Whether you are student studying abroad, or a business professional working on a project overseas, you will need to access the internet.  The problem is that not all websites are available in all countries.  Some may only be available in the United States.

Whenever you sign on to the internet, your IP address gives away your location.  If you are not in the United States, a website that you need to access may be blocked.  Whether you are signed up for a webinar, or need to do research, or if you just want to relax and watch your favorite TV show or a movie, if the site you need is blocked, it doesn’t help you much.   In order to “fool” these sites into opening, you must hide your IP address.

To hide your IP address, you must use a proxy server.  When you use a proxy server, the IP address used to locate you will be the address of the server.  This allows you to hide your true location, which opens up websites that would normally be blocked in the country you are in.

If you connect to a server in the US, then your US IP address will always show that you are in the United States.

You will be able to attend that online class in the United States while you are studying overseas.  You will also be able to watch movies and TV shows that would normally be blocked in some other countries.  There will be no limits on where you could go on the internet.

Want to try if for yourself?  Sign up for the risk-free trial and you will be hooked from the first time you use it.

There are some internet users who happily share their experiences with Anonymous Proxy once they discover its many benefits. Among its advantages, many say that faster speed ranks first. I can also tell of my own personal experience and how I better enjoyed my online surfing. I instantly solved my problem with speed in uploading my blogs by using an anonymous proxy.

It is good to know more advantages that can come from using an anonymous proxy, specifically to bypass filters. Aside from speed, it also blocks much of the spyware and junk that is sent to your computer. This saves you from the common problems that users come across. While this can be solved by using technical skill, it is very burdensome to encounter this problem repeatedly.

If you want to guard your Internet privacy you want to know what an IP address is.  It is a string of numbers assigned to you by your Internet Service Provider whenever you connect online.

There are certain questions that arise when thinking about an IP address”

Q. Can I be traced through my IP address?

A. Your IP address reveals only the locality and name of your ISP. Your Internet service provider by itself might have records of your PC using their system at such and such a time, but an Internet service provider will as a rule not reveal this information without a search warrant / court order.

Q. How long does an Internet service provider store logs of client IP addresses?

A. No one knows, although it can be somewhere from several weeks to a few years. This is necessary to monitor bandwidth usage.

Q. Someone over the internet has threatened they can find me due to my IP address. Can they do this?

A. Most likely they’re bluffing. Unless you administer your personal server or reside in the same building as your ISP’s headquarters, a stranger can’t locate you using only your IP address.

Q. Can someone find my username or password based mostly in my IP address?

A. No. Your ISP is the single one that is aware these details.

Q. Do my emails show my IP address?

A. Yes. To send email secretly, you’ll want to use an anonymous remailer or an anonymous proxy.

Q. What is a proxy server?

A. A 3rd party server used as a go-between by a customer PC that doesn’t want to attach directly to the world wide web.

Q. Can a proxy server give me internet privacy?

A. Not if it is merely a surrogate server. A simple proxy server will reveal to our online world that it’s acting as a substitute for such and such IP address user (your PC), so you can nonetheless be traced because of it.

Q. What kind of proxy server should I use to be able to surf secretly?

A. You want an anonymous proxy server that is secure, trustworthy and consistent. You will most likely have to pay a fee.

Q. How will an unidentified proxy server guard me?

A. Largely by hiding your actual IP address and blocking malicious scripts and computer programs from entering your system. You might get a different IP address every time you make use of the proxy. Additionally, a number of anonymous proxies allege they can’t reveal your data even if subpoenaed (court ordered) since they don’t save client logs.

Q. Are open proxy servers reliable to use?

A. Not if you are serious concerning your security and privacy. Numerous open proxies are either incorrectly set up, or owned by evil people who want to use your data for their personal ends. Beware of using free proxies and unidentified proxy servers that don’t allocate secure connections. And no matter what server you make use of, always encrypt personal data.

Here we go again.  More on Big Brother.  The US government announced in June that US government agencies may track traffic and online behavior so that they can better provide information and services for the people who visit their websites.

The stated purpose here is two-fold. First, the Obama administration wants  the government’s websites to be easier to navigate, and to become useful. Secondly, it wants to monitor your behavior on its websites to figure out what information was accessed the most and hence, potentially the most useful.

Privacy issues are crucial to the topic of government tracking and targeting, so much so that the government memorandum the Obama administration issued discusses it in the introduction. The government is assuring  people that they shouldn’t be concerned about the US government watching their every online move.

Lately I’ve come across a number of websites that are promoting anonymous proxies.  These sites are filled with nonsensical articles and are designed to drive traffic to one or two anonymous proxy websites.  I guess I have to ask the question, if they are creating garbage websites just for the purpose of spamming the search engines, how good can their products be.

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.

