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February 21, 2009 08:29 PM
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I hear you, nobody said you have to use any particular search engine or service, but why do you get freaked out if Google knows what you search for? It's not like Google is going make your surfing habits available to the public or anything like that without notifying you. However, I see your concern, and you want to search and surf the web privately.
There are plenty of services out there you could use to surf the web privately, and they all seem pretty reliable, at least the software programs that you pay for are more reliable than the free services. Some people use software, but the majority of people do not use this software. It's usually pretty safe and secure (via 128 bit or 256 bit SSL encryption), so if you are actually using any of this software, then you should have nothing to worry about with your surfing privacy. Be sure to watch the videos below.
How it Works according to Private Proxy Software:
Private Proxy consists of software installed on your PC which provides access to our secure proxy servers. When you subscribe to Private Proxy, you will be given a username, password and download link that is required for accessing our anonymous proxy servers.
After installing the software, you will be prompted for your Username and Password. You will also be given the choice of 3 different servers to choose from. Two are located in the United States and one is located in the Netherlands. There are 10 different IP addresses for each of the servers giving you a total of 30 different IP addresses. These IP addresses will rotate every 30 minutes for each server or you can disconnect from one server and select another server to manually change the IP address.
All your data is being transmitted through our anonymous proxy servers where your IP address is changed and 128-bit data encryption is being applied to ensure your protection.
Here are some examples of software:
Anonymizer
http://www.anonymizer.com
The company provides safe and secure online experiences to millions of global Internet users. In addition to its consumer products the company offers security solutions uniquely adapted for corporations and government agencies.
Private Proxy Software
http://www.privateproxysoftware.com
Provides anonymous surfing software.
SurfSolo
http://www.securstar.com/products_ssolo.php
SurfSolo creates an encrypted virtual tunnel between your computer and one of our high bandwidth security proxy servers. This tunnel shields you from the most sophisticated methods of online spying and snooping, ensuring you of completely anonymous web surfing.
Proxify
http://proxify.net
Proxify provides you with secure (SSL) anonymous surfing. It removes cookies, scripts, ads, referrer information and optionally page titles. It hides your user agent (which provides information like the name of your browser and operating system) and optionally, the referrer information sent by the browser.
Anonymous Web Browser
http://htmlblock.co.uk/anonymous_web_browser/
The Anonymous Web Browser allows you to surf the internet anonymously, optionally removing cookies, the browser referer field, scripts (such as JavaScripts, VBScripts, etc), images, and objects (such as Flash, Java, etc). It can also encrypt your URLs and Cookies. You can also change the User-Agent (browser type) that the service sends to the website you're visiting. There is a 2 MB download limit, and a 5 second anti-flood timer.
Shadowsurf
http://www.shadowsurf.com
ShadowSurf provides free anonymous surfing.
@nonymouse Anonymous Web Surfing
http://anonymouse.org/anonwww.html
This free anonymous surfing service allows you to type into a URL into their website and it will retrieve that web page for you.
Guardster: Free Anonymous, Private Web Proxy
http://www.guardster.com/subscription/proxy_free.php
You can surf the Internet from this free anonymous web service. It is able to strip cookies, scripts, images, hide your referrer field, hide your user agent (name of browser), remove the page title, etc.
the-cloak
http://www.the-cloak.com/login.html
the-cloak allows you to surf to other websites, strip away JavaScript code that that site may place on your pages, remove images, cookies, etc, while at the same time prevent certain information about your location and computer from being transmitted to that site. They place a limit of the number of times you can use their free service from a particular IP address.
Source(s):
http://www.privateproxysoftware.com/howitworks.html
http://www.thefreecountry.com/security/anonymous.shtml
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http://anonymouse.org/anonwww.html
http://www.anonymizer.com
http://anonymouse.org/anonwww.html
www.gosecure.eu/securenet.html
Source(s):
Personal Experience.
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http://www.torproject.org/
or torpark (same system)
http://www.download.com/Torpark/3000-2356_4-10586817.html
there are also paid proxies in various countries which are speedier. i use a proxy for most things....i'm on one right now.
guess i'm paranoid.
