How do I get proxy served?

April 10, 2012 6:34 PM

I'm overseas and want to purchase and download an e-book, but the site apparently blocks those outside the U.S. from doing so. Can I get around this?

I'm in Japan and I'm trying to purchase a textbook. I never entered in any information to the fact that I'm in Japan, but I got a message ("Restrict Commerce, Access to this content is not available in your country at this time.") blocking me anyway. So I guess it's picking up my IP address.

So I need to use a proxy server, but I tried a few times but it didn't work and I don't really understand how to use a proxy server. I guess that's my real question: what are some reliable proxy servers that will trick the site into thinking I'm in the U.S.? Obviously, I want to find a solution that's free.

posted by zardoz to Computers & Internet (5 answers total)

Hotspot Shield might do the trick. Download, install and the app does everything else.
posted by urbanwhaleshark at 6:50 PM on April 10, 2012

Response by poster: thanks, but no, Hotspot didn't work. Though there may be some settings I can tweak?
posted by zardoz at 7:15 PM on April 10, 2012

Tunnelbear is pretty easy to use. Sign up, download, and pick your country.
posted by calistasm at 7:20 PM on April 10, 2012

Response by poster: thanks but that didn't work, either. I'm at a loss.
posted by zardoz at 9:29 PM on April 10, 2012

I've had success with ExpatShield.
posted by Obscure Reference at 6:11 AM on April 11, 2012