ProxMate is an extension for Firefox and Google Chrome that is able to bypass geographic restrictions on a number of popular video and music streaming websites.
Need access to Hulu.com but live outside the US? Tired of country restrictions like GEMA’s blocking of YouTube/Grooveshark music in Germany?
ProxMate is an open source extension that acts as a proxy server in the US to unblock music and videos from the following sites:
- Hulu
- YouTube
- YouTube Search
- YouTube Channels
- Grooveshark
You can also set it to use your own proxy server if you prefer.
Proxy Server?
ProxMate’s US proxy server acts as an intermediary for your requests (from outside the US) to view music/videos on these sites.
It routes your request as if you were browsing from the US and therefore you are able to view content like Hulu or content which is currently blocked in your own country e.g. YouTube music videos blocked within Germany etc.
[Techie Note: TOR is a popular free proxy service but it can be difficult to set up to use a specific country as an exit node and the bundled browser does not include plugins and addons like Flash Player, required to view videos. There are ways around this but TOR traffic is generally too slow to stream video anyway.]
Download
ProxMate for Chrome is available from Chrome Web Store here.
ProxMate for Firefox is available from Mozilla Add-Ons but the old 1.2 version does not support Hulu. For the latest Firefox version with Hulu support and other features/fixes, download Version 1.3.1 here (not yet tested by Mozilla which is why it is not on the main ProxMate page).
Using ProxMate On Hulu
If you are outside the US, when you browse to a video on Hulu and try to play it, you will see a message stating that the video can only be streamed within the US.
To unblock this restriction using ProxMate:
Browse to a video of your choice (not just the thumbnail, the actual video)Click the “i details” button under the videoA button saying “Unblock this Video” should pop upClick it and wait a few secondsThe video gets unblocked and should start playing (most display video adverts first)ProxMate Options
Open ProxMate options if you want to configure your own proxy server (for advanced users with a specific requirement) or change site specific settings as shown below:
ProxMate OptionsIf you choose ‘Use own proxy’ you will need to provide a ‘Proxy URL’ and a ‘Proxy Port’.
Common Queries About ProxMate
To save time asking, it does not work the other way round e.g. people in the US can’t use it to view YouTube content which is restricted to the UK – because the proxy is in the US, same as you!
Likewise, if an uploader has blocked their YouTube video in the US but made it available in the UK, ProxMate can’t unblock it.
In both cases you could configure ProxMate to use a custom proxy server e.g. one based in the UK where the content was not blocked. [Don’t ask me for details of free proxy servers, there are too many to list and they are easily found on Google].
Security Note
On any proxy server (not just ProxMate) your web traffic, including any passwords submitted, could in theory be captured and analyzed by the proxy operator(s). For this reason, passwords to online services (such as webmail) should always be exchanged over a secured connection, such as SSL, when using a proxy.
For best security, don’t log onto websites requiring a password when using an unknown proxy – ProxMate has a simple on/off button so you can easily disable it (which reverts you back to normal safe browsing) when you have finished using the supported websites.
For added peace of mind and to help ensure there are no hidden aspects to the code, ProxMate is open source free software – the source code is publicly available at GitHub.
Conclusion
ProxMate does an excellent job of removing geographic restrictions from several popular video and music sites – for those people browsing from outside the US.
Unlike many proxy services it requires no technical knowledge to use and it appears to give very good performance i.e. no buffering of video on a decent broadband connection.
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