely, and do everything with out having to go over to his place. We have my dad's set up so he gets all the local news channels that he wants, his sports channels, and a few specialty channels. It's very similar to the channels he had from his cable provider. It has live tv as you said with a little tv guide (until the provide 'blips' that) 

For our home use, we don't use IPTV, we pay for the streaming services but that's primarily that our kids want certain shows and they can do netflix and disney parties. 

You are right, has nothing to do with streaming or social media.


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## Emjay85 (Nov 9, 2014)

bgc_fan said:


> I'm going to say there's a bit of a grey area there. The illegal part would be if someone has the broadcasting rights to a particular show in Canada (let's say Friends), but you're watching it a Friends episode feed based from England. However, what if you're watching a show based in Bulgaria (just for the sake of argument), that has no one who holds the distribution rights in Canada? Are you infringing on someone's property when no one in Canada "owns" it?
> 
> Edit: I remember there was a big issue with fan subtitled Anime decades ago. No one in NA had distribution rights, so while it is considered copyright infringement, no one would prosecute because no one had any standing in NA. But once a distributor got the rights to certain titles, those fan-subs would disappear.


From what I've been told, the illegal part is uploading the tv feed to the internet. I don't believe the streaming part to be illegal. If you were to download the content, it becomes illegal. Many IPTV providers used to also include on demand content. Most have moved away from this because they need to have the content loaded on servers to distribute, which would put them at a higher risk of prosecution for unauthorized holding/distribution of copywritten materials. That is how I understand it anyway, in a nutshell.


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## bgc_fan (Apr 5, 2009)

Emjay85 said:


> From what I've been told, the illegal part is uploading the tv feed to the internet. I don't believe the streaming part to be illegal. If you were to download the content, it becomes illegal. Many IPTV providers used to also include on demand content. Most have moved away from this because they need to have the content loaded on servers to distribute, which would put them at a higher risk of prosecution for unauthorized holding/distribution of copywritten materials. That is how I understand it anyway, in a nutshell.


So there is a bit of murkiness about this. Yes uploading is illegal, and if you are streaming a feed to others, you are essentially uploading, so that's the issue with torrents as you are simultaneously uploading and downloading. But the thing is, downloading isn't illegal. So you can go to pirate sites and download or stream from other sources; however, the copyright holders may not be so forgiving. Part of the reason is that we are allowed to copy for private use. If you recall, there is a CD levy because of that, as a portion of blank CD sales goes to some group. 

But if you are streaming from a country that has little in the way of copyright enforcement, I doubt anyone is going to go after you. It's usually the big Hollywood studios who are more interested in this.


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## Mortgage u/w (Feb 6, 2014)

bgc_fan said:


> So there is a bit of murkiness about this. Yes uploading is illegal, and if you are streaming a feed to others, you are essentially uploading, so that's the issue with torrents as you are simultaneously uploading and downloading. But the thing is, downloading isn't illegal. So you can go to pirate sites and download or stream from other sources; however, the copyright holders may not be so forgiving. Part of the reason is that we are allowed to copy for private use. If you recall, there is a CD levy because of that, as a portion of blank CD sales goes to some group.
> 
> But if you are streaming from a country that has little in the way of copyright enforcement, I doubt anyone is going to go after you. It's usually the big Hollywood studios who are more interested in this.


So if streaming is not illegal, why do the programmers include an app to hide your VPN?


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## bgc_fan (Apr 5, 2009)

Mortgage u/w said:


> So if streaming is not illegal, why do the programmers include an app to hide your VPN?


There are other reasons for using VPN, and has nothing to do with doing illegal stuff. Some people just don't want to be tracked. There is the other grey area of using a VPN to get around geofencing like Netflix so you can access US content for example.

But you're talking about streaming as the person receiving the content. If you're talking about streaming as someone uploading the content, that's different.


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## Emjay85 (Nov 9, 2014)

Mortgage u/w said:


> So if streaming is not illegal, why do the programmers include an app to hide your VPN?


I dont use a vpn but have heard some ISP's blocking the use of IPTV and other streaming apps and a VPN is the way around that.


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