Note that these tests are not very sophisticated. A dedicated "snooper" can often learn much more. Once I came across a server that tried to connect to my computer's disk while I was browsing ... that was an exciting experince. You should also remember about things like cookies, hostile applets and java scripts, browser security holes and so on. So why don't we send someone instead of ourselves? Good idea.
Remember that simple owner of Web server may collect information about requests you had performed in search engines, keywords you had typed, your browser and language, date, time, your operating system, physical and geographical position, pages from which you had clicked links and so on. See below some records generated by our server users (real IPs are slightly changed).. Note that large internet companies such as doubleclick, google, government institutions have tremendous possibilities to collect much more information about you and your behaviour..
Step #1-Determine your IP Address:
Every computer connected to the Internet has a unique identifier called an IP Address. On many networks, the IP Address of a computer is always the same. On other networks, a random IP Address is assigned each time a computer connects to the network. This is what we are referring to when we ask if you have a static or a dynamic IP Address. If a system uses dynamic addressing, the IP can change quite often. Look into REMOTE_ADDR row in THIS LINK to determing your current IP Address.
Step #2-Get Anonymous:
Method #1: Anonymizer
One can surf anonymously and easy with the help of a nice services called CGI/Web proxies. Simply type a URL you want to visit -- the Page does the job for you, selecting random CGI/Web proxy from a hundreds of available services, securing you from many potential dangers. When you follow a link on a page viewed via CGI proxy you get there via the this proxy again, so you don't have to type a new URL.
CGI/Web proxy has two more nice features. Firstly, there are WWW sites that are inaccessible from one place, but easily accessible from another. Once I was trying to load a page located in Australia for 20 minutes, all in vain. Using CGI/Web proxies immediately solved the problem. Secondly, there are certain sites that give you information depending on where you are "calling" from. Let's take an example. I was at Encyclopedia Britannica site, trying to check the price for their products. Clicking on Order Information button gave me the list of Britannica's dealers all over the world, no price info. Going to the same place via the Anonymizer led me to a different page, where I found the price list. As it turned out the local dealer's price for Encyclopedia Britannica CD was several times higher than the one at which it's sold in USA. Good savings!
Some CGI/Web proxies are able to encrypt URLs (uniform resource locator) in a way that these can be used as reference for a server. If a request with an encrypted URL occurs, they are able to decrypt the URL and forward it to the server, without enabling the user to get knowledge about the server address. All references in the servers response are again encrypted before the response is forwarded to the client.
Some CGI/Web proxies are able to use secure HTTPS protocol for exchanging data between proxy and your computer, even if original server is not secure. This option excluding possiblility to sniff a data flow between your computer and this proxy is very useful in some cases, for example, when you are forced to work in possibly scanned/sniffed insecure public network.
To get your personal CGI/Web/FTP proxy simply download free James Marshall CGIproxy script and install on your Web server (Apache as a rule, Perl or mod_perl support is required), Glype proxy is another CGI script written in PHP which allows webmasters to quickly and easily set up their own proxy sites or PHProxy. Our ProxySite Perl script allows to run your own Web proxy on any computer (Linux, Windows, ..) with only Perl interpreter installed.
Method #2: Proxy Servers
What is proxy?
Proxy - a server setup designed to offer either firewall security or faster access to cached content normally accessible only through slower connections.
Proxy server - is the software installed on some network server. The main purpose of this software is to relay traffic between two network hosts (client and server), sometimes this software does some data caching (usually this is performed by HTTP proxies). If your browser is configured to work through the proxy server then all your network traffic will go through that proxy server.
The main purposes of proxy servers:
Transfer speed improvement (in case of caching proxies). You may use your ISP's proxy to access the internet - usually you have better connection to your ISP's proxy than to other hosts, if this proxy has the resource you requested from the internet you will get a copy of it from proxy (from its cache).
Security and privacy (for HTTP). Anonymous proxies hide information about your computer in the request headers, so you can safely surf the net and your information will never be used in any way.
LAN interconnection (or LAN to WAN connection). Sometimes you experience some problems while accessing the server located in the other network (for example in the internet).
There are 3 types of HTTP proxies:
Fully anonymous (elite or high anonymous) proxies. Such proxies do not change request fields and look like real browser. You real IP is also hidden of course. People that administrating internet servers will think that you are not using any proxies.
