New Zealand ISP opens up access to US only services

Kiwi ISP Slingshot lets users bypass copyright geo-blocking - BRW

Slingshot, a New Zealand ISP, is offering it's users "Global Mode" which, on paper, would allow international visitors to NZ to access the content they would be used to at home.

As a result, local users of the ISP can use the same service which means ISP based bypassing of geo-blocked services like Netflix and Hulu.

Now the above headline is little contentious.  There are no actual laws, criminal or civil based, that ban bypassing the artificial barriers erected to lock internet based content to particular countries.  What we do have however are entertainment companies charging huge sums of money to dish out content piecemeal around the globe who certainly do not want various markets having the same access to the same content.

It will be interesting to see how long this lasts.  Back in May 2012 another NZ ISP, Fyx, offered a similar service. The only difference was they explicitly marketed it as a way for NZ residents to access normally blocked services.  About a week later they withdrew the service for less than clear reasons.

So will Slingshot's offering focusing on international visitors make a difference this time around or are we just counting the days until "Global Mode" is again removed from the face of the Earth?