[ubuntu-uk] watch tv on ubuntu!

[Andrew Oakley]

gizbun wrote:
> I'm wondering if I can get the French channels. It says it gives you
> channels based on your IP address. Anybody got any idea how I can spoof
> an IP address to achieve this?

"Spoof"ing an IP address is phrase used to describe a specialised hacker 
technique that wouldn't be helpful in this instance.

Instead, you could proxy your traffic through server in France. You 
could rent a VPS hosted in Paris, then use SSH tunnels or other proxying 
software to proxy all your traffic through that server.

Bear in mind that (if I'm reading the documentation correctly) Zattoo 
checks the nationality of your IP address every time it starts. It isn't 
just a case of creating a nationalised login; you need to have the 
national IP every time you use it, so you'd have to be running the 
proxying stuff every time you

There's an interesting analysis of Zattoo's legal status here:

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/05/02/swiss_uk_tv_ripoff/

Basically they don't have agreements with the broadcasters (BBC etc) to 
retransmit the channels. Instead they are relying on a loophole in the 
Copyright Designs & Patents Act 1988 which was written to allow cable 
rebroadcast of TV signals to areas that couldn't get decent VHF/UHF TV 
reception. Zattoo's use of loophole was exposed a year ago, and the BBC 
et al still haven't kicked up much of a fuss, so Zattoo may be out of 
the woods.

-- 
Andrew Oakley