Anonymous proxies also do not show your real IP but change the request fields, so it is very easy to detect that proxy while log analyzing. Nothing really matters, but some server administrators restrict the proxy requests.
Transparent proxies (not anonymous, simply HTTP) change the request fields, also they transfer real IP. Such proxies are not applicable for security and privacy while surfing on net. You can use them only for network speed improvement.
When Web Proxy Servers are Useful?
Permitting and restricting client access to the Internet based on the client IP Address.
Caching documents for internal documents. - Selectively controlling access to the Internet and subnets based on the submitted URL.
Providing Internet access for companies using private networks.
Converting data to HTML format so it is readable by a browser.
One can also anonymize one's web surfing by using a proxy server. Proxy servers are similar to the Anonymizer, i.e. web pages are retrieved by the proxy server rather than by the person actually browsing the Web (you). But there are several important distinctions: proxy servers don't help with cookies, hostile applets or code. In most of the cases they do just one thing: they conceal your real geograhic location.
Most of proxy servers restrict access based on the IP Address from which a user connects to them. In other words if you have an account with Bluh-Bluh-Com, you can't use La-Di-Da-Net's proxy server, access will be denied. Fortunately you can always find a "kind-hearted" proxy server on the Net the owners of which openly state that the service is publicly available, or a proxy server that doesn't restrict access that due to whatever reason, but the fact is not known to everyone.
How do you find a "kind-hearted" proxy server? Good news for lazy people: there are many lists of available proxy servers with periodic updates:
http://rosinstrument.com/proxy/. RSS feeds are also available for proxy lists syndication and to keep up with proxy lists in an automated manner that can be piped into special programs or filtered displays, such us Google Reader, Bloglines, etc.: in browser, in Google Reader, planetlab in browser, planetlab in Google Reader.
For those who are not so lazy: find your own proxy server, it's real easy. Go to your favorite search engine (Google.com for example) and type something like
+":8080" +":3128" +":1080" filetype:txt OR filetype:html,
and you'll get the list of Web pages where ISPs give complete instructions to their users of how they should configure their browsers. Try every proxy address and after 5 or 7 failures you will surely find a proxy server that works for you. So let's say you have found a proxy, e.g.: some.proxy.com, HTTP port 8080. To make your browser use a proxy server fill out the corresponding fields in Manual Proxy Configuration tab (hope you can find it yourself).
Custom Search
Testing proxy lists you have found.
As a rule a quality of proxies from proxy lists you have found by such ways is sufficiently low because of large number of requests to these proxies by many users which have found that lists in search engine, number of professional abusers and robots using these proxies very intensive for network adverising, spamming, flooding forums, bulletin boards, blogs and so on. Number of working proxies from such lists varies from 0.00% to 10-20%. Therefore manual selection of operable proxies is not possible. Fortunately, a few of proxy testing software exists such as our ProxyCheck Java application, Proxyrama for Windows with source code available, Charon for Windows and others. See our Related Links for more examples.
Warnings!
Misconfigured Servers
Often, a PUBLIC proxy server is open because it has not been configured properly. Most of open proxy servers are not supposed to be public. The person that configured the server was not aware of the potential problems and security risks. It is very common to for a novice administrator to set up a proxy with access rights that allow anyone to connect. To close a proxy server it is necessary to force users to connect from one IP Address or a range of IP Addresses. An alternative is to require users to use a user name and password.
'Honey Pots' or 'Honey Proxies'
Everything that is done on or through the open proxy server can be logged and traced. A honey pot is an open proxy server intentionally deployed by security professionals to lure hackers and track their every move. A honey pot can also be installed by a hacker. A hacker can put a proxy server up on his, or a victim's computer and wait for a scanner to find it. Sending spam e-mail trough a honey pot proxy exposes the sender's activity. When a spammer uses the proxy to send bulk email, it is possible to collect the content of the spam and report the spammer to his ISP.
Educational, academic public proxy systems: Planetlab, CoDeeN
The CoDeeN (a suite of network services, including a CDN, that provides users with more robust access to network content) proxies are big, fast, logged and cached proxy servers cluster based on PlanetLab (a global platform for testing and deploying an emerging class of planetary-scale network services) global research network which was founded in 2002 in Princeton, Berkley and now consists of more than 700 nodes located in many educational and research institutions in the world opened for public use. These proxies are often placed in many "anonymous proxy lists" such as "high anonymous" and "elite", HOWEVER everything you do online is thoroughly tracked. As a rule these proxies are configured on 3124,3127,3128,8888 TCP ports. Some limitations for these proxies usage also exist, for example HTTP POST method is disabled.
