22 replies to this topic

[Nameless_]

Hi people,

So, for the second time in my life I was browsing the Astahost's forums for information of Drupal menus and stuff because no one actually seems to want to answer to my thread(s) and I came across a proxy thread telling you how to make a proxy.
But many of the replies stated that proxies get banned at schools and universities anyway, and my questions is this:

"What is the purpose of making or using a proxy site if they get blocked in the first place?"

I have actually tried it at school, and they are blocked because that are categorized as being "anonymizers", and I mean... OK, I had a whole list of proxy sites, and none of them worked, because they are all blocked!!! Now, if schools and universities can just block proxy sites, then what is the whole purpose of having them in the first place?

If they are not blocked as a proxy site where I live, then they are blocked as being "uncategorised". So unless a proxy site can get pass the filter and become an "educational" site, and somehow then changed later on and become a proxy site, I really don't see the point of making or having or using one in the first place.

What do you people think? Any ideas? I really don't even know what proxies are, except for the fact that they are used to bypass filters like the ones that they set up in educational environments... Maybe they are just used to erase your history or something like that? I don't know...

[Quatrux]

Well, it's true that a lot of proxy sites are blocked, but everyday there are lots of new sites and as I know, schools never block google translate, you can use it as a proxy, just never tried if it's anonymous or it's using your ip and a proxy ip together. A lot of services like that work, you can use a validator to get html if you want only information..

Proxy sites are sometimes annoying if you need scripts, sometimes they don't work as they need to, but proxy is good to use from your home and not public places.

You can make a proxy by yourself using your own computer if you have a static ip and connect to it through a public computer.

[The Simpleton]

Proxies can be used both for the good and the bad, and since people focus on the good part, they are still being made - new and new proxies are coming in daily for this reason. Let me give you an example.

A long time ago, I got a one month rapidshare account. Unfortunately for me, at that time, someone from my area was trying to hack the rapidshare servers, so RS blocked access to all the users from that area! I protested, telling that I was a premium user and they had no right to block service to me, but my protest fell on deaf ears. Having no other choice, I looked for a good proxy site and after some effort, finally found one, and was able to use RS normally.

In this case, I wasn't using proxies for anything bad, so the use is justified. But the reason why proxies are blocked in schools are that they give access to social networking sites, which, practically speaking, aren't supposed to be used in school time as they have lasting damage on the minds of children.

Proxies are mostly harmless but in the case of schools, banning them is indeed justified

[shadowx]

They dont always get blocked, thats the key here. In theory you just need to add some nice META tags to your proxy site that mention maths, or language or something that sounds educational, dont mention the word "proxy" "anonymous" etc... and it wont get auto-blocked. Though it doesnt take a super smart teacher to realize what you're doing and get the proxy blocked.

Like The Simpleton said, its not all bad, there are good reasons to use them and bad.

As for why google translate (and google cache) work is because google acts as a proxy: YOU>(Ask google for a translate)>GOOGLE>(GET www.site.com/page.htm)>GOOGLE>(Translate page)>GOOGLE(Send page to YOU)>YOU(receive page, and read it)

So in effect, you are simply accessing google, and not www.site.com.

[mahesh2k]

Tor project works with me. Even if the IP gets banned then i can switch the IP from tor and continue surfing. Recently i switched to new ISP. and tried to use to-opera and torpark. And with both these i unable to connect to internet. I think proxy surfing is not allowed by my ISP. So i decided to change my IP to surf anonymously. Again when i used multiple sites to do this. ISP refused to connect to other sites. Even google can't be opened from tor-opera and tor-park.

So i installed no-my-ip software. Which allowed me to change 3 IP address. But again this also failed. and i was once again failed to connect with proxy software. So my observation about proxy surfing is that your ISP needs to let you use proxy software or browsers. My ISP simply refused to do so. Don't know why but this is what my trouble is as of now.

[shadowx]

your ISP may not block proxy surfing (though disgraceful countries like China do block access so they can hide what really happens in their precious little country...) but they may require you to have a specific IP address so they know who you are. In that case a proxy SITE will probably work (google proxy site) but proxy software may not because the proxy site works thus:
Trusted IP>ISP>proxy site>different IP>website

so your ISP still sees a trusted IP address. But software may work like this instead:

Trusted IP>Changed by software>Untrusted IP>ISP>*BLOCKED*

But meh, it could just be your government blocking it by law or just a weird ISP

[Nameless_]

Wow... what's with all the fast replies for this thread and none for the Drupal ones... I'm sad....

But anyway... cool... after reading your replies, I when to several proxies and found out how they work... and hey, they're really good!!! But why would you want to make your own proxy site anyway? I really don't understand that, especially if there are many other proxy sites around that works.

But yeah, I'll try google translate and see how things work when I get to school again (yay!!! It's the school holidays!!!)

But anyway, do you think that it will be possible to use a proxy on a page, like www.example.com/proxy-here ??? Because if that is possible, and if it doesn't take a lot of space it would be cool to try and make one and see how it works behind the scenes. But anyway... I still don't understand why people keep making proxies if one works (in which I have seen none could bypass the filters) and make a personal one for personal use when there's a lot out there?

[mahesh2k]

I don't think it's problem of government. Government only blocks websites(porn and fishy, they have no objection with proxy sites). My earlier ISP let me access to the proxy sites and even opera-tor and torpark worked. This ISP which is very strict with the policies is blocking my proxy softwares. I don't understand what is the problem with opera-tor and tor-park surfing ? Besides, ISP are capable enough to trace from these if they find something fishy. So why not just trust customers and let them have anonymous surfing ? I guess, i got many other good features with this ISP but lost the best feature of anonymous surfing. :/

[shadowx]

definitely seems ISP specific then. Bad times! But you dont really need a proxy, and using one to get to blocked sites would be illegal... so i dont advise that!

They just some in handy sometimes

[rob86]

It's possible that you could create a proxy on your home computer, give it a non standard/typical port # and a password leave the computer running and online, and at school use your computer (and it's I.P. Address) as a proxy. You might be able to bypass the blocking and show off..

For extra security use a firewall to block any connections on that port not from your school. (get the schools ip address). If it doesn't support a password, this would still be relatively safe I think. You don't want people using IP to do illegal things, you know. People often do port scans on entire ranges of IP Addresses to find open ports that could be of use to them, someone infected with a virus (trojan horse type) or unprotected web servers (Yes, that
includes your Psionicks website!) and if you use standard proxy ports like the ones you see on proxy sites, people will want to use your computer as a proxy for lots of bad stuff!

I don't know if it'd get around the blocking, not sure how they block stuff, but it might work. There are other ways besides proxy servers also to connect to your computer and use it. It's kind of neat controlling your computer from somewhere else..