Proxy servers and privacy

[DonAngelo]

I signed up with http://www.ultimate-anonymity.com/ and I find the service quite clumsy and some of the servers are very slow.

They recommend to cut and paste the proxy setting into the IE, but that takes time and you have to reset the settings if the proxy is too slow.

My solution is that I conigured 3 different web browsers with different settings. Firefox for my regular internet; Netscape with a proxy from Egypt and IE with a proxy from Bahrain. You will notice right away if your settings are working when you go to yahoo.com (not yahoo.ca). If your ISP is Canadian, the links in the international section are geared towards Canadian interest. That changes when you go to yahoo.com via a proxy in Bahrain, the international sites listed are geared towards Asian contend or in the case of an Argentinian proxy, Hispanic contend.

Yahoo! really is using your IP address to locate where you are surfing from and so I decided to proctect my privacy. It's actually fun to play around with proxies and the settings are easy to change. Here are the settings from a proxy in France for instance.

Proxy address: 81.56.250.207 Port: 80

...to configure IE: Tools > Internet Options > Connections > LAN Settings > Under proxy server click on "use a proxy server for your LAN" > enter address and port and click "ok" > close IE and reopen it. That's it...you're a frenchman now...

 

[WhOiSyOdAdDy?]

It did not work for me

 

[joebear]

If you think you can hide behind these proxies, your dreaming.

The proxies servers all keep some sort of records inspite of their claim that they don't.

All Yahoo is doing is called reverse dns and finding the location of your ISP.

A packet sniffer would reveal where your location is and a hacker would scan and find your MAC address.

bye bye privacy.

 

[DonAngelo]

If you think you can hide behind these proxies, your dreaming.

The proxies servers all keep some sort of records inspite of their claim that they don't.

All Yahoo is doing is called reverse dns and finding the location of your ISP.

A packet sniffer would reveal where your location is and a hacker would scan and find your MAC address.

bye bye privacy.

...I'm talking about increasing and protecting my privacy, not hacker proofing my internet activities. It's like buying more sturdy locks for your house; they just increase the level of skill required to be picked, but don't prevent that someone is smashing a window to get in. But I will learn about the packet sniffers right away...thanks!

 

[joebear]

Hacker proofin your computer would be starting with a firewall, hardware or software. You're comparing security vs privacy. I wasn't talking about security. When surfin the net you're leaving packets all over the place.

The internet kiddies, sophisticated kiddies at that, are developing an anonymous secure encrypted system that cannot be cracked even by the FBI. It is based on RSA encryption.

http://waste.sourceforge.net/

WASTE is an anonymous, secure, and encryped collaboration tool which allows users to both share ideas through the chat interface and share data through the download system. WASTE is RSA secured, and has been hearalded as the most secure P2P connection protocol currently in development. For technical information please see "information", but for more information on download and installation, please see "downloads". Looking for other WASTE projects? Please choose "projects", or if you are interested in the main WASTE sourceforge project, see "sourceforge". Or, if you just need some help with WASTE, see "documentation".

Overview
WASTE is a software product and protocol that enables secure distributed communication for small (on the order of 10-50 nodes) trusted groups of users.

WASTE is designed to enable small companies and small teams within larger companies to easily communicate and collaborate in a secure and efficient fashion, independent of physical network topology.