25 votes

Did NPR just shut down support for RSS?

11 comments

  1. [8]
    Eric_the_Cerise
    (edited )
    Link
    That's supposed to be the RSS feed for their world news. As of yesterday, it--and all other NPR RSS feeds that I can find--return the same result. No public announcement or anything else that I...

    That's supposed to be the RSS feed for their world news. As of yesterday, it--and all other NPR RSS feeds that I can find--return the same result.

    No public announcement or anything else that I can find.

    Does anyone else follow NPR thru RSS? Seeing the same issue? Any workaround?

    Danke, y gracias.


    Edit to add:

    Visiting that URL directly (from Germany) returns "message: forbidden".

    Trying to subscribe to it (or any NPR RSS feed) returns:

    Client error: GET https://feeds.npr.org/1004/rss.xml resulted in a 403 Forbidden response: {"message":"Forbidden"}

    After I turn on VPN to a Chicago-based IP, visiting that URL directly seems to work -- I can see the full RSS article-list that I would expect ... However, trying to subscribe to the RSS feed still returns the "cannot subscribe: 403 Forbidden" error.

    Tested in multiple browsers, on multiple machines. ProtonVPN.


    Further testing ... visiting the URL directly ... this works from US and Canadian IPs, but not from Mexican, German, Dutch IPs (and, I assume, the rest of the World).

    Actually subscribing to the RSS feed fails, no matter what IP address, or protocol, I choose thru my VPN.

    Suggestions?


    UPDATE: So, I just emailed NPR, asking if this was a temporary or permanent change, policy decision, etc ... and further, if it is a policy decision, asking them to reconsider geoblocking.

    Not sure it matters, but I was a Wisconsin resident and for many years, a paid supporter/subscriber to WPR, so perhaps that will count for something.

    I will update again, if I get a reply.

    12 votes
    1. [3]
      danke
      Link Parent
      The feed works fine for me, what exactly are you seeing and have you tried using a different browser/VPN?

      The feed works fine for me, what exactly are you seeing and have you tried using a different browser/VPN?

      5 votes
      1. priw8
        Link Parent
        Not the OP, but the response I'm getting is: {"message":"Forbidden"} Interesting that this doesn't happen to everyone though? So there must be some condition for it

        Not the OP, but the response I'm getting is: {"message":"Forbidden"}

        Interesting that this doesn't happen to everyone though? So there must be some condition for it

        3 votes
      2. Eric_the_Cerise
        Link Parent
        VPN changes--but does not fix--the results. See my updated original post.

        VPN changes--but does not fix--the results. See my updated original post.

    2. [2]
      Liru
      Link Parent
      What result is that?

      As of yesterday, it--and all other NPR RSS feeds that I can find--return the same result.

      What result is that?

      2 votes
      1. Eric_the_Cerise
        Link Parent
        "403 Forbidden" -- see my updated original post.

        "403 Forbidden" -- see my updated original post.

    3. atomicshoreline
      Link Parent
      I saw that you got it mostly working but I was also having issues with the RSS feed even though I am an American so my solution was to use a cronjob that runs wget --mirror on their minimal text...

      I saw that you got it mostly working but I was also having issues with the RSS feed even though I am an American so my solution was to use a cronjob that runs wget --mirror on their minimal text based site text.npr.org and then uses python's built in webserver to host that mirrored the website

      2 votes
    4. Gummy
      Link Parent
      Weirdly, I'm also getting a 403 error and I live in the US, pennsylvania specifically. Turning on a VPN and connecting to a server on the other side of the state works though. I wonder if some...

      Weirdly, I'm also getting a 403 error and I live in the US, pennsylvania specifically. Turning on a VPN and connecting to a server on the other side of the state works though. I wonder if some mobile ips are being blocked as well?

      2 votes
  2. [3]
    DrStone
    Link
    Playing with a proxy from a few different locations, it seems they're throwing an HTTP 403 Forbidden for anyone outside the US. Edit: just saw your edit. What RSS client are you using? Are you...

    Playing with a proxy from a few different locations, it seems they're throwing an HTTP 403 Forbidden for anyone outside the US.

    Edit: just saw your edit. What RSS client are you using? Are you sure it's correctly using the same VPN that lets you query the feed directly? If that's not the problem, maybe the RSS client is sending some other geographic-related header that is tripping the block.

    7 votes
    1. [2]
      Eric_the_Cerise
      Link Parent
      Oooh ... I bet that's the issue. I'm using the RSS plug-in on my self-hosted Nextcloud server ... but that server is located in Amsterdam. Presumably, the RSS reader uses that IP address--rather...

      Oooh ... I bet that's the issue. I'm using the RSS plug-in on my self-hosted Nextcloud server ... but that server is located in Amsterdam. Presumably, the RSS reader uses that IP address--rather than my local VPN-spoofed IP.

      Clearly, time to bring my self-hosting services in-house.

      5 votes
      1. donn
        Link Parent
        Double-checked and yeah from my home address, forbidden, VPN to the US, works fine. It's georestricted. Likely as a cost-cutting measure, they're struggling rn

        Double-checked and yeah from my home address, forbidden, VPN to the US, works fine. It's georestricted. Likely as a cost-cutting measure, they're struggling rn

        5 votes