A proxy site is simply an ordinary website that sits in between your computer and the Internet. It works by handling all data on your behalf, thus giving you a greater degree of privacy and security while you surf online. With the proxy sitting in the middle you have minimal threats from hackers, viruses, trojans etc. It also means that when you browse the Internet, you are safe because things like you IP address, geographical location etc are safe. When you browse the Internet, websites that you visit record various pieces of information and uses it for god knows what. Surfing behind a proxy eliminates this problem.
Proxies have been around for years and years now, probably as long as the Internet its self. To find a proxy simply type the phrase proxy site into a search engine. Thousands of results will be displayed and you can pick any one in the list. If you enter the website you shall be able to find out more about what a proxy is and how they work. If you choose to use a proxy please make sure that it reputable. By that I mean make sure that it is reasonably well known by others and if it is one that they use regularly and can recommend. Check forums, newsgroups etc and you will be able to get a general idea.
Another problem is location. If you choose to use a proxy be careful that it is not being hosted in places like Nigeria, Iran, or North Korea. It is up to you but I would not recommend using sites that are being hosted in these countries. If you do, you could open a whole can of worms. Places like Panama are a good option. Panama has really tight privacy and secrecy laws in place that prevent data being released to any person or authority without a court order from a Panamanian judge. This means that what you do via your proxy site should remain private and will not fall into the wrong hands.
Proxy websites are often thought to be used solely for illegal or immoral activities. This is not the case. People may want to remain private for lots of different reasons. Internet banking is a good example here. Would you like valuable data to fall into the wrong hands under these circumstances? Of course not. This is why taking measures like, firewalls, antivirus software, and proxy sites are necessary to maximise your protection on all fronts.
If you can stretch to it and have some spare cash then invest in a product that offers encryption as one of its features. There are lots of products that offer this. It allows all data transmitted to be jumbled up so that no third party, who may hack the signal, can make sense of it. All they will see is gibberish as opposed to the actual data.
I hope this article has been useful and that you can use it to get a general idea of what a proxy is and how they work. I hope you can find a good, reliable proxy and can put it to good use. Do not be scared to ask around on forums and newsgroups if you unsure about the reliability of a particular proxy site.
One of the primary reasons people want to use a proxy is to get around blocked content that may contain some words that their network filter has identified as inappropriate. Many organisations make use of filters so that they can control how and what is viewed over their network. They usually do this to stop employees looking sites that are unrelated to their job description or to simply stop them from viewing inappropriate material. This is usually achieved by the use of keywords that is programmed into the web filter. The filter will simply block any web pages or site that contains these particular key words.
Although this may not necessarily block access to various websites that are job unrelated, they can also switch on access to pages and glossaries that are helpful in their job positions regardless of whether the key word is present or not. Filters these days are becoming ever ore sophisticated as the means to bypass web filters and get around network blocks are increasing and causing problems for networks.
If an employee of a company, or a student at a college, finds their Internet access blocked in some way they may choose to use a proxy website to get around this problem. Proxies are independent and the organisation cannot impose network restrictions outside of their network. As a proxy site does not take much longer than using a simple browser window, it is far quicker than calling technical support and trying to get authorization to remove specific sites from filter lists. This would be very time consuming and would thus cause problems and prevent the employees or students progressing with their work.
Some nations also use content filters to block their residents or citizens from finding certain information or material on the Internet that is not approved by their government or regime of power. Residents of such nations routinely use good proxy sites to access news and information from the outside world. Another good advantage of using proxies is that the IP address and other details of the user is not logged. This helps to make sure that the user can retain a degree of anonymity and privacy.
Websites that you visit online routinely record and log certain information about you and can even build up a profile of your surfing habits. The scary thing is that I or you do not know what they do with that information. Certain pieces of information is not a problem but some are, especially as websites are getting more sophisticated at tracing you and recording whatever details they do. The information that is recorded and stored and what they do with it varies from website to website. The most common pieces of information that are stored are your IP address, browser type, geographical location, your ISP, MAC address, referring site or webpage and many others. This is just a small list of what they can record about you.
I hope you have found this article useful and can used what has been discussed here to increase your awareness of the present problems on the Internet and how you can use a proxy site to tackle some of these problems. Enjoy your surfing.
Wayne Cutforth has sinced written about articles on various topics from Information Technology, Personal Desktop and Web Development. The author lives in England and has his own proxy offering a free resource for proxy users. Links to proxies and reviews on products are available too. You can visit the. Wayne Cutforth's top article generates over 12100 views. to your Favourites.