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The TOR solution is great because it is distributed, you can't just trace requests through TOR the way you could through normal servers. The only problem is that it is horribly slow.
If you are concerned about your online privacy, you should be looking at a combination of VPNs with proxies and something like TOR, plus of course something like PGP/GPG. The end result is that following your online movements will become extremely expensive.
While a snoopy neighbor or boss can easily spy on you simply by reading logs, checking your wireless, etc., in order to follow this kind of activity you would need to have the resources of the US federal government, and these resources are prioritized, they would have to decide to spy on Joe Blow instead of Some Guy With a Scary Terrorist Name.
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TOR is technically excellent but as mentioned extremely slow and there are security issues with the exit nodes for instance. It's great to see Open source stuff in this arena though.
The point made about the authorities not liking it is very relevant though -already in Europe there is a Directive forcing all ISPs to keep their logs (of your entire browsing history) for up to two years
http://www.anonymous-proxies.org/2008/12/directive-on-mandatory-retention-of.html
The legal position on proxies though is a lot less clear and most legitimate commercial proxy owners are storing as little data as possible depending on their location but that could change.
It's more worrying in some countries, the UK is actually taking all this web logging data and storing it on a central database for access by agencies. Heaven knows what they are going to use all this data for - Big Brother or what !
By the way there is one search engine that doesn't actually record any data - even your IP address
http://www.ixquick.com/
./
Source(s):
http://www.anonymous-proxies.org
http://www.ixquick.com/
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Answered Question
Mahalo is adding a tip to all questions that don't offer a tip.
How do I surf by proxy/anonymously?
I've been reading about Google keeping your searches and private data for two years and the government forcing ISPs to keep your data and I'm starting to get a little freaked out.
Does anyone surf anonymously or via a proxy?
How is this done technically?
How private are your searches and web page views if you use one of these services?
Does anyone surf anonymously or via a proxy?
How is this done technically?
How private are your searches and web page views if you use one of these services?
Interesting Question?
Yes (4)
No (0)
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Best Answer Chosen by Asker
| February 21, 2009 08:47 PM |
There are plenty of services out there you could use to surf the web privately, and they all seem pretty reliable, at least the software programs that you pay for are more reliable than the free services. Some people use software, but the majority of people do not use this software. It's usually pretty safe and secure (via 128 bit or 256 bit SSL encryption), so if you are actually using any of this software, then you should have nothing to worry about with your surfing privacy. Be sure to watch the videos below.
How it Works according to Private Proxy Software:
Private Proxy consists of software installed on your PC which provides access to our secure proxy servers. When you subscribe to Private Proxy, you will be given a username, password and download link that is required for accessing our anonymous proxy servers.
After installing the software, you will be prompted for your Username and Password. You will also be given the choice of 3 different servers to choose from. Two are located in the United States and one is located in the Netherlands. There are 10 different IP addresses for each of the servers giving you a total of 30 different IP addresses. These IP addresses will rotate every 30 minutes for each server or you can disconnect from one server and select another server to manually change the IP address.
All your data is being transmitted through our anonymous proxy servers where your IP address is changed and 128-bit data encryption is being applied to ensure your protection.
Here are some examples of software:
Anonymizer
http://www.anonymizer.com
The company provides safe and secure online experiences to millions of global Internet users. In addition to its consumer products the company offers security solutions uniquely adapted for corporations and government agencies.
Private Proxy Software
http://www.privateproxysoftware.com
Provides anonymous surfing software.
SurfSolo
http://www.securstar.com/products_ssolo.php
SurfSolo creates an encrypted virtual tunnel between your computer and one of our high bandwidth security proxy servers. This tunnel shields you from the most sophisticated methods of online spying and snooping, ensuring you of completely anonymous web surfing.
Proxify
http://proxify.net
Proxify provides you with secure (SSL) anonymous surfing. It removes cookies, scripts, ads, referrer information and optionally page titles. It hides your user agent (which provides information like the name of your browser and operating system) and optionally, the referrer information sent by the browser.
