The proxy marketplace is filled with lots of companies.  We have a number of quality competitors that I know and respect.

Unfortunately, the anonymous proxy world overall is a scary place.  Many of these proxy companies are out to take your money one way or another.  Remember that when you are connected to an anonymous proxy server, everything you do goes through that server.  Do you really feel comfortable putting your personal information through a server owned by a company that may not be legitimate?

Before you buy anything online, make sure that you know who you are doing business with.  That is especially true with proxy companies and even software companies.  If you install something on your PC, then you are granting that program access to all your information.  Again, maybe this is not a big deal, but I like to know the source of anything I install on my PC.

One way to learn more about a company is to read their privacy policy or terms of service.  Then you can look up the company to learn more about them.  If you can’t find company information, run, don’t walk away.

On a related note, we get a lot of phone calls from people before they sign up for our service.  I think this is mostly to reassure them that we are indeed a real company with real people who stand behind our products.  Think that’s silly?  Try calling some of the other proxy companies out there.

Stay safe by knowing who you are doing business with.

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First of all, there are two types of anonymous proxies. The one that most people use is the web-based. This is because it is simple to find. All that is required is a search on the Google site for “anonymous proxy” and a vast amount of results will be shown. Choose one of the results and go to the site. An empty URL box will be shown and you need only type the web address of the place you want to visit. The anonymous proxy will then take you to this address without showing your IP address. When you leave the website there will not be cookies from the site on your computer nor a record of your having been there. The anonymous proxy acts as a combination protection and retrieval tool. It gets the website for you and keeps anyone from accessing your IP address. Your IP address can tell a thief exactly where you are located. How many people do you want to know your name?

The second type of anonymous proxy is a software proxy. This is somewhat like the web-based one however, soft-ware proxies work by downloading a program to your computer. Many of the software programs are set up so that when the traffic from your browser goes through the IP servers to be changed, they are put through a 128 bit SSL encryption. There are several IP addresses for each location and they are changed on a regular schedule. This gives your computer many different IP addresses to use as long as you are online. The only way you can access your anonymous proxy server is by putting in a password and a username. In addition, these proxy servers do not look anything like what they are so they are not blocked or censored. The URL is also masked so that it does not look like a proxy. In addition when using this software all the locations you will be sent to are only accessed by others like you who are using a proxy server.

It is a very simple process. All you have to do is download the software for the anonymous proxy server. The software you are using will have an icon on your desktop. Open the program from here and put in your user name and your password. The next thing will be to choose the location from the ones available that you wish to connect to and hit enter. Your computer will be connected to the server you chose. The browser you use can be opened and your IP address miraculously is changed to one from the software program. Eliminating your IP address from showing on whatever site you choose to visit as well as keeping this site or any other from leaving tracking cookies on your computer is a terrific move. The electronic trail that is left by your computer every time you go online no longer leads back to your computer. It goes to the server company that has the program you are using. This type of anonymous proxy has more servers to handle the traffic they are getting so it is faster than the ones you can choose free from the Internet. In addition, you are not inundated with the advertisements often put on free proxy servers.

The whole process makes a much more safe and secure way of doing anything online. Instead of them being able to have full access to all your pertinent information, the IP address is routed through anonymous proxy servers. This eliminates the chance of a hacker gaining control of your information while you are online. Using a wireless router or a laptop on a hotspot allows everything you are doing to be seen by those who are just waiting for an unsuspecting surfer to come along. Did you know that your ISP even has a log of everything you do on the Internet? The law says they have to keep a record of the sites you visit. Do you think this is anyone’s business besides yours? The best way to make sure no one knows what you are doing while you are online is to make use of the anonymous proxy software that encrypts your communication and keeps them private. Every time you are online, companies can build profiles on you just by what you do. Where you go and what sites you visit are all used to build these profiles. When an unscrupulous individual is trying to see where you are surfing and anonymous proxy servers are used, the data is unreadable because it is encrypted. Your information is safe and the person with thoughts of stealing your information moves on to find someone else.

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While the idea of being watched sounds bad, it really is not. It depends clearly on the type. When you are being watched for your own safety, as these video cameras are doing for the citizens, sometimes it is necessary to make some privacy sacrifices to ensure your protection. The only question that arises is what exactly is “anti-social behavior”? If this anti-social behavior means a man waiting outside someone’s house looking to see if anyone is home, and then trying to break the door down or open a window, then it goes without saying that we would all be okay with these cameras. Sometimes these cameras can snoop into places we don’t want them too, and they then abandon their public service. This is the bad kind of being watched, a voyeuristic viewing of your life and its details. It doesn’t have to be the actual watching of your person though or what you are doing; this illegal type of surveillance expands into the extension of your self, except online: your social security number, your documents, your emails, etc.

