Posted on: 05.10.14

Global Mode – good, bad or ugly?

Uber is often asked what Global Mode is, what the issues are with it and whether or not we’ll enable it.

Essentially, Global Mode is used by some people to access services and content not legally available in New Zealand – Netflix, Hulu, BBC iPlayer and many more.  It changes the characteristics of your connection to make it look as though you are inside the country (e.g. USA, UK) where the content is legally available.

The problem is that Global Mode is legally ambiguous in New Zealand due to copyright infringement laws around illegal downloading/streaming.  Uber will not use Global Mode unless it becomes legally accepted in New Zealand.  Our concern is that if we supported and enabled Global Mode to our customers, Uber would potentially be seen as endorsing copyright infringement.

We suggest using websites such as TVNZ on Demand, iSky, 3Now, YouTube, Lightbox, Quickflix and iTunes, none of which have the same issues.