Configuration: Geo Blocking | WS.WebTV Documentation | WebTV Solutions

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This extension is intended to restrict the access to the Clips according to country of the the users.

Configuring Geo Blocking

Enabling Geo Blocking...
This functionality is disabled by default. You must enable it in order to use it. After enabling it all configuration options will appear below.

GeoIP Service

The first thing you need to configure is the GeoIP service (a service offered by third parties); without this, the Geo Blocking won't work. The function of a GeoIP service is to find the geographical location of an user from its IP address. In the following document we explain how to configure this service: GeoIP Service

How does this work?
The WebTV knows the IP address of the user, then it passes the IP address to the GeoIP service and the GeoIP service returns the geographical location of the user (country, etc). Finally, the WebTV uses the country returned by the GeoIP service, along your settings, to determine whether an user can access a particular Clip or not.

Discalimer: Since GeoIP services rely on the IP address information for determining the country of the users, the Geo Blocking extension won't prevent users from "fooling" the system or "bypassing" the geographical restrictions if they are using a VPN or proxy server to access the Internet and visit the WebTV. Additionally, please note that "GeoIP" service are not 100% accurate and, some times, the country of the users may be incorrectly detected by them.

Global Geo Block Policies

In this section you can create, edit or delete global Geo Block policies. You can assign any of these policies, individually, to Clips.
The first policy is the Geo Blocking policy used by default. If you want to apply any kind of restriction to all Clips, by default, then configure it here. Note that all Clips which have a specific Geo Block Policy will override the Global one.


Geo Block Policy data/properties:
• Title: Enter a descriptive title which allows you to easily identify what the policy allows or blocks.
• Geo Block Mode:
- Blacklist: Allow all countries except those specified in the list.
- Whitelist: Only allow countries specified in the list (block all other countries).
• Country List: The list of country codes to be included in the black/white list. Enter the two-letter ISO 3166-1 country codes separated by comma.
• Allow Unknown Locations: It is possible that, some times, the GeoIP service is not able to identify the corresponding country for an IP. Through this setting you can tell the WebTV whether to allow or not the playback in those cases.

IP Whitelist

Here you can specify IPs which will be excluded from the Geo Block regardless of the country.
• One entry per line.
• Each entry must be in the following format:
- Whitelist an IP for all Clips: [IP ADDRESS]/*
- Whitelist an IP for certain Clips: [IP ADDRESS]/[COMMA SEPARATED CLIP IDS]
Example (allow playback on all Clips, for IP 212.31.45.110):
212.31.45.110/*
Example (allow playback on Clips with IDs 1, 2, 3, 4, for IP 212.31.45.110):
212.31.45.110/1,2,3,4

Clips: Specific or Global Geo Block Policy

When you edit a Clip, you can select whether to use a Global Geo Block policy or a Specific one, from the "Geo Block" tab / " Use Geo Block Policy" option. If "Global" is selected then you will be able to select the desired policy using a drop-down menu; however, if you want to define a particular policy for the Clip then select "Specific" and set the corresponding options.
NOTES:
- Geo Blocking must be enabled in order for the "Geo Block" tab to appear on Clips.
- Specific Geo Block Policies override the Global one.