Anonymous Surfing through a Tunneling Proxy

A proxy is primarily designed to provide faster and efficient Internet Access to lots of computers on the same network. They can speed up browsing quite considerably by caching pages that are requested often and keeping a local copy o fthe web page to distribute. So why would we want to use a tunneling proxy technique well mainly because using a proxy allows the owner to control and restrict what you view.

If everyone browses through a proxy you can control, monitor and record everything the users do through that proxy. Often in a coporate or education environment - you will be forced to use the selected proxy, the settings to change will not be accessible blocked by security.

So what do you do if you want to stop your web browsing being logged and monitored?

You need a Tunneling Proxy

That's right you need to create a tunnel between you and an external proxy by which you can encrypt and secure all your data. That means it can't be viewed, logged, recorded or blocked.

There's a few ways you can do this but most focus on two main tunneling methods - SSL and SSH both provide options. Most commonely SSL (Secure SOckets Layer) is used on port 443 and this is the way secure sites are often access like your bank or retail site. I personally use some software called Identity Cloaker which actually uses SSH although this tunnel is created on the port 443 simply because it helps obscure the connection and less often blocked on a company firewall.

So if you create a tunneling proxy outside the local network nothing can read the data from your browsing. All that is visible is an encrypted connection and no urls or other details can be seen.

Depending on the technique you try, it can secure your connection and allow you to access sites that are normally blocked. Although remember to check the information and privacy policy of the network you are using to check it's ok.

Here's the software I use, this actually allows you to punch a hole in the external firewall by tunneling through the corporate proxy and connecting to one of the private anonymous proxies on the internet.

This is the screen where you pick one of the many proxies available to create the SSH tunnel between - the real beauty is that it piggybacks the existing proxy so you get through the firewall as well. I can pick a proxy in any of the many countries available.

Therefore with my tunneling proxy nobody can log my web browsing or what I do online. Because all my connections are unreadable then also content filtering won't be able to block access to any web sites either. You may have seen these running when you try and visit a web site and you get a 'BLOCKED' type message instead. These content filters aren't able to read the data in an SSH tunneling proxy session because it is encrypted so they can't read the url to block it.

Web Surfing Privacy - Is it a Right

I think quite strongly that web surfing privacy is a right we should all have. I personally do not have any time for those "you wouldn't care unless you had something to hide" type arguments.

It's because of the vast power of personal information, which is why our Governments set up databases on us, Retailers record our spending patterns, Search engines record our search patterns and CCTVs record our every move. When you think about it there's very little we get to do in private ! We certainly don't have any web surfing privacy - even if we disregard the records left on our own PCs as soon as we request a web page it is logged in several place.

Our ISP has a log of every email we send, every file we download, every picture we view and every web page we visit. This is why Governments use this information, which is why there is a European and a similar US directive pending to force ISPs to record this data for two years.

What could I find out about a person from 2 years of web, email and message logs ?

An awful lot, this information has a huge value to it to many parties from retailers to identity thieves. All can profit from it, but of course to a Government it is extremely valuable to - in an undemocratic society it could be used to target political opponents, spy on anyone - the old East German Police - the infamous Stasi would have loved the internet !
Anyway I want to leave my soap box for a minute especially as my web browsing is completely secure from the government nosey parkers recording my ISP logs because it is all encrypted by Identity Cloaker.

There's another important factor to be anonymous though - we have to be careful about what sort of data we deliberately leave on the internet. For instance many people don't even realise they are using an internet connected server - do a search on google for this term "index.of.dcim" and you'll see a huge list of dumps from digital cameras - I wonder how many people know they have done this ?

Web surfing privacy needs to practised otherwise we have nothing, personally I don't wish to share all my personal photos with everyone on the internet but hey that might just be me.

Avid users of social networking sites like facebook, loose talking bloggers anyone who posts personal information online would be surprised on the detailed picture you can build with all this information.

All an identity thieve needs is a short time monitoring the web sites you visit, a few account details and they have enough to steal your identity. Whether it's directly stealing from your account or applying for credit in your name you know it's going to cost you plenty.

Be careful - web surfing privacy is something you need to protect.

Which are the best Free Anonymous Proxies to use?