Security Risks
When you use an open proxy server, your computer is making a direct connection to another computer. You do not know who is in control of the remote computer. If you are using proxy servers from open proxy lists, you could be trusting your email messages, passwords or other sensitive information to a person running the server. Someone can be watching the unencrypted information you are transferring over the network.
Configuring your browser to easy switch between multiple proxy configurations
There are many different software that could be used to set up a proxy for your system. For example small and free SwitchProxy Tool Extension for Mozilla, Firefox, Thunderbird. SwitchProxy lets you manage and switch between multiple proxy configurations quickly and easily. You can also use it as an anonymizer to protect your computer from prying eyes. Text proxy lists in host:port format are very flexible and can be used with most proxy software for Internet Explorer, Mozilla, Firefox, Thunderbird, Opera and other browsers.
Configuring your browser with "Proxy Auto-Config File" proxy.pac
Definition
The proxy auto-config (.pac) file defines how user agents can automatically choose the appropriate access method for fetching a given URL. See Wikipedia article for more detailed description.
Firefox
Go to Tools -> Options -> General -> Connection Settings. Select the option to enter an automatic proxy configuration URL. Enter http://rosinstrument.com/cgi-bin/proxy.pac and click OK twice.
Firefox 2
Go to Tools -> Options -> Advanced -> Network -> Settings. Select the option to enter an automatic proxy configuration URL. Enter http://rosinstrument.com/cgi-bin/proxy.pac and click OK twice.
Internet Explorer
Go to Tools -> Internet Options -> Connections. If you use a dialup connection, select it and click Settings. Otherwise, click LAN Settings. Select the option to use an automatic configuration script. Make sure no other options are selected. Enter http://rosinstrument.com/cgi-bin/proxy.pac and click OK twice.
only SOCKS, CONNECT or HTTP selection
to select only HTTP proxy use http://rosinstrument.com/cgi-bin/http.pac as configuration script.
to select only CONNECT (HTTPS) proxy use http://rosinstrument.com/cgi-bin/https.pac as configuration script.
to select only SOCKS proxy use http://rosinstrument.com/cgi-bin/socks.pac as configuration script.
Configuring your browser manually
FireFox
Tools - Options - General - Connection Settings - Manual proxy configuration - View, and for HTTP and FTP type name of your proxy server (example: proxy.net) and port number (example 3128).
Mozilla, Nestcape Navigator 6.x, Nestcape Navigator 4.x, Netscape Communicator
Edit - Preferences - Category - Advanced - Proxies - Manual proxy configuration - View - Set proxy for following protocols: HTTP, FTP, etc.
Konqueror
Setting - Configure Konqueror... - Proxies - Enable "Use proxy" - Set proxies for HTTP, HTTPS, FTP or other protocols.
Internet Explorer 5.x, 6.x, 7.x, 8.x
Service - Internet Options - Connections - Choose your connection and click "Settings" button for dial-up connection or click "LAN Settings" button in the "Local Area Network (LAN) Settings" group box - Enable "use a proxy server - type proxy name and proxy port - If nessesary, enable/disable "bypass proxy server for local addresses" - OK
Internet Explorer 4.x, Internet Explorer 3.x
View - Internet Options - Connection - mark "Access the Internet using a proxy server". At ADDRESS type name of the server (example: proxy.net) and at PORT type port number (example: 3128), click on advanced button and mark "Use the same proxy server for all protocols".
Opera 8.x, Opera 9.x
Tools - Preferences - Advanced tab - Network - "Proxy servers" button - set Proxy Server address and proxy configuration port - OK.
Mozilla Thunderbird proxy settings
Tools - Options - Advanced - "Offline and Connections Settings" -"Connection Settings" - "Set up Proxies for accessing the Internet" - select radio button for "Manual proxy configuration" - set Proxy Server address and proxy port - OK.
mIRC
Tools - Options - Open Connect - Firewall - in "protocols" combo box select SOCKS4, SOCKS5 or Proxy (for HTTP, HTTPS) - set Proxy Server address and proxy port - OK.
Emule
Options - Proxy ta
Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device
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