Privacy and Access By Proxy

Learn about three services that allow for privacy and access using a web based browser proxy.

Steve Smith talks about web based browser proxies, the benefits, risks, and usage scenarios.

Episode #3-39 released on June 22, 2013

Watch on Youtube

Proxy sites, a clever way of allowing people to access other web-sites that they would not want to visit using their own IP, are banned or regionally blocked from.

Using a proxy site in your browser is almost like using a VPN. You are using a different network in order to access a web-site anonymously, and even the IP address is different from the point of view of the web-site.

The majority of web-sites use cookies whether through intent, use of social plug-ins, or advertisements. Whether the site developer is a novice and doesn't realize this, or the web-site is designed by an expert with specific knowledge or intent is not the issue. You want to maintain your right to privacy, and having a choice is always good.

Whether you want to maintain your privacy or not, having a choice is good. A good service to try this out with is Anonymouse. This is a web based proxy that allows you to access any web-site you want relatively easily, and helps maintain your privacy. It achieves this by changing what your IP is, what your host is, and what your Browser and OS are. For most web-sites, this is a great tool. It appears unable to keep you off your social networking accounts whenever there is a plug-in. You either have to logoff, or use an application like Ghostery to disable those social plug-ins, or No Script to disable javascript.

If you wish to go as completely stealth as possible, one such solution is to use the private or incognito modes of browsers, as well as Anonymouse. This will maintain a logout session, and you will no longer be associated with the new IP address that is presented. Provided you started using the private or incognito window with Anonymouse before accessing that page.

Another good, maybe better proxy by browser tool is Dave Proxy. Designed for local and international users alike, Dave Proxy allows anyone to access content normally only available to Americans with an American IP address. Upon testing this site, it had immediately stopped all social networking plug-ins on web-sites, meaning your privacy is maintained. You can, however, still access your Facebook, Twitter, etc... accounts by navigating directly to those sites. This is good for people in places where these services are blocked.

And, because choice is always great, one final example of proxy by web browser, Ninja Cloak. Much like Anonymouse, and Dave Proxy, this service also allows you to access content and maintain your privacy. Much like Dave Proxy, blocks various social media plug-ins, and allows for deeper privacy settings by allowing you to block referrer, cookies, and more. Also, has HTTPS functionality making it harder to block.

All three of these services are supported by advertisements. However, Anonymouse, has a VIP version that use Paypal to collect payments. Not only are you anonymous, your also protected from having to divulge any credit card information directly, you let PayPal, deal with any payments, and you maintain your privacy.

You should never use these services in the commission of buying items online, as this action may inadvertently have accounts blocked, cited as potential fraud risks, or worst. I do not suggest any of the services above for access to any web-site that requires you to login, unless you don't already have access to specific services, as this means you must now trust them.

Next week, I'll be talking about the meta data in your pictures, and how it can betray your trust and location. I'll be talking about what meta data is, what is contained within a photo, and how to mitigate the risks of accidental location and information leaking.

Remember to like this episode if you were interested in today's topic, share if you think someone else could benefit from the topic, and subscribe if you want to learn more. For the show notes of this episode and others, for more information on other ways to subscribe to our show, to subscribe to our weekly newsletter, and how to participate by submitting your questions, comments, suggestions, and stories, head over to TQAWeekly.com.

Host : Steve Smith | Music : Jonny Lee Hart | Editor : Steve Smith | Producer : Zed Axis Productions

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