It's a question I get asked a lot, what are the best proxies ? And some more like these -

Which is the fastest free proxy?
Which proxies are best to watch Iplayer abroad for free?
What are the best proxies to use for anonymous surfing?

The problem is there is no single answer - sure on any given day there are a huge collection of available open proxies to use. But this list will change from day to day. If one day you happen to find a super fast proxy available which you use to either protect your identity, evade censorship or just stream video from another country like the BBC Iplayer (which is only available in the UK) - there's no guarantee it will be there the next day or week.

This is why I never recommend using free anonymous proxies to anyone, for a start you get locked into this never ending search for open proxies. The problem is the majority of these proxies are simply misconfigured servers. The administrators didn't mean to open up their servers for the world to use, it is usually as the result of an accident or worse a virus or exploit.


When a fast new open proxy appears it will be quickly picked up by the proxy searching scripts and displayed on web pages across the internet. If it's fast it will soon have thousands of surfers channelling their surfing via it. Whether it's a schoolkid using them to bypass their schools restrictions on myspace, a genuine surfer just wishing to protect their identity online or someone bypassing a countries content filter - the server will get real slow and real fast.

Someone then will usually notice the huge bandwidth flowing through their account and pull the server or close the proxy. Whatever the reason the next time you try to connect it won't be there and the search starts all over again. Of course if you have time this is no big deal, you may not even have a problem with racking up someone's bandwidth charge but there is also a big risk to you and your data.

Why are free anonymous ones, not the best proxies?

The risk is that a large proportion of these anonymous proxies are set up and controlled by identity thieves and hackers. It's a simple concept really, pay a few hackers to break into badly configured servers and PCs on the internet, install some logging software and then open them up as free anonymous proxies. You won't have to wait long before many people are surfing through these proxies and you can start logging all their data.

Passwords, account details and more all flowing through this one server and the majority of it in clear text. Even your SSL connections which are usually encrypted are not safe as there are techniques used to intercept these. IF you have the unfortunate chance to surf via one of these proxies then you may as well type out a list of all accounts and passwords you use online and send them to the administrator of the proxy server because that's what you are doing !

Remember it costs a lot of money to run an anonymous proxy - why should anyone pay the bill for everyone to use it for free ? A free anonymous proxy is nearly always either a mistake or a trap to steal information from the surfers. If you are genuinely looking for the best proxies to use, I guarantee you won't find a free one (unless you start dating a University or ISP system administrator!)

Anonymous Internet Surfing - The Anonymous USB Stick

One of the most useful aspects of Identity Cloaker for anonymous internet surfing is the simple fact that it can be run from a USB stick. This means that when you are travelling, or at work or on the move you can make your surfing anonymous wherever you are. The program installs quickly and easily on to any usb drive and can be run directly from that.  Which means I can stick to my network of fast secure proxies, and not have to risk the thousands of hopelessly insecure free ones on the web.

Anonymous Internet Surfing on the move

When I'm travelling I often go to countries which use black lists or content filtering to restrict web sites. In exactly the same way as you might be blocked from viewing facebook at work then you'll find many legitimate web sites blocked by content filtering as you travel. If you use Identity Cloaker then all your web browsing is encrypted and so content filtering doesn't actually work. It means that I can access sites like Youtube (banned in a surprising number of countries) when I'm travelling if I wish. I just start up Identity Cloaker and put in my password - an instant encrypted connection - nobody can monitor anything or block any web site I visit.

This is because there are a variety of ways that you block access to web sites but most of them don't work when you're using Identity Cloaker. One of the biggest in the world is a program called Surf Control which is hardware device used in many big companies. It filters what content you can access via a huge database that blocks certain sites. If you're Anonymous Internet Surfing with Identity Cloaker none of your traffic is visible and so the web sites you visit are invisible. All the proxies and content filters see is a stream of encrypted traffic so the URL cannot be read and therefore not blocked.

It is an extremely powerful feature but remember that even though nobody can block your internet access when surfing anonymously through an ENCRYPTED proxy connection - you can still get into trouble if you disregard company policies and restrictions.

I have no qualms about using it abroad though when Governments block sites merely because they don't like the political content - wordpress blogs are also censored in many places.