This kind of surveillance is obviously the aforementioned bad kind. It usually has one defining characteristic; it is done through technology. Somebody snoops on you using some high tech device, breaking through the meager defenses you have on your (it is oftentimes) computer. You always have to be wary of your computer; it can be a great addition to your life and make many things easier with the power of the Internet, but it can be dangerous as well. Most computer are not secured and protected properly, and surf the web “without their seat belts on”, if you will.

Don’t fret; getting a secure Internet is easy. Anonymous proxy is what you need to look for, and once you find a good one, look no further. An anonymous proxy can enable you to surf the web anonymously and keep you hidden from the prying eyes of those wishing to commit this “anti-social behavior.” Find a reliable private proxy and stick with it, and you will be perfectly secure on the Internet.

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We were able to fend them off for some time, and did so quite well. It wasn’t until the 911 attacks that we faltered. These terrorist attacks jaded our nation and knocked down our confidence. It was similar to the Titanic; the impossible and the impenetrable was broken down. America seemed like a huge fortress, but some ramshackle terrorists were able to infiltrate it and deal us some swift damage. This woke the government up, and made them protect America even more diligently, and think of many new ways to do so.

Some of these ways have been met with some controversy from the very people that is sought to protect. Perhaps the most noticeable and complained about is the ridiculously tightened  up security in the airports, where the 911 attacks originated. Instead of just having to go through a casual bag check, you now have to go through a long line waiting for the x-ray machine to be scanned. On top of that, people must remove shoes, purses, and sometimes even belts in order to be patted down.

Another aspect of security is not so blatant. The fact that the government can view or intercept anything that we do or say via the Patriot Act concerns many privacy advocates. While it is indeed the government doing so and not some malicious hacker with the intent to steal an identity browsing through your documents, and it is safety’s sake, it still is a bit worrying to know we are being watched in a Big Brother-esque manner.

While there is not much to do from having the government perform surveillance on you, you can stop your snooping neighbors, or an identity thief. Using a private proxy server will allow you to surf the Internet anonymously, and with strong encryption software, there will be no way anyone could intercept your transmissions!

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This is true of most countries, the United States being the most prominent. There are some places where the government censorship is running rampant and is instated unwillingly upon its citizens. These places are few and far between, but are highly publicized for their censorship and other injustices on their citizens. China is a prime example. “The Great Firewall of China” is what China’s censoring agenda is satirically known as, and its citizens are becoming fed up with it. The people of this nation used to just be defeated by it, and would never do anything to try and help themselves out of desperation, but recently, movements have been made to free them. People in the Americas and other free nations set up proxy servers to send aid to their companions in less-than-democratic nations. These anonymous proxies ensure anonymous browsing for the citizens, who run the risk of being caught for their “crimes”; YouTube, FaceBook, etc.

An anonymous proxy is a god-send for them. These servers can avoid the government censorship in place in many of these places, and allow them to get to the sites they want to. By using these servers, the citizens can also remain safe from the Internet police who roam the Internet, looking for rogue citizens. The proxy will actually conceal their identity because their IP address, which points back to them in China, will change and can be changed to one of a totally different country.

Imagine having to buy your child a computer with censoring software installed on it against your will. That is one thing, but imagine buying yourself a computer with this software on it! It would be infuriating, and would not fly in the U.S. or any other democratic nation. For people of China though, this is a reality. The newly instated Green Dam software blocks many things, and even things pertaining to anti-communism. The system is not infallible though; an anonymous proxy could easily break through the blocks.

The proxy acts as a middleman in the Internet transaction; you request the site from it, and it goes and gets it for you. This way, the fact that you visited the site is never recorded, and you can then freely surf. In fact, if anyone looked at your browsing history, all they would see is the name of the proxy server over and over and over again. While this might not matter to many Americans, if the secret Chinese police seize their computer, they would find no evidence of the innocent citizen committing the heinous crime of “broadcasting themselves.”

The bottom line is, an anonymous proxy will ensure an anonymous browsing experience for American and non-American alike. For Americans, an anonymous proxy will stop hackers from getting their IP address and tracking them. For Chinese residents and other non-free places, an anonymous proxy will get them past the privacy issues and other government censorship.

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These issues are highly unpublicized and for the most part, only privacy advocates are concerned with the matters. Most people are blissfully unaware of the privacy risk their social networking web page presents to them and everyone they involve on it. Some people are going to try and teach the youth (and truly everyone) how to properly protect themselves on the Internet and these sites.

Enter the developer called Six to Start. Partnered with a local news station they are developing a game designed to teach kids about privacy, without the “teaching” aspect seeming so austere. The game is called “Smokescreen” and kids will be able to use their privacy as a defense system; the more things and information you put out there, the less your defense will be. The game rewards them also for not completely shutting off their release of information. Sensible things to put on your blog page, like name and interests, and maybe just COUNTRY of location.

