Re: Browser calls app to access website

Jeff Layman <Jeff@invalid.invalid> wrote:

I use the BBC News app now and again. On looking at battery usage
recently it appeared that the app was using the battery (calling home?)
even when I wasn't using it. So I disabled access to both Wi-Fi and
Mobile Data.
 
Today I wanted to get some info on a news item I'd heard on the radio so
opened Firefox and used Startpage to find some links. One of them was a
BBC news page. So I clicked on it and Firefox showed that the page
wasn't available:
 
ERR_NETWORK_ACCESS_DENIED
 
I tried with Vivaldi and got the same result. Other webpages at
newspaper sites all worked perfectly with either browser. Intrigued, I
cleared out all history and cookies, re-enabled the BBC News app access
to mobile data, and did the same searches for the news story with
Firefox and Vivaldi. On clicking on the BBC news link, the pages now
appeared without problem.
 
Can anyone confirm this happens? If so, why?

Looks like Dave gave a workable solution for you.  However, another
possible reason a site may not grant your access to it is from
geofencing.  I'm in the USA, and sometimes have hit BBC's geofence for
some articles.  Last time was for some sporting event.  For some of
their content, you have to be within a region within which they allow
access.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geofence

You can try to use public proxies, VPNs, or Tor that have an exit mode
within the allowable region: the exit node has an IP address whose
geolocation is within the allowable region for access.  However, all of
those are known (have been mapped), so there are blacklists of them that
sites can use to prevent crossing their geofence.