My little anonymous USB drive with Identity Cloaker allows me to surf securely wherever I am, and I decide on how my connection is used. It is also fantastic for allowing me to access BBC Iplayer when I'm travelling as well - just select a UK proxy and I can stream BBC video to wherever I am at the time. Try it anonymous internet surfing via a USB stick and no internet censorship anywhere !

Here's an illustration of what exactly is happening. You can see from the diagram here that just by running this application from either a USB drive at work or on your home PC, that you are actually accessing a private network infrastructure.



The Identity Cloaker application sets up the initial connection and controls the SSH tunnel, this encrypts everything that you do online. The tunnel exists between you and whichever proxy server you select. The proxy server you choose determines your location and how it appears to the web server you are visiting. It sounds complicated but in fact, all you do is select your server and browse normally, anonymous internet surfing has never been easier.

There is a real extra benefit to being able to run Identity Cloaker from a disk or USB stick,  for instance at work or school you'll often find you have no administrative rights to install software or even change your proxy settings.  You are forced to surf via the central proxy, you have no anonymity there and as well as being logged you will also find many sites blocked.  Not when you connect via an SSH or VPN connection, you'll sail through the central proxy unlogged and unblocked,  in fact everywhere you surf from - true anonymous surfing.  Compare this with the usual method of trying to surf through an online web based free proxy which provides no privacy and rarely works in any vaguely locked down environment.

Here's some other Posts you might find interesting

• Why you need more than a Proxy to Surf Securely
• Review of Identity Cloaker
• How to Watch BBC Iplayer Outside UK
• How to Hide Your IP address
• Proxy Avoidance - Part 1
• How to Watch Hulu and Other Media Sites using the VPN Mode
• Internet Surveillance in the US

There are of course other benefits to being this anonymous on the internet! Ever heard of geolocation - this is basically when websites decide on what content you can access depending on your location. When you surf anonymously, this location is controlled by you and is dependent upon whichever proxy server you connect through. So for instance,as I mentioned above you can't access things like the BBC Iplayer outside the UK, or Hulu is blocked from outside the US, but not when you conenct through Identity Cloaker (see the links at top of the blog for more information). Surfing anonymously is indeed possible but only if you use professional applications, high speed proxies and a secure connection.

Web Site Privacy - Government Monitor Facebook

Well as if it isn't happening all ready the UK Government has announced plans to monitor facebook and social networking sites and log details in the central database I mentioned here Intercept Modernisation Programme . So this database gets a little bigger, now it will include

1. Every Web Site you visit


2. All your Emails and message you send


3. Mobile phone and messages


4. Your Social Networking groups and friends

Yes those World renowned Security experts.........

The Home Office said it was needed to tackle crime gangs and terrorists who might use the sites, but said it would not keep the content of conversations.

Obviously this is going to be a big blow to Al Qaeda who will need to stop twittering their targets to their followers and no more facebook groups for crime syndicates. Seriously you do have to wonder exactly how many terrorists they are going to catch on facebook!!

But yet again the ordinary citizen pays the price, another loss of privacy, another little chunk of freedom goes as the innocent are monitored and put under surveillance while the terrorist stay underground. There is little enough privacy without your government deciding to monitor facebook. Outside the UK don't laugh - I bet every government in the world is doing it to some extent.

Of course it's going to knock another nail in the coffin of free expression, when everything we say, download , do or talk to is quietly assigned to a bloody big database which will probably be monitored by everyone and his dog.

Just wait to when peoples political view, sexual or religious orientation are used by agencies to decide on adoption cases, licenses, government jobs. So how does Mr Jones decision to join the leather fetishes group on facebook look when it appears on the printed report when he goes to renew his alcohol license. Will Miss Smith harmless but slightly unusual religious beliefs stop her getting that government job?

That's what happens when your government keeps a database and monitors your every move, there is no web site privacy. We just went a stage further with the ridiculous claim that our government will monitor facebook to catch terrorists.

My suggestion - think carefully what you put onto facebook and encrypt your connection and hide your IP address with Identity Cloaker to stop everything else being logged.

Free Transparent Proxies Direct From Google

Ok thought I'd put up the first of many little tips and tricks, this one is a rather surprising free transparent proxy server. It has very little security, there's definitely some issues with it but it's quite a neat little trick that I hope someone gets some benefit from.