While these programs have not been tested for effectiveness yet, it would only make sense that they succeed; kids like video games, but detest school. If you weave the schooling into a video game, they will love it. They will enjoy the video game not thinking it is schooling, but they will absorb the education none the less.

“Smokescreen” could be a potential winner. While it is still under wraps and no release data has been set, it is quite a concept. On top of this, it is slated to be free, and kids are always looking for free entertainment. Hopefully the program will take off, and educate many kids about their Internet use, and how much information they should put out there. Hopefully it will stop them from posting lewd pictures and getting themselves and their friends in trouble.

The program will certainly feature many different aspects of Internet safety. Perhaps they will weave in an anonymous proxy, and the advantages it provides. An anonymous proxy can keep you completely protected on the Internet through strong encryption services, that encodes all of your data to points where no hacker could break in. They also will ensure anonymous surfing by giving you a secure tunnel of access that no one could intercept and steal anything from.

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The Internet, for all of its greatness, can be a very distracting place. While many workers use it for productive reasons, some just lollygag all day on it, and create a large loss of productivity among their company. It is for these workers sake that the Internet at work is usually highly restricted and censored. The same goes for school; if a paid worker is slacking off, imagine the apathy an unpaid student involuntarily put in a boring class feels!

This is why many sites are blocked while you are trying to surf them. Every worker has had some downtime, and bored, they try and log onto YouTube and gotten the “this site has been blocked” message. The company IT department usually is the one who arranges and sets up all of these blocks. They do so by finding keywords that they wish to block, and anything with them usually is. “Games”, “Videos”, “Fun”, and “Social” are some stock examples of what they block.

There are ways around this. While it is not a good idea to squander all of your work time logging on MySpace and viewing YouTube, some sites are unrightfully blocked. The keyword system is not infallible, and many sites that even have words close to the ones that are blocked will be grandfathered in.

Using an anonymous proxy server can get you through the blocks instated by your company workplace or school. These anonymous proxy servers will actually get you through the blocks by getting the sites for you, and it is like you never even accessed them. When you open up your anonymous proxy software or the website, there will be an address box for you to type the website you wish to go into. The anonymous proxy will then retrieve the website for you, and it won’t even keep record of you having visited the site.

If you are worried that your boss might find out you have been circumventing their online blocks, you are in luck. The anonymous proxy won’t keep any identifying information on your computer, and if you are using a web proxy, all your history will say is the name of the web proxy over and over again.

Your boss won’t be the wiser and you may be able to not be bored out of your mind during your free time. Also, you will be protected and safe on the Internet. You will have completely anonymous browsing and surfing as your IP address will be hidden, and no one will be able to track you.

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Almost two thousand proxies have been created and shared by users all around the globe. Old proxies are being found by the Iranian government and blocked, and by identifying key characteristics of proxies, they are able to identify and shut down new ones just as quickly. This active oppression of its citizens blocks their political struggle and any other injustices from the rest of the world. This just shows how important it is for people in free countries to create proxies for the less fortunate to use.

Renesys explains how proxies function: They are a piece of software you install or a website you visit. Either one protects your identity and allows you uncensored Internet access. The website or computer you are going to acts as a middle-man in the website to computer exchange. The website or software changes your IP address, which acts as a nametag for your computer, to something different, and therefore, stops you from being tracked. When you go through a proxy server, the proxy goes and gets the website you requested, and brings it you. The proxy doesn’t know anyone is behind the scenes pulling the strings either. In fact, if someone were to access your browsing history, all they would see is the name of the proxy site over and over again.

Although the U.S.A. had a large amount of proxies running from it due to its widespread democracy and freedom, many other countries were represented as well. India, Russia, Romania, Bulgaria, Vietnam, and surprisingly, China, who has the biggest problem with Internet censorship of all! (Ever heard of “The Great Firewall of China?”) In all, there were almost eighty-seven countries running anonymous proxies for less-than-democratic nation’s citizens to enjoy and browse anonymously on. This truly shows that the use and creation of proxies is a world-wide effort, and everyone is involved.

Renesys has some advice for those who wish to help and create an anonymous proxy. First, they say not to wait until “tanks are in the streets” to take action and create one, because governments are most suspicious then and will be searching doggedly to find those trying to evade their security laws. And lastly, research ways to make your proxy not look like a proxy, because oftentimes these governments have a list of characteristics to look for in a proxy, and when they find them they will block it. If your proxy doesn’t exhibit these characteristics however, they will think it is a normal Internet connection and not block or censor you.

If you wish to take the steps to step up a proxy and help a friend overseas, do some research and figure out how to configure it well to make it anonymous, secure, and most of all, remain as a pseudo-proxy. It all comes down to this: if they don’t think you are a proxy server, they won’t block you!

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