So what would a soldier want to access on the Internet? Believe it or not, one of the things they do is watch TV online. They can catch their favorite programs or watch hockey. Most of the major networks put their some of their newest episodes online. For others, they can access media sites that aggregate content. Another outlet for media is the online newspapers like the New York Times. Or maybe they want to read their home town newspaper online. Today most, if not all papers, have an interactive version. So between TV, sports, and newspapers, they can catch up on the current US media and news.
There are also several social networking websites out there that they can use to keep in touch with friends and family
. Sure e-mail works to an extent, but if you have ever used any form of social networking, you know exactly how much simpler it is. You can type a message on your homepage, and suddenly all of your friends and family will be able to see it. Soldiers are very pressed for time, and sometimes there just isn't an opportunity to respond to every single person. This makes social networking extremely important. There is a problem however, a huge problem. Sometimes soldiers cannot get to the websites that they need. Why exactly? Well let's talk about it.The purpose of companies streaming their television shows onto the internet is so that people will see them, and eventually decide to buy them on DVD. People outside the country however will not be able to buy these because they are simply unavailable. Companies decided that they were actually losing money because such people couldn't get a hold of their products! They didn't seem to consider all of the people IN the United States that were buying. After all, what could it hurt if a few foreigners watched an episode of The Office, or even Stargate Universe? Well you wouldn't think that it could hurt at all, but the production companies didn't quite see it that way. For this reason they started to block IP addresses outside of the United States. The same went for several social networking websites because they suffered from the same advertisement problem. This however did not stop the military personnel from viewing their favorite websites. They instead turned to proxies.
For those who don't know, a proxy is a server that one can connect to. This server will then connect you to the internet via it's own connection. What does this accomplish? It provides you with a new IP address which is based in the United States. You are not visiting websites via your own connection, but instead you are using the ISP that the proxy subscribes to. What you're dealing with there is surfing the internet using a computer across the ocean. The moral aspect is up to you, but if you get a proxy with decent encryption, the ISP you use overseas will never know the difference. This is also a great way to protect your privacy. By using a proxy you will be able to hide your identity while catching up on your favorite shows. The one thing you don't want to do in a war zone is broadcast who you are and what you are doing. With that in mind, start shopping for a good proxy today. Once you arrange a good one, you will be able to sit back, relax, and enjoy your favorite shows.