Instead of messing around with the free anonymous proxies most people end up rather foolishly routing their traffic through why not use a server that's a bit more well known and secure.

Here's how to use Google as transparent proxy server.

First head over to Googles translate page here - http://translate.google.co.uk/?hl=en
- then copy the URL you want to visit into the translate box. Now the old trick of this used to be that you translate into the same language - so you for instance translated from english to english but they blocked this route.

However if you use any language for an english page (e.g. I use Spanish) it will fail to translate and just leave the page as it is. So select your languages and then paste your required URL into the translate box.

What will happen is Google translate will go and fetch the web page you require and forward it on to you in a frame. Google translate has become your own personal free transparent proxy server.

Here's a facebook login page, translated from Spanish - works just the same but you can see that the page is actually displayed in a frame. The facebook page is being proxied from the Google translate server - pretty neat huh. It can be used to bypass some filtering and blocks, it's not really secure as it's effectively a transparent proxy as it doesn't protect your IP address. Having said that I tested it on a lot of scripts which detect your IP and location and most of them picked up Google Translates IP address.



You can carry on surfing in the translate frame although you may have difficulties with privacy settings and cookies on ssl and protected web sites.

It's very handy in certain situations although it shouldn't be relied upon for security as it's not exactly high anonymity but it can be useful bypassing certain censorship and content filters - it's a fast, free transparent proxy server though.

I'd be interested to hear on any uses for this proxy server :)

Do You Need Anonymous Proxies to Surf Securely?

It’s a difficult question to answer as people have very different ways of measuring this requirement – I might think I was surfing securely when there was no evidence left on my local PC. Another person would want all their communication protected both locally and online therefore would need to find a high anonymity proxy.

There is a lot of information stored on your local PC, your web history, cookies, temporary internet files are all downloaded quietly in the background as you surf the internet. However this is relatively easy to get rid of Firefox, IE 8 and Google Chrome all have ways to delete your history and secure browsing mode that stop any files or history being recorded.

Any discussion on how to surf securely nearly always involves anonymous proxies. However these again have quite a limited role to play in protecting your data and privacy. The anonymous proxy does have it’s uses though – when you visit any web site your location and computer IP address are stored in the logs of the server you are visiting. An anonymous proxy will protect you against this logging by protecting your IP address and shielding it from the servers you visit. The serious problem with these proxies is that unfortunately many people seem to search for free anonymous proxies to use and as such they are set up by identity thieves to trap browsing details.

This is common sense really to run an anonymous proxy costs a lot of money in bandwidth charges, who do you think pays for this ? The truth is the vast majority of free anonymous proxies are either hacked servers opened up for everyone to use or servers that are used to log details of the unsuspecting. Always find out who runs any proxy server you use for normal browsing.

So it’s true you do need anonymous proxies to protect your IP address and surf securely but make sure they are safe and secure as well otherwise you’ll be much worse off. The last major area for concern is the fact that web browsers use HTTP which transmits and receives all your data in clear text. The upshot is that any one who has access to your traffic can read all your data, if I start up my wireless sniffer at home I can see exactly where and what all my neighbours are doing on the web.

The secret to protecting your web communication is of course encryption. You can protect against local wireless sniffing by using WEP or WPA but your web sessions will still be in clear text for the rest of their journey – still your every download and web site are logged and recorded by the ISP. Use SSH tunneling through available servers if you have them, if you're away from home tunnel through your home server and encrypt your connection that way. If you don't have an SSH server to use or don't want to get involved with the technical side - Identity Cloaker will do it all for you with a click of a button to any of their servers across the globe.

So don't get tricked by the name free anonymous proxies will put your computer and identity at risk, look for something to encrypt your connections and surf anonymously, surf securely otherwise you'll just be taking a big risk.

Super Secure Surfing with SSH Tunnel Proxy

If you have access to an account on a secure SSH server at college or work then you can surf much more securely using a SSH Tunnel Proxy. Simply use a SSH client like Putty and you can keep your IP address anonymous and encrypt your connection (at least up to the proxy server)- that's a great start to secure surfing.

