I Used a VPN to Change My Country
> SPOOFING_REALITY...
The internet feels global, but it is actually hyper-local. Your experience in New York is radically different from someone in Mumbai or Bucharest.
I utilized a VPN to tunnel my connection to 3 countries. I checked: Netflix, Airline Prices, and News.
1. The Netflix Catalogs
| Country | Top Movie | Exclusive Content |
|---|---|---|
| 🇺🇸 USA (Real) | Generic Superhero Movie | Lots of Reality TV |
| 🇯🇵 JAPAN | Anime I've never heard of | Studio Ghibli (Not on US Netflix!) |
| 🇬🇧 UK | The Office (UK) | Friends (Still there?) |
2. The "Price Discrimination" Test
I searched for a flight from New York to London on Skyscanner.
- 🇺🇸 USA IP Price: $850
- 🇮🇳 INDIA IP Price: $720 (Converted)
- 🇷🇴 ROMANIA IP Price: $590
Conclusion: Airlines absolutely charge you more if they think you are in a "rich" country or using a Mac (yes, I tested that too).
3. The News Bubble
Loading Google News from Russia was disorienting. The headlines were... different.
The framing of the same war was inverted.
Loading from China was mostly timeouts and "Connection Reset".
Conclusion
A VPN is not just for pirates. It is a teleportation device. It showed me that truth on the internet is geographic. What I see as "fact" is just what is served to my IP block.