Implementing Geo-Blocking 101
Geo-blocking is a must-have when your website (or app) features licensed content or targets audiences from specific geographic areas. It is also useful for preventing malicious activity and avoiding legal issues.
There are several options for incorporating geo-blocking in your software. One of the most straightforward ones is to use a geolocation API. It does not only offer you a flexible and dynamic approach, but it is also relatively easy to integrate in web-based apps and websites.
There are only a few steps involved. Let’s summarize them, using Abstract Geolocation API as an example. For a more detailed guide, check out our article about how to geo-block a website.
- First, create an account on Abstract’s website and subscribe to the IP geolocation API. This will allow you to obtain an API key.
- Then, you will have to integrate your API key into your app or website. This process depends mostly on the programming language your software uses.
- When the key is installed, you will also need to install the libraries required to make HTTP requests, based on users’ IP addresses. The latter are retrieved either by inspecting HTTP request headers or by the API itself.
- The following step is defining your geo-blocking rules. You may block users based on their country or regional location, as well as set custom rules that block users located in specific cities.
- Once the geo-blocking logic is configured, you will have to embed it in your software, so that restrictions are enforced. To do so, deploy it to your server and specify what will happen when a user is blocked. That is, whether they will be redirected to a “blocked” page or get an HTTP error code.
- Codes might look like this if you use Javascript as your programming language
- As a last step, ¡do not forget to test the API, to make sure the geo-blocking is working properly! This will help you avoid many a headache.
Examples of Geo-Blocking
Some geo-blocking uses include location-based authentication, fraud prevention, and stopping malicious traffic. Nonetheless, geo-blocking restrictions are primarily enforced to protect copyright and licensing agreements. Therefore, among websites and apps that feature geo-blocking, one can find:
- Streaming services libraries. Platforms like Netflix, Max, and Prime Video display different content according to the user’s location. This is mostly due to licensing agreements.
- Videogames availability. Geo-blocking is often used by game developers and distributors to determine where their games are played or downloaded. Often, this is due to fulfilling local regulations.
- Gambling websites. Since online gambling is either prohibited or regulated in several countries, it’s not uncommon for gambling websites to apply geo-blocking on users located in those countries.
- Sports streaming. Broadcasting rights of major sports events (like UFC fights or the FIFA World Cup) may be held by local networks. Therefore, its streaming will be geo-blocked to avoid legal issues.
- News Platforms and Social Media. Countries under strict censorship may geo-block certain pieces of news and social media content, to prevent their citizens from accessing it.
- Product pricing. E-commerce tends to use geo-blocking to display different pricing structures, specific to each country. Access to different products or shipping options also tends to be restricted by geo-blocking.
Is Geo-Blocking Effective?
Although it can make your web experience more restricted, geo-blocking is not foolproof. Each geolocation method has downsides that may hinder, more or less, its effectiveness.IP-based methods, for example, are useful for tracking users' location within a region, a country, or, sometimes, even a city. However, they can be circumvented, which renders them ineffective.
For its part, GPS-based geo-blocking displays a higher level of precision and allows for real-time tracking of the user’s location. Its downsides are that it is only applied to mobile devices and that it has to be authorized by the user before enforcing it.
Despite this, geo-blocking is usually effective. Besides, combining different data sources (for example, IP addresses and requests’ latency) helps to make geolocation more precise.
Breaking the blockade: Avoiding Geo-Blocking
Of course, there are multiple scenarios where one can be pretty much annoyed by geo-blocking. Luckily, there are ways to avoid geo-blocking or, to use a more specific term, “bypassing” it. It is important, though, to consider that circumventing geo-blocking may be illegal, depending on the context, the country, and the method used.
Why? Because, in most cases, accessing content outside its intended geographic region violates copyright laws. Therefore, even if there are, of course, legitimate reasons to bypass geo-blocking (like accessing your home content, on a streaming service, while abroad) and probably you won't be prosecuted for it, you should be careful when doing it.
Chiefly, there are four means to avoid geo-blocking by circumventing it:
- Virtual Private Networks (VPNs). Using a VPN allows you to mask your real IP address by rerouting your online request to the VPN servers before it is sent to a website. Take into account that, since VPNs encrypt data, to use a VPN, you will have to install the VPN software on your device.
Most VPN services have servers all over the world, and you can choose which server you want your traffic to go through. For example, if you live in Italy and want to access geo-blocked content in the United States, you would use a VPN and choose to route your web traffic through a server in the United States.
