Tuesday, May 04, 2010
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It seems like whenever something is free, there's a catch. Using a free proxy server falls under this category. By using a free proxy server to hide one's online identity, a person unknowingly opens himself up risks that may be greater than anything gained by using the proxy server in the first place.
In order to understand the dangers of using a free proxy server, it's important to know what a proxy server is and what it does. In simple terms, a proxy server is a computer that sits between a the computer hosting a website that a user wants to visit and the user himself. When a person visits a website though a proxy server, their computer, at home, sends a request to the proxy server which downloads the target website into its memory. The person at home can then view the target website off of the proxy server. In essence, the person can view a particular web page without technically visiting it.
Whenever a person visits a web page, the web page's server keeps track of who visited by logging the IP number of the person's computer. An IP number is like an internet finger print that can be used to trace the location of any computer that is connected to the server. For this reason, some people are concerned about their privacy. Often, major search engines log IP addresses in order to track the browsing habits of their users. By knowing a person's browsing habits, search engine companies can customize revenue generating advertisements to a particular user. Other people choose to use proxy servers in order to circumvent internet restrictions set up by network administrators at work or school. Still others use proxy servers to visit sites from which they have been restricted by the site itself. The user may have been banned or IP numbers similar to his may have been blocked by the site owner for any number of reasons. Using a proxy can allow access to these sites.
In order to provide adequate service and performance for thousands of users at the same time, a free proxy server has to have a lot of bandwidth. Bandwidth is expensive. It begs the question. "if bandwidth is expensive and a free proxy server needs a lot of it, how can they offer it for free?" The answer is that using a free proxy server isn't actually "free." People running these free proxy servers often have nefarious motives in mind. First of all, free proxy servers are often created by stealing bandwidth from legitimate servers that are not properly secured or configured. Others are set up by hackers and criminals in distant countries. Less criminally motivated individuals create free proxy servers in order to generate ad revenue. When using the proxy server, a person may be bombarded with pop-up windows and advertisements that may obscure them from viewing the desired web page. More dangerous is using proxy servers set up by hackers. These free proxies are created for the sole purpose of stealing a user's vital information. Using a hacker's free proxy may open up a person to identity theft, viruses, credit card theft, and much more as the proxy server records any information that a person may input on their computer. Or, it may upload viruses which can transmit sensitive data that is stored on a person's computer.
Finally, an often unrecognized reason against using free proxies is that some are run through government computer servers that are called "honey pots." By using these proxies that are on government servers, a person is guilty of illegally accessing government computers. This is a felony and can land a person in jail.
While using a free proxy server may be tempting, the dangers of using one far outweigh any advantages. not only may a user's sensitive private information be compromised, but using a free proxy can create legal problems for them as well.
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