--- description: Netflix says technology is now being deployed to prevent proxies from being used title: Netflix Cracks Down on Viewers Using Fake Locations image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt62375835e4b868a6/698879520b72e30f2e6e7af8/gettyimages-503572712.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Business](/section/business/) ## Business Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [Tech](/tag/time-section-tech/) ## Tech Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Netflix is Cracking Down on Viewers Spoofing Locations to Access Foreign Shows by [NBC News](/author/nbc-news/) ## NBC News Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jan 15, 2016 4:06 AM CUT  A man prepares to watch House Of Cards on the Netflix Inc. application on a tablet device in London on Jan. 5, 2016. A man prepares to watch House Of Cards on the Netflix Inc. application on a tablet device in London on Jan. 5, 2016.Chris Ratcliffe—Bloomberg/Getty Images by [NBC News](/author/nbc-news/) ## NBC News Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jan 15, 2016 4:06 AM CUT Netflix is taking steps to thwart users who fake their location in order to get access to foreign shows and movies. Say you wanted to watch a British show, but the company behind it hasn’t figured out distribution rights in the U.S. — the only way to watch it on Netflix is to make the service think you’re actually logging in from across the pond. This can be done with online tools called proxies or virtual private networks — but because it allows people to circumvent copyright protections, content providers don’t like it. Netflix’s policy toward proxies has been rather laissez-faire… [_Read the rest of the story from our partners at NBC News_](http://www.nbcnews.com/tech/internet/netflix-cracks-down-viewers-spoofing-location-access-foreign-shows-n496831?cid=par-time%5F20160115 "undefined") ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4182004/netflix-fake-location/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4182004/netflix-fake-location/"},"headline":"Netflix is Cracking Down on Viewers Spoofing Locations to Access Foreign Shows","datePublished":"2016-01-15T04:06:53.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T08:07:16.473Z","description":"Netflix says technology is now being deployed to prevent proxies from being used","url":"https://time.com/4182004/netflix-fake-location/","keywords":["Tech","Internet"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt62375835e4b868a6/698879520b72e30f2e6e7af8/gettyimages-503572712.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"NBC News","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/nbc-news/"}],"articleSection":"Business","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt62375835e4b868a6/698879520b72e30f2e6e7af8/gettyimages-503572712.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Illustrations Of Popular Mobile Apps And Social Media Sites","caption":"Illustrations Of Popular Mobile Apps And Social Media Sites","creditText":"Chris Ratcliffe—Bloomberg/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/business/","name":"Business"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-tech/","name":"Tech"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4182004/netflix-fake-location/","name":"Netflix is Cracking Down on Viewers Spoofing Locations to Access Foreign Shows"}}]}] ```