With all the advantages the Internet has brought comes a new kind of crime. Identity theft is at an all time high. Thieves have learned that this is an easier way of robbing their victims than ever before. All they have to do is gain access to a person’s connection to the Internet and it is possible to take their identity and their money. This is being committed even as you are reading this article. Accessing someone’s bank account, credit cards and other personal information through the world wide web is the way a thief can get by with his crime with the least likelihood of getting caught. Gone are the days when going on the Internet was not threatened by the possibility of malware and spy ware. When a thief gains access to your Internet connection, all the information you have used on that connection is out in the open for the taking. Bank account numbers, credit card numbers – all manner of personal information – is no longer safe. How do you take steps to keep this from happening? One of the best ways is to have an anonymous proxy server. This is one solution to keep thieves from gaining knowledge about your connection to the Internet and in turn keeping your information safe.What is an anonymous proxy, you may be asking?

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 men and women of the United States Armed Forces are overseas right now fighting for your freedom. They made this choice on their own yes, but it is a choice they made because they love the idea of freedom, and because they want to better themselves and their country. Remember it is not a choice that is made lightly by any means. It is something that they considered, and probably for several months. In the end they decided that fighting for freedom and making a stand was worth more than anything-even their own lives. That being the case they signed the papers, they boarded a plane, and now they sit thousands of miles away from home. Fortunately there have been some innovations that have provided soldiers with more entertainment than they would have had access to in the past. These innovations are centered around the internet.

Use an anonymous proxy to stay safe overseas.

So what would a soldier want to access on the web. Believe it or not, one of the things they do is watch TV online. They can catch their favorite programs or watch hockey. Most of the TV networks put their some of their latest episodes online. For others, they can access media sites that aggregate content. Another source for media is the online newspapers like the New York Times. Or maybe they want to read their home town newspaper online. Today most, if not all papers, have an online version. So between TV, sports, and newspapers, they can catch up on the latest US media and news.

Instead of TV, they might be on social networking sites like FaceBook or MySpace. For those who have not served in the military, you can’t imagine how much of a gift these sites are to lonely young men and women far from home. With a click of the mouse, they can see friends and loved ones. They can catch up on the latest happenings in their families or circle of friends. They can see videos, pictures and general updates. And maybe, just maybe, some of the loneliness might go away. Sure, they are still at the front. Sure they are still in harm’s way. But they have a connection back to their normal every day lives. Unfortunately, they can’t always connect back to these US sites. You’d think the web is available everywhere.

Do you ever get that feeling that someone is following you, someone is watching you? Don’t quickly jump to the conclusion that you are crazy; many others feel the same way. The fact is that you are often being watched, and not just by other people. In Britain, and as being tested in some undisclosed parts of the United States, people are being held under surveillance by discreet video cameras mounted on houses. These video cameras can watch passerby and record everything that they see and or do. The cameras can be accessed by local law enforcement, federal law enforcement, or any other criminal agency at any time, with a live feed able to be brought up. These cameras are supposed to watch for “anti-social behavior”, and when detected, the police are to be dispatched and the situation taken care of.

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.

When you represent some sort of organization, whether it be a school, business, or a non profit, you assume the responsibility of their identity and the well being of it onto your person. When you are out there being a part of the organization in question, you become an avatar of it, and people will connect what you do and who you are with the thing you are representing. This can be a double edged sword: if you do well, your company looks good, and if not, you can be in for some hard times. If a business man is the head of a big name company and decided to hold a charity for some degenerative disease and raises a lot of money and gives it away, it brings good P.R. (public relations) back to the business. Those who believe in karma think that if they do good, they will receive good, and vice versa. On the other hand, if the business man falls into the public eye with some sort of scandal such as a DUI charge, their business could be forever associated with the crime and fail quickly.

This situation happened recently with a couple of high school football players. When they joined the team, they signed a contract with their coach saying that they would always abstain from drugs and alcohol and that they would maintain a good image, for their image reflected the entire football team’s. About halfway into the season, after a major and crushing victory, the team in question had a party to celebrate. The football players who had previously signed the contract started drinking, and actually ended up getting pulled over for underage drinking and driving under the influence. The coach immediately, even though they were the star players, cut them from the team. Ever since, many jokes and puns have been made about the team and their partying habits; they could never be taken seriously again.

Every Internet user knows the hassle of constantly popping up advertisements and other flashing ads on the side of their screen. While most just view this as the trade-off that they give while surfing the free Internet, some are a bit more worried. And with good reason; recently, a new practice has begun: behavioral advertising. This will actually go into your browsing history, scan it to determine your interests, and then put ads all around your page based on it. It is a bit invasive, and completely involuntary.

The premise is simple; give people ads that they might actually consider. Imagine a dainty young woman into flowers, teacups, and all things cute and cuddly. If while on a beauty website, she encounters an ad for a protein shake that is guaranteed to put on fifteen percent more muscle in one week, she probably isn’t going to even think about clicking it. On the other end of the spectrum, if a muscle-bound college kid is managing his fantasy football team, and an ad for a miracle garden solution pops up, he probably won’t think twice before exiting it out.

These may be a bit extreme, but everyone has had something like this occur. One can see two sides of the coin to this new behavioral advertising; one is good and puts ads that you may actually consider on your screen, and another is bad and completely invades your privacy without permission.