This secure tunnel will ensure that all your internet activities appear to come from the proxy server you access (using it's IP address) and as an added bonus your web logs in your ISP will all be encrypted with no record of any server except the other end of the SSH Tunnel Proxy.

There's a pretty good step by step guide here

You will have to make a couple of configuration changes in your browser - but you just need to point your browser at a local socks proxy (ie your machine on 127.0.0.1) and the port number you forwarded to.

Secure Surfing - an Easier Way

Of course if you don't have an SSH account set up somewhere you can save yourself all the configuration by clicking on a button in Identity Cloaker as soon as you select a proxy - a secure SSH tunnel is set up between your web browser and your selected proxy. This means that everything is encrypted and no logging of your connection is possible, furthermore your IP address is hidden from any web site you may visit.

This is secure surfing via a fast SSH tunnel and a selection of high speed proxies providing the encrypted tunnel. There's even a full implementation of OpenVPN so you can encrypt virtually everything you do in addition to all your web browsing.

But I guess the real benefit of this is not the VPN connections, the SSH Tunnels or even the highly anonymous proxies. It's the speed and the ease of use - it's so fast and simple one click and you'd hardly know you were using a proxy server let alone down an SSH Tunnel - secure surfing but so fast it's pretty much indistinguishable.

Not all of us have the time and inclination to set up these technical solutions, unfortunately this often leads people to searching for 'half a solution' - usually the madness of using free anonymous proxies that are found on the internet.

For those who genuinely want to protect their information and don't want everything they download or do on the internet to be logged in lots of places there's Identity Cloaker.

Check it out not only can you surf securely, with your connection protected and you logs encrypted, it can also allow you to access GEO-restricted content (that is content that is restricted due to the location of your IP address. So secure surfing plus access to things like BBC Iplayer, Hulu and Fox Tv on the internet whether your in New York, Canada or downtown Hong Kong.

Online Privacy Protection

So do you need it ?

Do you really need online privacy protection or is it just a matter of being careful whilst you're online. Well I guess it depends on how much you value your privacy but let me assure you that pretty much everything you do on the internet is logged, stored and very often monitored. You have virtually no privacy online and no protection and I'm afraid that's the truth.

Let's start with your ISP and see how that affects your privacy protection, your logs there will show every web site you've visited, every picture you've viewed or downloaded. There's more, if you download a file from a torrent site it's recorded there, posted something on a forum or sent a steamy love email to a friend , well it's all in clear text and it's all logged there.

This is the point where you lose most of your online privacy via your ISP, surfing through a transparent, anonymous, super secure proxy 'aint going to help either - it's all logged way before that point.


If anyone wants to track anyone down through their IP address there's only one place they need to go - straight to your ISP and their logs. Of course ISPs aren't terribly fond of being in this position, all this data is expensive to store and would be impossible to monitor. Which is why Governments around the world are putting in legal measures that force them to keep this data - the European Data directive is just one but it's matched in the US and across the globe by other directives aimed at collecting information.

It just forces ISP logs to be kept for up to two years so that they can be viewed and tracked. That's mine and your web surfing logs, that's both our online privacy being invaded, they can find out exactly what anybody does online via these logs.



It's hardly surprising they want to do this, information privacy is one thing but imagine the power of being able to analyse every web site, every picture, every email of an individual. I'm sure each and every one of us has something in their web logs that they'd rather keep private and that's why it is important to protect your privacy online.

SO remember if you want any online privacy protection at all you need to encrypt your connection, all the anonymous proxies in the world are pointless when you have a complete list of all your activities sitting in your ISP.

Banned IP Address - Well just Use Another One !

Your IP address is increasingly being used to control what you can or can't see on the internet. Take for example one of my loud mouth friends who got banned from his favourite forums. He got into an argument with a moderator and that was it - they banned IP address he was using and that was it he couldn't get onto the forum, couldn't even register under a different account.



Now it might not seem a big deal to you or I, but it was for my friend - he loved this forum (it was to do with an online game) and he was desperate to get back on.

Can you Change a Banned IP address

He needed to change his IP address - so he asked me. Well my IP address is always protected so I was able to help him. He used Identity Cloaker and connected via one of the many private proxies, the forum was unable to detect his real IP address and he was able to register a new account.