- Proxy Servers. They function as a "middleman" between you and the website you are trying to access, without requiring any software installation. When you use a proxy server, your request is first sent to it, which then forwards your request to the site. The site therefore does not know your IP address; it only sees the proxy IP address. Like VPNs, proxy servers are all over the world and requests can be routed through many countries.
- Tor Networks. Also called an “onion network” because traffic is routed through multiple layers of encryption. A Tor network is a network of random servers that routes internet traffic to increase anonymity. By contrast, a VPN typically routes your encrypted request through a single server, run by the VPN company.
- Smart DNS. You may use a smart DNS service to mask your IP address by rerouting your domain name server requests. That is, the request your device makes to a software’s domain to translate the human-readable domain name that you type into your browser into the domain's IP address.
Though using smart DNS tends to be faster than using a VPN, setting it up or changing a DNS is somewhat complicated and usually requires some understanding of how network requests are made. Also, it is not as reliable as VPNs.
Geo-restrictions: Summing Up
Geo-blocking is the process of placing geo-restrictions on websites and content on the internet. Primarily it is used to protect the copyrights of geo-restricted content, block fraudulent traffic, and perform location-based authentication.
It tends to be highly effective. Nonetheless, there are several ways to bypass geo-blocking, including using a VPN, Proxy servers, Tor networks, or smart DNS. However, since geo-blocking often complies with local regulations, bypassing it can have legal consequences, especially when it is done for malicious purposes.
What’s the most effective way to develop geo-blocking solutions for your website or app? Using a geolocation API that lets you create customized geo-blocking rules to meet both your needs and your users’ requirements.
Ready to try it out? Sign up in Abstract API for a free trial today.
FAQs
What is meant by geo-blocking?
"Geo-blocking" or "geo-blocking" means placing restrictions on certain web content, based on a user's location. Typically, access to geo-restricted content is limited because of copyright laws and licensing agreements, as well as local laws.
Is bypassing geo-blocking illegal?
Not necessarily. Depending on the country you are in, the content you are trying to access, and the method you use to access it, bypassing geo-restrictions may be perfectly legal.
Additionally, there are many legitimate reasons for using VPNs and proxy services, so most streaming services are not allowed to prevent users from accessing their content using these methods.
Why is geo-blocking a thing?
Geo-blocking exists mainly to enforce licensing agreements and internet censorship. Licensing agreements dictate where in the world certain media can be streamed. Many content providers may also enter into agreements with broadcasters in other countries who have exclusive rights to show their content.
How does Geo-Blocking Work 2.0
Geo-blocking uses different data sources when tracking a user’s location. These determine, up to a certain extent, how geo-blocking works. To avoid a juggernaut of data, let’s focus on how is it implemented by tracking a user’s IP address.
IP detection-based geo-blocking captures the user’s IP address when they visit a website or try to access a service. That is, from the request headers. To do so, websites and apps use server-side languages like Python and PHP.
The next step is linking that IP address to a geographic location, through a geolocation API or third-party services that keep databases attaching IP addresses to regions, countries, cities, and (sometimes) ISPs.
If the identified location is not allowed to access the requested content, the blocking will be enforced either on the client, via redirections to “blocking” or alternative pages, or on the server side, by HTTP responses.
Other geo-blocking methods, like billing data-based work in a similar way. A website or app collects the address associated with the user’s payment method, language setting, or account information, and checks in its database if it is from a restricted area. If it is, the geo-blocking is enforced.
Tracking the user’s GPS coordinates, or using latency-based methods to enforce geo-blocking, though, work a little bit differently.
GPS is one of the most precise ways of retrieving a user’s location. Specially, if the user is employing a mobile device. The downside is that the user must grant the website or app permission to access their GPS coordinates.
When permission is granted, the app/website will recover the user’s exact location and compare it against the coordinates of geographic boundaries, such as countries or regions using a geospatial database. If the user’s coordinates match those of a restricted area… You know the drill.
Latency-based geo-blocking, on the other hand, only allows for rough estimates of a user’s location. Consequently, it is usually employed in tandem with other geolocation methods, such as IP addresses.
To estimate a user’s location this way, a server will measure the time it takes a piece of data to travel from the user’s device to the server, and back to the device. In other words, the request’s latency. Then, it compares it against latency thresholds expected for different regions, to map where is the user’s device.
If the identified region matches the IP address, the website or app will be ensured that its decision to block or allow access to certain content is correct.
