Watch Netflix as if you were in the US by proxying DNS through a DigitalOcean instance.

readme.md

Watch US Netflix content without a VPN

Update: this approach doesn't seem to work anymore since Netflix cracked down on it. Sorry!

This command-line script sets up a virtual server on DigitalOcean that acts as a DNS proxy. Then, it configures your computer to use that proxy. To Netflix, your traffic will appear as if it were coming from within the US.

DigitalOcean is ultimately a paid service. The maximum that running a virtual server will cost you is USD$5/month. You can destroy the instance while you're not using it, though. They're disposable.

If this setup sounds complicated, or you're on a platform other than OS X, or you're not comfortable with the technical terms discussed here, you might be better off using another service such as unblock-us.com or the Hola Chrome extension.

This small tool is made possible by Anton Belodedenko's netflix-proxy which does most of the hard work.

Prerequisites

• Sign up for a DigitalOcean account. You will get some initial credit for free.
• Mac OS X. The DNS configuration of your own system depends on a utility called networksetup.
• Ruby (comes by default with OS X). The tugboat library is installable via RubyGems.
• tugboat CLI client for DigitalOcean. Install with gem install tugboat && tugboat authorize

Usage

Install the script from this gist as an executable somewhere in your PATH:

curl -fsSL 'https://gist.githubusercontent.com/mislav/c534c770e1c1e60a725c/raw/netflix.sh' -o ~/bin/netflix
chmod +x ~/bin/netflix

Then:

# Create and configure the virtual server. This can take up to 5 minutes.
# You should be ready to watch Netflix after this is done.
netflix create

# Check the status of your current DNS configuration and of the server instance:
netflix status

# When you want to stop using DNS proxying (you should close Netflix first):
netflix off

# When you want to turn DNS proxying back on, or if
# you happened to switch to a different Wi-Fi network:
netflix on

# To destroy the virtual server and stop paying:
netflix destroy

Netflix has heuristics in place to eventually detect unblockers like these and blacklist them. If that happens (you will see a notice like "It seems like you're using an unblocker"), simply destroy the current instance and create a new one.

netflix.sh

#!/bin/bash
set -e

droplet=netflix
interface=Wi-Fi
us_regions=( nyc1 nyc2 nyc3 )

random_region() {
  echo ${us_regions[RANDOM % ${#us_regions[@]}]}
}

_server_ip=
server_ip() {
  [ -n "$_server_ip" ] || _server_ip="$(tugboat info --name="$droplet" --attribute=ip4 --porcelain)"
  echo "$_server_ip"
}

add_client_ip() {
  ssh "
    set -x
    sudo iptables -I FRIENDS -s ${1}/32 -j ACCEPT
    iptables-save > /etc/iptables/rules.v4 || iptables-save > /etc/iptables.rules
  "
}

sudo_warmup() {
  sudo -v -p "Local root password (for changing DNS settings): "
}

tugboat() {
  if command -v tugboat &>/dev/null; then
    command tugboat "$@"
  else
    echo "Error: you need \`tugboat' to continue. To install:" >&2
    echo "  gem install tugboat" >&2
    echo "  tugboat authorize" >&2
    return 1
  fi
}

ssh() {
  command ssh "root@$(server_ip)" "$@"
}

status() {
  echo -n "DNS: "
  networksetup -getdnsservers "$interface"
  tugboat info --name="$droplet"
}

on() {
  sudo_warmup
  add_client_ip "$(curl -fsS icanhazip.com)"
  sudo networksetup -setdnsservers "$interface" "$(server_ip)"
}

off() {
  sudo_warmup
  sudo networksetup -setdnsservers "$interface" empty
}

create() {
  sudo_warmup
  key_id="$(tugboat keys | grep -o 'id: [0-9]\+' | head -1 | awk '{print $2}')"
  if [ -z "$key_id" ]; then
    echo "Error: no SSH keys stored in your DigitalOcean settings." >&2
    echo "Please visit https://cloud.digitalocean.com/settings/security and use 'Add SSH key'." >&2
    return 1
  fi
  tugboat create "$droplet" --size 512mb --image docker --region "$(random_region)" --keys "$key_id" --ip6
  tugboat wait --name="$droplet"
  sleep 10
  ssh "
    set -x
    git clone https://github.com/ab77/netflix-proxy /opt/netflix-proxy
    cd /opt/netflix-proxy
    ./build.sh
  "
  on
}

destroy() {
  off
  tugboat destroy --name="$droplet" --confirm
}

case "$1" in
ssh | status | on | off | create | destroy )
  "$@"
  ;;
* )
  echo "Unknown command. Please use one of: status on off create destroy ssh" >&2
  exit 1
  ;;
esac