Of course there are other ways of achieving this, for instance changing your ISP will instantly give you a whole new identity and a different IP address for instance.

When you think about it a banned IP address is a pretty basic way of controlling who accesses what. For instance you can't access BBC Iplayer abroad if you try and watch from an IP address in a non-UK country but connect via one of Identity Cloakers UK proxy servers and it works perfectly, you can read more about it here - watch uk tv.

Same goes with Online Casinos - many countries IP addresses are banned for dubious reasons but all you need to do is use a different IP address and you can play freely. Switching ISPs won't help with this situation though as the IP address will be country related and the ban will be focussed on this.

Now I'm sure my friend will get banned from his forum when he opens his big mouth again but he does have a rather large selection of proxies to hide behind when he suffers from a banned IP address again !

So if you've been banned from a forum or board why not surf via a proxy and have the last word.....believe me having a world full of fast, secure proxies all across the world opens a world of possibilities, I'm off to watch Hulu !

Internet Security and Privacy

Unfortunately those of us who feel that internet security and privacy are both closely linked often get tarnished with some suspicion. I've heard it often before - I want my connection secure, I don't want anyone to compile lists of the web sites I visit, I don't want anyone including my government snooping through logs BUT WHY !!!!

Even close friends wonder why I want to keep my privacy so much. The problem I have is with this 'presumed guilty' type attitude is that it is abused and misdirected. All the people you end up snooping on (like most Western Governments are doing now) are inevitably the innocent people. There are of course two juxtapositions in this argument

If you're innocent you've nothing to hide
If you're innocent why should you be spied on

I and most people could probably construct decent arguments from both sides. But all over the world internet feeds are censored, you cannot read something critical of the Royal family in Thailand, you cannot read certain atheist sites in Turkey, you cannot see loads of things in China.

This is happening all over the world - a blogger gets 20 years in Burma for posting a cartoon !

Blogger Arrested

It could be argued that advanced protection software like Identity Cloaker can protect criminals from being identified from governments and the police. This is of course true, but also can be used by normal people all over the world to protect their internet security and privacy from hackers, snoopers, oppressive regimes to name a few.

Every single government seeks to monitor the web sites it's citizens are accessing, some are reasonable, many are not. What is certain that no government can be trusted with this sort of information, it simply shouldn't be gathered if freedom of speech is to be protected. Internet Security and Privacy is not just paranoia - protecting your privacy is protecting your free speech.

ISP Log - So what's Recorded to your IP address

When people semi-research into anonymous surfing they often forget about the most important aspect the ISP log. The hundreds of firms and web sites promising you some privacy by merely surfing through their anonymous proxies are only telling you a very small part of the story.

There is another important player in this area and that's your Internet Service Provider or ISP, this is where the focus of any privacy problems are not in dispersed logs on web servers across the planet. European Directives and US safety Acts all focus here on the centralised electronic profile that is contained in the ISP logs.

ISP Log - Your Complete Internet Diary

This is the most important single aspect of protecting your privacy. The ISP log stores details of every web site, every email you send, every message you post on a forum or blog. It is a complete record of everything you online. This is why there is a European Directive forcing ISPs to hold these records, this is why the US government regularly forces ISPs to hand over these details. There are all ready plans in place to make all this information even more accessible via means of central databases collating this information.

Forget about protecting your privacy, the mere existence of your complete surfing history in the ISP logs means you really don't have any.

AHA but I surf through an Anonymous Proxy

That's great that means the web sites you visit can't record your IP address when you visit. But as far as the ISP log, it does absolutely nothing to protect your privacy here - all your details are still logged in exactly the same way - using an anonymous proxy makes absolutely no difference to what's being stored in your ISP Log.

So remember ninja proxies, elite proxies, super secure anonymous proxies it's all fairly pointless if you don't do something to protect your ISP logs. These are what Oppressive regimes use to prosecute free speech bloggers, this is how governments snoop on their citizens - they don't need to seize the logs of hundreds of different web servers to spy on people - when there is a complete and total list in clear text on your ISP logs.

If you're serious about privacy - read my review of how Identity Cloaker can give you the power to surf anonymously In the meantime has anyone ever read your ISPs privacy policy ? Some of them can make interesting reads especially regarding ISP logs.

