Browse Freely
Use the Address form below
What different types of proxy are there?
For web users looking to get around restrictions on what sites they can visit, there are three main options. Firstly, configuring their browser to send all traffic through a proxy server, by configuring it to direct all its queries to a certain IP address of a remote computer.
Second, you can use a distributed proxy network such as Tor, where your internet requests are broken up and shared around hundreds of clients, and reassembled somewhere else to request the data you want (i.e. a website that's blocked).
Third, you can use a web based proxy, which takes your URL request, fetches the web page, and sends it back to you with all the links rewritten. As far as your local network is concerned, you are viewing that one website the whole time, but actually you are using that website to access all sorts of normally forbidden content. You also get the benefit of anonymity because the websites you visit only see the IP of your proxy website, not your own IP, which is great for all those naughty things we like to look at online.
What type of proxy is better?
Proxy server: Good because it's invisible. Bad because open proxy servers often switch off after a while, and many sites (including Google!) will limit or block you because of problems of spammers using the same proxy IP.
Tor or other hidden browsing networks: Good because it can get around almost any blocking. Bad because it's really, really slow.
Web based proxy: Good because there are hundreds available and it's totally instant to use. Bad because new proxies get blocked pretty quickly and you have to keep searching for new ones.
Conclusion: for web browsing and simply getting around restrictions imposed in your school, workplace, or dumb- nation.cn, web proxies are the best. For anything requiring software you'll need another solution, and finally if you are concerned about privacy / security e.g. for corporate communications for financial operations, don't use a public proxy... invest in your own private proxy server!
