HN Explorer

How do DNS-based proxy services work (e.g. to watch the BBC olympic feed)?

4 points by cschmidt ↗ HN
I have a British wife who was being driven crazy by the US Olympic coverage. Following the suggestions on

http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4306600

I used the free trial of www.unotelly.com. It worked like a charm. I pointed my DNS to one of their servers, and I could see the BBC live Olympics streams. I get that they make my computer appear to be in the UK, but how do they do that? It seems like a big improvement over the older VPN services. What's going on under the hood? Any security concerns from a service like this?

3 comments

[ 3.9 ms ] story [ 19.2 ms ] thread
bogs
Why not just use a VPN? especially on a LowEndBox and it will allow you to maintain it and be able to keep the security as much or as little. Then your wife will be able to also watch all her favourite tv shows on BBC and others.
cschmidt
The biggest advantage is easier configuration. You can set the DNS on the router, and then all computers on your network (including Xboxes, iPads etc.) and work with it. It also seems like it would be a bit faster not having to do a VPN. In short, changing DNS settings is usually a lot easier than setting up a VPN connection.
soult
Simple guess: Their DNS server always returns the same IP address, which is a simple transparent proxy.

An encrypted VPN would protects you from data sniffing done by your ISP. Obviously the VPN provider will be in a position to sniff your data. With the transparent proxy, your data is not encrypted and can be sniffed by both your ISP and your "VPN" provider.