geo-blocking

thumb | right | alt=Netflix does not currently offer its streaming service in China due to a challenging regulatory environment. | Netflix does not currently offer its streaming service in China due to a challenging regulatory environment. Geo-blocking, geoblocking or geolocking is technology that restricts access to Internet content based upon the user's geographical location. In a geo-blocking scheme, the user's location is determined using Internet geolocation techniques, such as checking the user's IP address against a blacklist or whitelist, GPS queries in the case of a mobile device, accounts, and measuring the end-to-end delay of a network connection to estimate the physical location of the user. The result of this check is used to determine whether the system will approve or deny access to the website or to particular content. The geolocation may also be used to modify the content provided: for example, the currency in which goods are quoted, the price or the range of goods that are available.

The term is most commonly associated with its use to restrict access to premium multimedia content on the Internet, such as films and television shows, primarily for copyright and licensing reasons. There are other uses for geo-blocking, such as blocking malicious traffic or to enforce price discrimination, location-aware authentication, fraud prevention, and online gambling (where gambling laws vary by region). Websites also use geo-blocking to comply with sanctions rules and regulations.