Another Reason Why I use an IP Address Blocker - Blackout Ireland

It seems to be the answer to everything - censorship and legal threats - just because the majority of people can be tracked and monitored by their IP address (and why I use an IP address blocker!). Threats and monitoring are used to control peoples behaviour and censor what they can do on the internet.

Next example is the threats that are at the root of the Blackout Ireland movement. The IRMA who consist of the usual music heavyweights are threatening ISPs with legal action over individuals who download illegal content from torrent sites and anything else they can think of. They want to specify websites that should be blocked by Irish ISPs and be informed of the IP addresses of people downloading pirated material.

OK I can see why they are annoyed with people downloading their music for free but lets just think what they are asking for.

1) To control what websites the Irish people can see
2) Be supplied with IP addresses of people to fine and threaten

Now you shouldn't download pirate software, music or films but this is not the way to deal with the problems - why should Sony and chums be allowed to decide what websites people view.

What if my blog pointed at a torrent site - should that be banned ? Who decides, where is the line drawn.

Where does it stop ? Everyone and anyone who can hire a lawyer to draft a threatening letter to an ISP can control what we see on the internet or be supplied with an IP address of anyone who downloads a copy of their wares?

Freedom of speech and privacy should not be controlled in this way - it is a very dangerous route and certainly not something that should be manipulated by a music company worried about losing profits.

Many people always assume because I use an IP address blocker like Identity Cloaker that I am hiding something well I'm not. I don't download copies of music because I'm old and unfashionable enough to be able to pick up all my favourite bands in the bargain bucket sections, but we are censored too much, we are monitored, spied on and controlled for a multitude of trivial reasons.

Instead of fining people and censoring the internet why don't the music companies embrace the technology, reduce prices and go for something like this solution from the EFF


For all my Irish Readers (if I have any) then get yourself to the Blackout Ireland Website and help them make it clear that you don't want the music companies deciding what you can view online or not.

If you are like me who just want to use the internet without being tracked, threatened, manipulated or monitored then secure your surfing, Block your IP address and use the premiere security software - Identity Cloaker

What do you need in Internet Privacy Software

So what sort of features should you look out for in Internet Privacy Software? Well first of all I should perhaps clarify a point that sometimes can become confusing when talking about 'privacy software'

The first group of products protects your web browsing history, cookies and any locally stored files that you have downloaded. The idea is that any downloads and web histories that are deleted can be recovered by someone with the right technical skills. This group of software is usually called evidence removal or something like that - if you are concerned only with people accessing data from a shared machine that's really the sort of software you should be looking at.

Personally that has never been a concern for me and beside there are some incredible privacy features to protect against this in IE8, Firefox and Googles browser Chrome which has an Incognito mode that stops removes all history, cookies etc being stored on your computer.

The second group of products in my opinion is far more important as it involves your privacy on the internet - this is really what my definition of Internet Privacy software is a program that protects your data and browsing online.

What to check in Internet Privacy Software

ISP Logging - does the software protect your downloads, web browsing, emails and entire online history at your ISP. This is the most complete and total record of everything you do online, if you download something or view something it is recorded here. This is where governments and agencies look first, this is where film companies look for evidence of illegal downloads - this is where all the evidence is.
To protect against this your connection has to be encrypted or use an encrypted tunnel - just using proxies will have no affect on these logs as they are recorded before you even get to the proxy.


Web Site Logging - every web site you visit records details of your visit in their logs. This contains your IP address which can be linked to a specific computer (again using ISP logs). The simplest way to prevent this happening is to surf via an anonymous proxy, which means that the proxy address is recorded instead.


Security of the Proxies - often overlooked but extremely important. Which anonymous proxies does the privacy software use? If the program simply scans the internet for open proxies then don't use it - all you are doing is directing all your traffic through one server which you have no idea who is controlling. The free proxies are usually controlled by hackers, identity thieves or nosey government agencies!

Speed of Proxies - this might not affect the security of the solution but a slow proxy means that it will be painful to use. Again this is where free proxies will suffer as they are all extremely slow and difficult to use.

