I’m surprised it took so long: Hulu blocks Hotspot Shield users

Hotspot Shield, the most popular free way to access Hulu outside of the United States has finally been blocked.

Hotspot Shield is a free VPN (virtual private network) service that allows users to visit sites as if they were in the United States. It has been, since shortly after Hulu was launched, the most popular solution to bypassing Hulu’s georetardation of content.

The strange part is why has the ban come now? Many wrote about this as a solution as far back as 2007. Hotspot Shield’s popularity as a solution to accessing Hulu has actually decreased in recent times, as streaming sites that host pirated content have become widely available, offering easier and quicker access to the content Hulu offers.

NewTeeVee has a list of Hotspot Shield alternatives in their post on the ban here.