OpenAI has decided to block access to ChatGPT from our country in response to requests from the Privacy Guarantor. How to continue using ChatGPT with a free and secure VPN service.
In response to the provision taken by the Europen Privacy Guarantor at the end of March 2023, OpenAI has decided to block ChatGPT from Italyboth the free and the paid version.
The Guarantor has decided for a temporary limitation of the processing of data of users residing in the Europen territory; it is ChatGPT, on the basis of the objections sent by the Authority, which has taken action to prevent access to the chatbot from our country. The Europen Guarantor has not prescribed the blocking of the service, and would not even have the powers to do so. Rather, it has decided to intervene to prevent any non-compliant processing.
How to unblock ChatGPT in Italy
If you had the need to continue to use ChatGPT from our country, it is enough to install a VPN client.
We have seen what a VPN is and how it allows you to overcome the geographical limitations imposed by various online services.
By establishing an encrypted tunnel with the server VPN, in fact, changes the “route” followed by the data packets sent and received on the network: instead of reaching the remote server directly by exposing the public IP address assigned by the local telecommunications operator (this address is readable, in IPv4 or IPv6 format, using for example the ipify.org service), using a VPN service goes out on the net with a completely different IP address. This means that remote servers will no longer see the address assigned by the provider chosen by the user but a different address.
This behavior also allows you to overcome any geographical limitations: the providers of the main VPN services allow the user to choose a server in a country other than Italy as exit node from the VPN network.
To continue using ChatGPT from Italy you can create a free ProtonVPN account then download the VPN client for Windows, macOS, Linux, Android, iOS and Chrome OS. After installing the software on your device, just click on the main menu of the program, top left, then select the item Settings.
In the tab General you can turn off the options first Open at startup e Connect on app launch to avoid ProtonVPN activates automatically. Then click on Advanceyou can enable Split tunneling then choose Only the selected apps/IPs will use the VPN tunnel.
The suggestion is simple: imagine that you typically use the Google Chrome browser for web browsing activities. By checking the box of Microsoft Edge or Mozilla Firefox only, the VPN connection will not be used system-wide (system-wide) but only for the single browser specified.
By doing so, any application other than the one chosen for the split tunneling it will continue to transfer data without going through the VPN.
In the example (see the previous image), opening Firefox then connecting with the ChatGPT home page the message “ChatGPT disabled for users in Italy” no longer appears and you can use the normally chatbots on OpenAI.
The important thing is to remember activate ProtonVPN VPN clicking on the button Quick connection.
Once the VPN connection has been established, just open the chosen browser previously set in the section Split tunneling then use ChatGPT as always.
Unblock ChatGPT using its public IP address
To use ChatGPT from any web browser without having to switch to a different product than the one you usually use, you can open the command prompt or terminal window then type the following command:
nslookup chat.openai.com
Noting the two IPv4 addresses returned by the command nslookupyou can open the ProtonVPN interface, access the tab again Advance in the settings and finally add the two IP addresses you discovered earlier under the column IP.
In this way ChatGPT opens with any browser while all other connections with remote websites will continue to transit outside the VPN.
Update April 6, 2023: A few days later, OpenAI started blocking access to ChatGPT by some VPN services. In the case of ProtonVPN we recommend not using the most common VPN servers but choosing different ones from the list of available ones. Otherwise you will get the error message “Access denied“.
Lastly, it should be noted that with its provision the Guarantor focused on ChatGPT talking about “unlawful collection of personal data” when instead the disputes, in hindsight, are directed to the underlying generative model and to the mode with which they were collected and used in the training phase i public data available on the Web. Then there is the problem of verifying the age of users even if in the terms of the OpenAI service it clarifies that the use of ChatGPT is not allowed for children under 13.