Remember to choose carefully what you need some people merely wish to block the website logging, or are just using the software to hide their IP address from a specific forum or site. There are different layers of security - the product I have chosen to use Identity Cloaker is by far the fastest and most secure but it does much more than hide IP addresses.

If there's one piece of advice I'd like to pass on is it's this, even if you decide against internet privacy software please never, ever use the free anonymous proxies you find on the internet to browse through, it's like inviting a hacker to use your computer every day, you're honestly much safer using nothing.

More benefits to Anonymous Proxy Surfing

When you start to protect your identity online, you will soon find lots of other benefits to anonymous proxy surfing. I've already detailed in an earlier post how I use the surf proxy features of Identity Cloaker to watch the BBC Iplayer abroad

But the real beauty is that you're no longer classified, pigeon-holed or censored based on where you happen to be surfing from. It's not just about security, it's not just software that keeps you anonymous, the ability to surf by proxy has lots more benefits. Here's another great example - me trying to access my favourite internet radio site - Pandora.

Click on the Images to make them bigger


But I can't because I am currently in a boring hotel just outside Oxford and Pandora is only accessible to US listeners! But no problem I am an anonymous proxy surfing ninja who is not restricted by such tedious restrictions. If you look it's simply blocking me based on geo-targeting of my IP address which locates me as a UK web surfer.

Surf Proxy to Great Music

But Identity Cloaker is still running as I am using the hotels insecure wireless network so I just need to switch to a US proxy which takes a click of my mouse and I am now surfing via one of the US proxies.

Now everyone will see me as a surfer from the US based on my IP address and as I'm using a fast private server, surf proxy is just as quick as without so let's try Pandora again.



This time Pandora is fine as it thinks we are in the USA, it works on exactly the same principal as accessing the BBC Iplayer - all the web sites do is work out your location based on your IP address. It's exactly the same with thousands of web sites which restrict access just like online casinos from the USA - with Identity Cloaker it's just a matter of choosing which country you wish to surf from.

In fact you'll find you forget that you are surfing via a proxy much of the time, apart from the huge security issues with free proxies one of the main problems is speed. You'll never get any decent speed without paying for private proxies as bandwidth costs money - take it from me surf proxy with speed is definitely the way to go !

It gives you quite a feeling of empowerment especially knowing your connection is encrypted and protected at the same time. Of course there's a much more serious side when you use Identity Cloaker to bypass ridiculous Government based censorship as well, or use anonymous proxy surfing to post a blog anonymously and safely in a country where free speech is dangerous.

Any Port in a Storm - Firewalls Block access to Proxies

It's important to remember that a firewall can block anything and everything and they often do. If you're trying to access a proxy to protect your privacy in work, school and college - you will not be alone and the network administrators will be actively trying to block access to these proxies.

One of the main reasons most people are unable to use anonymous proxies from their work or school is that the firewall only lets out connections that originate from a specific IP address.

And that IP address belongs to the company/college Proxy server.

So you can be armed with a huge list of anonymous proxies but you won't be able to access them as the firewall will block direct communication from your IP address. This is one of the subtle advantages of Identity Cloaker - it can actually work through the existing Proxy server, kicking an encrypted tunnel right through the proxy.

It might sound trivial but this feature allows you to tunnel through most restrictive firewalls (not all as there are always exceptions). An Identity Cloaker subscription and an installation on a USB drive generally means you have a totally secure browsing session with no restrictions.

Can I still be blocked?

Well yes you can, it's extremely difficult but you could potentially spot the encrypted traffic on the SSL port which looks strange, you couldn't read any of the data but with very careful analysis it wouldn't look right.

Mind you I've worked in IT security for twenty years and I've never met anyone who would spot this in a busy IT department.

Anyway here's some important port numbers that are worth remembering for all us privacy and free speech fans !

FTP - 20,21
HTTP - 80, 8080
SSH - 22
HTTPS - 443

Interestingly enough although Identity Cloaker uses SSH to create an encrypted tunnel to protect all your logging from ISP and everyone, it actually creates this connection over port 443 and not the SSH one of 22.

Why does it do this? Well because many more firewalls allow communication through port 443 simply because it is used for HTTPS. By switching the port for the SSH tunnel to 443 it ensures that the encrypted tunnel you create will very rarely be blocked.