The actions of Edward Snowden were celebrated last night when the Citizenfour documentary won an Academy Award. The Oscar went to Laura Poitras, one of the key figures in documenting Snowden’s actions. Laura met with Snowden in Hong Kong along with Glen Greenwald. They filmed while discussing the information Snowden was releasing to the world. Watch Citizenfour on Channel 4 in the UK with a VPN.
While Citizenfour won the Oscar, it has only been shown in limited release. I haven’t had a chance to watch the documentary yet but I look forward to it. Citizenfour is scheduled to be shown on HBO tonight at 9:00pm EST and on Channel 4 in the UK on Wednesday night. I haven’t heard when HBO will be adding the documentary to their HBO Go service. I would recommend using a VPN or Smart DNS to watch Citizenfour on Channel 4.
How to Use a VPN to Avoid Geo Blocks
When we talk about watching Citizenfour on HBO Go, Channel 4, or elsewhere you have to keep geo blocks in mind. Content providers like HBO, Channel 4, Netflix, Hulu are forced by content owners to block users outside a geographic region. That means you can’t enjoy your favorite Netflix US shows while traveling abroad. At least not without a VPN. When you connect to a VPN server in the country of your choice the provider will assign you a local IP address. That will allow you to freely view content in that country. Sone channels like HBO and Netflix still require a subscription. While others including Channel 4 and 4oD do not.
Citizenfour Storyline
Here’s a snippet on the storyline of the film from IMDB:
In January 2013, Laura Poitras started receiving anonymous encrypted e-mails from “CITIZENFOUR,” who claimed to have evidence of illegal covert surveillance programs run by the NSA in collaboration with other intelligence agencies worldwide. Five months later, she and reporters Glenn Greenwald and Ewen MacAskill flew to Hong Kong for the first of many meetings with the man who turned out to be Edward Snowden. She brought her camera with her. The resulting film is history unfolding before our eyes.
Best VPN to Stream Citizenfour
First you will want to find a reliable VPN service. In this case you will want one with fast VPN servers in the United Kingdom. There are a several VPNs to choose from. Here are some of our favorites.
| Rank | VPN Service | Our Score | Server Locations | Visit |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  | 9.8 | 160 |  |
| 2 |  | 9.4 | 87 | |
| 3 |  | 9.2 | 95 | |
How to Use a VPN to Watch Citizenfour
I’ll use IPVanish for the example of how to use a VPN service to watch the Citizenfour documentary. First you’ll want to download their client. IPVanish offers free software for Windows, Mac and Linux. In addition to free apps for iOS and Android.
Now that you’ve had a chance to download and install the software it’s time to connect. Launch the IPVanish client and select a server location. We’ll walk you through step by step using their Windows client.
- Select a server location. I recommend you choose either London, Manchester, or Nottingham.
- We recommend you select OpenVPN (TCP) or (UDP). For streaming videos from sites like YouTube we use OpenVPN (UDP). They also support PPTP and L2TP. We still recommend OpenVPN for the best privacy protection.
- Click connect. After a few seconds you’ll see the button at the top change to green and show “Disconnect”. You’ll also notice the server location and IP address show up at the top of the client.
- Once you connect you will be located in the UK as far as anyone can tell online. As such we can reach any site as if sitting in London. The same would be true if we connected to a server in the USA or anywhere else in the world.
That’s all there is to it. Now that you have an IP address from the IPVanish server in the UK you can browse the Internet as if you were actually there. Connecting to a server in the USA would give you full access to geo blocked sites there as well. The same is true from any country.
As you can probably tell by now a good VPN opens access to content around the world. If you live outside the United States the service can help you access popular services like Netflix, Hulu and Amazon Instant. You still need an account for services like Netflix but the VPN will help you watch US television shows and movies on Netflix as if you were sitting in the United States.
Watch the Citizenfour documentary and learn more about Edward Snowden on Channel 4 this Wednesday night. Please share this post with your friends so they can enjoy viewing the documentary as well. Follow us @VPNFan for the latest VPN reviews and promotions from leading providers.