justin
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edit:
July 17th, @11:16AM
| howto defeat geocoding on PSN store (or geocoding anywhere)
The problem:
how to have your PS3 appear to connect to PSN infrastructure from a US IP address no matter where you are, so that you can at least view the PSN video store.
What you need:
Ownership or full access to a server in the US with a public IP address.
A linux PC at home (but a windows one can be convinced to work as well).
A PS3 or other device that needs to appear to be on a US IP address.
A home network, 10.0.0.X (for this example).
The solution:
The server end:
a) obtain, borrow or beg for rights to a linux box with a public US IP address (a naked box)
b) install poptop pptpd (opensource pptp server) using the appropriate binary package »poptop.org for your distro. I used »poptop.sourceforge.net/yum/stable/packages/ and installed pptpd and pptp-release other instructions are »poptop.sourceforge.net/dox/
c) configure pptpd with a name and password in /etc/chap-secrets by adding a line like this:
setup the localip and remoteip options in /etc/pptpd.conf as follows:
d) enable ip forwarding, and masquerading (example assumes eth0 is your public interface). Make it permanent whatever way your distro prefers
e) start the service, and make it permanent with chkconfig or whatever
e) add a route, again make it permanent in whichever way you prefer
This route says that no matter WHAT client in 10.0.0.X talks to us, we should route the traffic back into the tunnel. Without this route, only the client starting the VPN connection will work.
Verify the service started without error.
Ok you're all done on the server. To really secure it you probably want to add a rule to iptables that blocks incoming traffic except from your home IP.
The client end (your house, with the PS3 that won't connect to the PSN video store):
a) With an linux (ubuntu or otherwise) PC on your local LAN, connect to your remote server using the PPTP VPN client with your username and password. PPTP VPN connectors come standard with recent distros. If not, add the package, on Ubuntu it is "VPN Connection Manager". Instructions for various distros are here:
»pptpclient.sourceforge.net/#overview
After your VPN client is installed, and selected and pointed to your US server with the username and password you selected above, all traffic is now going to the remote box, but your DNS server is probably blank and your normal DNS server can't be used because it is private to your local IP address. So provide a valid working US DNS server in /etc/resolv.conf.
Once you got DNS resolution working, and ping etc, then everything will work. Verify with tcpdump on your US server that you see your traffic. Debug any issues.
Note, you can also use a windows box at home to connect because PPTP is a windows protocol anyway.
b) Enable ip forwarding on the linux box (I don't know how to do this on windows but it is probably a checkbox). Your box now be a gateway for other local clients as well.
c) Go to your PS3 or other device you wish to surface in the US, disable DHCP and go to manual mode - and set the default gateway to your linux (or windows) box on your local LAN, and enter the same US DNS server. Now the traffic goes like this
PS3 ---> local PC ---> DSL modem ---> (tunnel via internet) --> US server --> internet
For local services this will make a really bad ping. But for US services, the ping will be hardly worse than it already was.
Thats it. The PS3 now speaks to the world via your US located server, and your "public IP" will be indistinguishably the same as that US located server, hopefully unlocking any geocoded resources.
Note: this is certainly against the terms and conditions of your PSN account.
Note: You can also use this technique to view BBC programs if the server you obtain access to is in the UK, or circumvent any geo-coding limitations based purely on IP address. Also against the terms and conditions of the BBC video on demand tool, so please don't do it. |
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Dread
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irc | Seems like way more trouble for what it's worth
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Cabal
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| reply to justin
said by justin  :The problem: how to have your PS3 appear to connect to PSN infrastructure from a US IP address no matter where you are, so that you can at least view the PSN video store. Surprisingly, there's no problem going the other direction. After taking careful notes through a test US sign-up process and with a bit of luck, I (and many others) were able to create Japanese PSN logins and download demos, videos, etc.
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justin
Australian
join:1999-05-28
Brooklyn, NY
Host:
IPv6
Business Connectiv..
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Console Tech
| that is a different system: for game distribution they don't bother to block based on IPs. Probably because they don't really mind if people buy and play out of region stuff.
But for movies the block is more serious.
By the way I just went through the store using this method and the only wrinkle is I had to change the MTU down from auto to something less than 1500. Without that, the "PSN" test would fail, but the internet was usable. With a lower MTU everything worked.
the store interface is annoying, I'd like a huge scrolling list of movies A-Z, not have to bounce about from each letter! |
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justin
Australian
join:1999-05-28
Brooklyn, NY
Host:
IPv6
Business Connectiv..
Home/Office setup ..
Console/Handheld g..
Console Tech
| reply to Dread
said by Dread :Seems like way more trouble for what it's worth It was less time than I typically spend mucking around with bit torrent to get just one thing in good quality.
And once setup, it is stable: you can switch in and out of this mode by setting up the linux box to disable and re-enable the VPN with a single button (disable - route locally).
For a brit abroad wanting the free beeb archive, it is even easier as you're on the PC anyway .. |
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