Web Log: Netflix begins VPN, proxy crackdown

Users in Ireland unable to watch old ‘X-Files’ series ahead of new ‘X-Files: Re-opened’

The X-Files is out there but Netflix users in Ireland and the UK can’t avail of it. Photograph: Frank Ockenfels/Fox
The X-Files is out there but Netflix users in Ireland and the UK can’t avail of it. Photograph: Frank Ockenfels/Fox

With only a few days to go until The X-Files: Re-opened, Irish fans are probably binge-watching classic episodes on Netflix to get themselves in a Scully and Mulder state of mind. What's that? There are no X-Files episodes available on Netflix? No, it's not a government conspiracy, it's all down to what content is available based on geographic region.

The X-Files is out there but Netflix users in Ireland and the UK can't avail of it and other TV series. Unless, that is, they use VPNs, proxies and various unblocking services that bypass regional restrictions. However, some users of these unblocking services are beginning to get a message when they log into Netflix: "You seem to be using an unblocker or proxy. Please turn off any of these services and try again." Netflix seems, finally, to be cracking down on what Sony has, in the past, referred to as a form of soft piracy. Will disappointed VPN subscribers now turn to the hard kind?

uflix.com.au/netflix-apply-blocks/