Why It Sucks To Be Canadian

I am proud to be Canadian. I was born here, grew up here, get teary watching certain commercials, go skiing, skating, get free healthcare, etc… in short, I love it here. But you know what? Sometimes it really sucks to be Canadian. Here’s why.

1. We don’t get Superbowl commercials
2. Hulu is off limits
3. NBC videos are off limits
4. MTV videos are off limits
5. Many YouTube videos are off limits
6. Comedy Network clips are off limits
7. “Vote-In” type shows are off limits
8. A lot of TV shows arn’t even available to buy on iTunes

The one thing in common with all these guys, is that they are all owned by a US company. Here’s Hulu’s reason why:

For now, Hulu is a U.S. service only. That said, our intention is to make Hulu’s growing content lineup available worldwide. This requires clearing the rights for each show or film in each specific geography and will take time

This makes sense. This is actually the reason why, when you’re watching GlobalTV, and a show is about to stop, a weird overlapping this happens, where a few seconds of a TV show starts, then the screen fizzes and it restarts. What’s happening, is that you were watching the US version, then GlobalTV kicks in, and shows their copy, complete with Canadian commercials.

It makes sense for TV. But it doesn’t make sense for the Internet. And unfortunately, this trend of “geological restrictions” is only becoming bigger and bigger. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve tried to watch something, only for me to be stopped. It sucks. I feel that its against the ideology of the internet, where anyone in the world can gain access to any information.

I think companies that are doing this, are only shooting themselves in the foot. For eager and savvy users, they will find a way to get the content that they want, most of the time through illegal means.

Here’s a nice workaround I found. Its called HotSpot Shield. Its a free VPN that you can connect to, allow you to have privacy by hidding behind an IP address that’s not yours.  I guess it acts almost like a proxy. What happens then, is that the IP you get, is actually a US-based one, which allows you to watch this American content. The only downside, is that its incredibly slow.

I guess it doesn’t really “suck to be Canadian”, but really “sucks to not be US”. But until companies open up, we have to keep finding these little workarounds to get what we want.