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what are proxies
what are there purpose
how do i make them work for me
my friend uses proxies and loves it...i know they exist but i have never questioned what tehy are or how to use them....im looking for alittle insite into them...
i read i tutorial on here about proxies and it helped me alot but im still in the dark alittle bit.
what would be a free reliable fast proxy service if i deem it nesecary to use one
Well, a low tech answer:
1. A proxy is a computer that is used by other computers to connect. It "acts on their behalf" which is what the word basically means in English (not just in a computer context).
2. In a commercial environment you might use this as a security, control and monitoring device. As an individual, you might use it to disguise your IP address, and remain anonymous. For example if you connect direct to your ISP and then to a proxy, any contact beyond that will only show the Proxy IP address.
3. No idea, it would depend on what you are wanting to do, and what environment you are talking about.
That is an impossible question, as it would depend on how you connect to the internet, where you are located and so on. You would have to do a Google search for "Public Proxy Server" and experiment. I would warn you that the answer will change, depending on the traffic that the proxy is getting at any point in time.Quote:
what would be a free reliable fast proxy service if i deem it nesecary to use one
Hope that helps
There are also moral, ethical, and legal issue's to consider with proxies. This is just food for thought:
1- A proxy can be used to disguise the source of traffic (protect privacy or hide from detection, depending on the intent of the user)
2- It can be used to access resources normally blocked for a user (if the authority that blocked the original resource did not also block the proxy)
3- It *could* be used to gather information on the users, to track what they are doing, where they are doing it, and what their data/information looks like
That last one is probably a bit paranoid, but I would absolutely believe it happens...make sure you carefully read any EULA, Privacy Statement, Terms of Use, etc. on a proxy before you sign up. They could be logging your traffic, building a profile on your surfing habits, keeping records on which color goat you prefer to see explicit fotos of (grin...just kidding, but you get my point, I think).
I would think most Proxies are beneficial (or at least commercial) in nature, but some could well be set up to collect data on your for use in spam, targeted advertising, etc.
/me takes off his tinfoil hat and exit's Paranoid-Mode
If you haven't used a proxy before, really there's not much to gain from it. Some people might say it gives them privacy, I'd say your giving up what ever privacy you might have had to the proxy operator.
Most businesses use a proxy to control what their employees are surfing online, and also to provide a very small measure of security.
Personally, I think proxys are nothing but bad news, either a person who is looking for privacy doesn't really get it, intends to do something that they would need to hide from, gives proxy operators a birds eye view of all your online activities.
I think people who feel as though they need privacy would get more out of ensuring that they get a dynamic ip from their isp, disable cookies, clear their cache and mind the software that they use.
--PuRe
privacy was my biggest issue....
we have dynamic Ip from comcast but it hasnt changed in 3 years
anyone else know of any other means of privacy online...mainly your IP...
*Reason*
my entire family uses this IP...mom, dad, sister, and me.....i dont want to go to a site and have our IP get logged and used for illeagle activities....
basicaly i just want an extra shield.....
yes our comps are firewalled, yes i keep everything as up-to-date aspossible...but nothings perfect...
Instead of depending upon unreliable proxies, I suggest looking into Tor
http://tor.eff.org/
Tor provides a distributed network of servers ("onion routers"). Users bounce their communications (web requests, IM, IRC, SSH, etc.) around the routers. This makes it hard for recipients, observers, and even the onion routers themselves to track the source of the stream.
Basically what it is, is a network of tiny proxy servers that do not log any sort of connection data (unlike typical proxies). You would use one proxy that would connect to another proxy, and that proxy would connect to yet another proxy. All of them would be on the Tor network though, so you wouldn't have to worry about slowdown/disconnections or the like. In the end, this is how your connection to a website would look:
Your computer ---> tor proxy ----> tor proxy -----> tor proxy -----> a website
Now, after you install the Tor program and privoxy (just read the installation document http://tor.eff.org/cvs/tor/doc/tor-doc-win32.html ) the actual connection between proxy to proxy is automagic. No worries about trying to connect to multiple proxies as Tor will do all of that for you.
Give it a shot, as I highly recommend it more than ANY public/private/anonymous proxy. Higher speed ratios, and unlike normal proxies -none- of your information is logged or kept on the tor proxy server chain.
If you have any questions about tor, like how to get it to work with AIM/trillian/MSN, then don't hesitate to ask here, pm me, or contact me through AIM (see profile).
If you have a dynamic IP it will change if you disconnect and reconnect. Even a static IP address will probably change if you disconnect for several hours.
The only true static IP address would normally be from satellite connections.
If your IP address is static you really should be using a physical firewall/router. Properly configured, of course.
Well stay away from pr0n and warez sites then? :DQuote:
.i dont want to go to a site and have our IP get logged and used for illeagle activities
Just because your IP address appears somewhere, the proof required is that one of you was using it at the time. If it is you performing the illegal activity, a dynamic IP won't help you...........there will be enough evidence on your hard drive.
Trust me ;)
Not nessessarily true. I can reset my cable modem and shut off my computer for hours, and still end up having the same IP even though it's dynamic. Even when dropping and requesting a new one manually, I'll end up with the same one until the ISP decides to swap out IP addresses with it's dynamic users.Quote:
If you have a dynamic IP it will change if you disconnect and reconnect. Even a static IP address will probably change if you disconnect for several hours.
Same goes for static. It's just my experience and so I could be off, but I've yet to see a static IP -ever- change. The ISP (IIRC) is checking based on MAC addresses to assign the static IP after a disconnect, and thus turning that static server on again will reset it's IP back to the static one. The only way I know of to get a static IP is to specifically have your ISP set one up for you at an extra charge, and we all know it's because we would want to keep that IP specifically to our machine.
Of course, dial-up modems are completely different due to how they connect.
Well we live in different places and use very different providers :)
By definition, "dynamic" means the address changes. "Static" means that it does not. Normally, satellite connections are static.
Cable is somewhere inbetween. Sometimes they are static, sometimes dynamic. I used to have one that would change if you disconnected for a few hours, but I would imagine that some do not. Over here a static address would be more common.
DSL is usually dynamic and behaves just like 56.6 dial-up. You get a new Addy each time you login.
I suspect that the misunderstanding is with the terms you have with your ISP. If you want a static (fixed) address (as commercial users generally would) you have to pay for it. Otherwise they "say " it is dynamic, even if it generally does not change. This is so that the ISP does not have to ensure that you get the same Addy, if they have a problem or do some maintenance.
Ah, that makes so much more sense now. So the reason cable modems do not change very often is because the ISP actually keeps those connections as static, but doesn't officially label the connection as static. This way they avoid disconnection issues (in terms of making sure you go back to the IP 100% guarenteed), troubleshooting issues, and the like?Quote:
I suspect that the misunderstanding is with the terms you have with your ISP. If you want a static (fixed) address (as commercial users generally would) you have to pay for it. Otherwise they "say " it is dynamic, even if it generally does not change. This is so that the ISP does not have to ensure that you get the same Addy, if they have a problem or do some maintenance.
If so, then I think we see eye to eye now. I understood DSL and dial-up would change, but could never figure out why cable, usually "dynamic" to normal customers, would hardly ever change IP's even after a reboot.