Anonymous Web Browser
http://htmlblock.co.uk/anonymous_web_browser/
The Anonymous Web Browser allows you to surf the internet anonymously, optionally removing cookies, the browser referer field, scripts (such as JavaScripts, VBScripts, etc), images, and objects (such as Flash, Java, etc). It can also encrypt your URLs and Cookies. You can also change the User-Agent (browser type) that the service sends to the website you're visiting. There is a 2 MB download limit, and a 5 second anti-flood timer.
Shadowsurf
http://www.shadowsurf.com
ShadowSurf provides free anonymous surfing.
@nonymouse Anonymous Web Surfing
http://anonymouse.org/anonwww.html
This free anonymous surfing service allows you to type into a URL into their website and it will retrieve that web page for you.
Guardster: Free Anonymous, Private Web Proxy
http://www.guardster.com/subscription/proxy_free.php
You can surf the Internet from this free anonymous web service. It is able to strip cookies, scripts, images, hide your referrer field, hide your user agent (name of browser), remove the page title, etc.
the-cloak
http://www.the-cloak.com/login.html
the-cloak allows you to surf to other websites, strip away JavaScript code that that site may place on your pages, remove images, cookies, etc, while at the same time prevent certain information about your location and computer from being transmitted to that site. They place a limit of the number of times you can use their free service from a particular IP address.
Source(s):
http://www.privateproxysoftware.com/howitworks.html
http://www.thefreecountry.com/security/anonymous.shtml
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Reply
Other Answers (4)
February 21, 2009 09:25 PM
I have used all these and found them to be good solutions. http://anonymouse.org/anonwww.html
http://www.anonymizer.com
http://anonymouse.org/anonwww.html
www.gosecure.eu/securenet.html
Source(s):
Personal Experience.
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Reply
February 21, 2009 11:03 PM
i would suggest TOR (The Onion Router). http://www.torproject.org/
or torpark (same system)
http://www.download.com/Torpark/3000-2356_4-10586817.html
there are also paid proxies in various countries which are speedier. i use a proxy for most things....i'm on one right now.
guess i'm paranoid.
Permalink | Report
Reply
February 22, 2009 12:02 AM
These proxies can be hit with the right subpoenas too. It will take longer to do the forensics but eventually you can tie these to users outside and there goes your privacy. It is just the way that the internet works. Using proxies outside of the states and in places that are hard to subpoena will do the trick, but if the powers-that-be are annoyed enough, these will eventually become unreachable from the states. The TOR solution is great because it is distributed, you can't just trace requests through TOR the way you could through normal servers. The only problem is that it is horribly slow.
If you are concerned about your online privacy, you should be looking at a combination of VPNs with proxies and something like TOR, plus of course something like PGP/GPG. The end result is that following your online movements will become extremely expensive.
While a snoopy neighbor or boss can easily spy on you simply by reading logs, checking your wireless, etc., in order to follow this kind of activity you would need to have the resources of the US federal government, and these resources are prioritized, they would have to decide to spy on Joe Blow instead of Some Guy With a Scary Terrorist Name.
Permalink | Report
Reply
February 23, 2009 02:59 PM
I use a system called Identity Cloaker which combines an SSH tunnel which is encrypted and a selection of private proxies to surf from. You can also switch automatically every few minutes between these proxies, I can also use the interface to fire up OpenVPN to encrypt my other communications like IM and email. TOR is technically excellent but as mentioned extremely slow and there are security issues with the exit nodes for instance. It's great to see Open source stuff in this arena though.
The point made about the authorities not liking it is very relevant though -already in Europe there is a Directive forcing all ISPs to keep their logs (of your entire browsing history) for up to two years
http://www.anonymous-proxies.org/2008/12/directive-on-mandatory-retention-of.html
The legal position on proxies though is a lot less clear and most legitimate commercial proxy owners are storing as little data as possible depending on their location but that could change.
It's more worrying in some countries, the UK is actually taking all this web logging data and storing it on a central database for access by agencies. Heaven knows what they are going to use all this data for - Big Brother or what !
By the way there is one search engine that doesn't actually record any data - even your IP address
http://www.ixquick.com/
./
Source(s):
http://www.anonymous-proxies.org
http://www.ixquick.com/
Permalink | Report
Reply
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