Last year, Xero founder Rod Drury, was happily interviewed by the New York Times on his own adventures in VPN-land.

"People here can't get Netflix, so they get a VPN that gives them a US IP address, and watch Netflix like they're in America," he told the NYT.

Netflix hit the Antipodes one month later. And it has has now started to crack down on customers using VPNs on both sides of the Tasman.

So, what does it mean for Netflix's most prominent pirate?

Is he toeing the line and submitting himself to the inferior offerings in the land of the long white cloud?

An unusually shy and retiring Drury would not answer CBD's questions, but based on his comments to the NYT we doubt it.

"Tech is globalising everything, so anyone building just a regional strategy isn't thinking big enough," Drury told the paper.

Netflix, which obviously isn't thinking big enough, is now worth somewhere around $US40 billion ($57 billion). Xero is a nought, or so, behind the streaming giant in terms of market valuation.

Not that Drury's recent Tweets suggest a change of heart.

"Sceptical Netflix will really geolock hard. Too much Revenue at risk and will 10x illegal downloading. Should create global plan," he tweeted on January 15 when the news broke.

And it appears that Drury was among the Kiwis who were geo-blocked on Australia Day.

He Tweeted a report on users getting blocked along with a forlorn "Nooooooo".

More enticing, was a Tweet he reTweeted just before Australia Day from another Kiwi who had been geoblocked: "Netflix just blocked my VPN to watch xfiles, so simply cancelled Netflix sub, torrented the rest of the show, Hollywood geoblocking = $0."

Of course, CBD does not suggest that the founder and CEO of a company so reliant on intellectual property rights is advocating piracy.

And if Drury did get back to us, your columnist is certain that is exactly what he would say.

Sage in clover 

At least one local resource player is still making good money from the Chinese.

Perth Glory owner, Tony Sage, is also chairman of Cauldron Energy, which won its legal battle with a bunch of Chinese companies, led by Beijing Joseph Investment, over an abandoned share placements in 2014.

Beijing Joseph & Co are up for for $3 million plus interest, plus 85 per cent of Cauldron's legal costs.

Sage had an even bigger win in 2014 when his flagship company, Cape Lambert Resources received a $51.6 million settlement with another Chinese group, MCC.

Buy the book 

When eminent British academic and author, John Kay, fronts a Grattan Institute event tonight in Sydney to discuss what ails the finance sector, he better hope his message isn't drowned out by something more spicy from one of his fellow guest speakers.

Commonwealth Bank director and erotic author, Harrison Young will help the visiting Professor of Economics at the London School of Economics work through the central thesis of Kay's new book, which is titled Other people's money: masters of the universe or servants of the people.

Kay is apparently arguing that the post-GFC tweaks have not solved the underlying problems in the finance industry.

Young's books – which he describes as 'romance with the sex left in' might not have the intellectual rigour of Kay's tome but they certainly sound a bit more exciting than Kay's work.   

Gold play 

When the going gets tough, the tough get gilding.

At least that appears to be the answer for a group of local gold players who aren't happy with the price of the raw product and prefer the margins on offer to designers who weave gold into obscenely priced objects d'art.

David Mendelawitz, the boss of gold miner Cleveland Mining, has signed up to provide the precious metal for the group instigated by publisher, Peter Charlton.

The first boutique is planned for Sydney's Martin Place with some top European fashion houses providing the grunt work.

Got a tip? ckruger@fairfaxmedia.com.au