While Indonesia has its own version of Netflix, it has suffered from censorship. It is also impossible using a regular Internet connection for residents of Indonesia to access other countries’ versions of Netflix, such as the popular American and UK versions. However, by applying the right technology, residents and visitors to Indonesia can use workarounds to access any version of the streaming service they want.
Netflix Battle with Indonesian Censorship
In late January of 2016, state-owned telecom companies in Indonesia accused Netflix of failing to garner a business permit to operate in the country as well as voicing concerns about the content that the company was airing. The head of Telekom Indonesia accused Netflix of not following the country’s rules and of airing programming full of adult content and violence. Indonesia has 250 million residents, but a majority of them do not have the necessary technology to watch streaming video online. The telecoms proceeded to ban Netflix until the company agreed to work with them about perceived censorship issues. Some analysts believed the issue was more about money than about censorship as there are many private DVD companies across the nation selling current films and TV programs featuring the self-same violence and adult content. The ban of Netflix came just a few weeks after the service was introduced to the country. The ban lasted more than a year, finally being cancelled in April 2017 when Telekom and Netflix came to a new agreement. Telekom’s main beef appears to be that it expected Netflix to set up a local enterprise or partner with a local provider, which it did not. However, it’s completely likely that another ban will come arise at some point as Netflix has agreed for now to comply with local regulations and law. If those change, it might mean more trouble for the new partners.
Current Indonesian Netflix Lineup
Despite its claim that Netflix was showing programs featuring scandalous adult content and violence, the current lineup of shows airing on the Indonesian Netflix is full of both. American TV dramas currently airing include, but are not limited to:
12 Monkeys Archer Arrow Bates Motel Better Call Saul Black Mirror Breaking Bad Brooklyn 99 From Dusk Till Dawn How to Get Away with Murder Orange is the New Black Weeds
There are lots of documentary, historical, and children’s programs as well.
The VPN Solution
Whether you are fearful of another dispute taking the Indonesian version of Netflix offline or you want to watch a different country’s offering of the streaming service, your best solution is to employ a virtual private network. One of the biggest complaints users have about Netflix is that you can only watch programming from the country you are currently located in. This becomes extremely short-sighted considering how many people travel internationally, not to mention how many work in a different company than they reside. Even if you are a resident of say, the United States, with a paid-for subscription to the US version of Netflix, you cannot access it if you are not located in the US. A VPN not only allows you to work around this limitation, but it provides you one of the safest environments possible to use the Internet, particularly when it comes to protecting your data and staying anonymous. There are numerous choices for VPNs that do different things well. What they all do is allow you to download an app to the Internet-capable device of your choice. When you start the app, you will be prompted to select a remote server to connect to. When trying to access a particular country’s Netflix, you should choose a server located in that country. The app will create a “tunnel” through which your computer will send encrypted requests to the remote server. The data is encrypted there, given a new IP address reflective of that country, and sent on to Netflix, which will believe you are requesting its services from the country in question. Your requests will be downloaded back to the remote server, which encrypts them and sends them through the tunnel to you, preventing your ISP from seeing what data is coming. Because speed is essential for watching Netflix, ExpressVPN is a great choice for Indonesia users. It has some of the best speeds of any VPN and has very secure applications to keep your connection safe. NordVPN is a strong connection of speed and security. Its based in Panama and employs a strict policy for not recording logs. If security is your primary concern, consider Florida-based IPVanish, which uses 256-bit AES encryption and gives users unlimited bandwidth.
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