Thursday, November 13, 2008

BBC iPlayer and Tor

For sometime now I've noticed that my previously posted solutions to getting BBC iPlayer (streaming television version) overseas (here) using Tor and Privoxy/Foxproxy are no longer working. After scanning/converting over 90 Autocad dwg files to Acrobat pdf files and thrn cataloging them in html on our workplace Intranet website yesterday, my ennui limits had been reached and I needed some intellectual stimulation. So I downloaded the most recent versions of Tor and the Firefox add-on FoxyProxy, configured them as previously described ... (i.e. Tor to point to StrictExitNodes to named UK Tor servers. The Vidalia GUI for Tor tells me my exit node is in the UK . Web-based IP address search tools show my IP address is the UK.

What is going on? Are the BBC blacklisting UK Tor servers? Have the found a way of tracing Tor routing back to the original machine?

5 comments:

Lea White said...

Hi Angus,

I tag you.

The rules are:
1. Link to the person who tagged you
2. Post the rules
3. Share seven random or weird facts about yourself
4. Tag 7 random people at the end of the post with their links
5. Let each person know they've been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

Lea White
http://whitesinnz.blogspot.com

Anonymous said...

Hi Angus. I'm overseas and can get iPlayer to stream using the vidalia/privoxy method you described earlier. Great stuff! I wonder if it's just a one-off problem you are having?

I posted on this topic on your original iPlayer blog entry also, but have put it here as well in case people read this later post instead. Any help would be great!

When I click to download a programme (ie not stream) the download manager (rightly) tells me I'm not in the UK and won't download anything (error 104). I note users above are downloading okay. Does anyone have any suggestions? I downloaded the Download Manager without using Tor, in case that makes a difference.

Any help would be appreciated very much. Thanks

Finally, I've also downloaded foxyproxy which very cleverly can be set to only use Tor when I go to iPlayer using rules. It is correctly switching to Tor when I visit iPlayer but the page doesn't load, returning a 'check proxy settings' error message. The Vidalia/Privoxy approach still works though. Can anyone offer advice on how to configure foxy proxy? It's using 127.0.0.1 and port 9050, whatever that means.

Cheers

Anonymous said...

I hope this gets through: here is a fresh Exit Nodes line which is working for me:

ExitNodes ephemer2, oinniun, haven, dissentor, mini, atacama, tortureisevil, home, Hilikme, MaZA, azzificarez, muckelbude, candybar, Freaky, Benzyl, dementia, ciccio, anonion, g8s8skhakj, Daniel, privacypimp, distorted, TORitagain26, docTor, BetaTester, MrNiceGuy, SmilingParrot, Unnamed9999, tOrpOr, connorPC, goodguy, HiCarumba2000, YWH, DVB, aomushi, whynot, Gizmoguy, pya23

Best

Rick

Angus said...

Thanks Rick

Anonymous said...

Hi

Firstly i would like to say how grateful I am for the information given on this site that has enabled me access the iplayer.

Regarding the problem downloading mentioned by Anonymous i find the re-vamped download manager nothing but hassle - long download times, auto deletes etc.

I always use the other options - small device downloads or for media player. I take off the proxy before clicking on the LAST download button leading to quicker downloads.
Am currently working on the Hulu site in USA