Ask Slashdot: Choosing Anonymous Proxies? 211
bradley13 writes "There are lots of anonymous proxies out there, and anyone concerned about their privacy probably uses one for at least some of their web browsing. The Megaupload story highlights the fact that having servers in the USA is not a great idea. There are also other countries one may not want to trust. Oddly, very few proxy services mention where their equipment is located. What anonymous proxy services do you use? What criteria do you use to select them? How paranoid are you, and for what types of Internet usage?"
Anonymouse (Score:5, Informative)
I use this thing [anonymouse.org].
Selection criteria:
1. First google hit for [anonymous proxy]
2. It's been around since forever and I remember its url (but when I don't, see #1)
Yeah, not that scientific.
The most venerable lineage in this space is probably The Anonymizer [anonymizer.com], which was once hosted by CMU researchers, but it seems to have been bought and turned into a commercial desktop application.
Anonymous != secure (Score:4, Informative)
Overplay (Score:5, Informative)
I use Overplay for region-restricted web content. Very useful when watching British TV shows on the BBC iPlayer and Irish Gaelic sports like hurling [youtube.com] and Gaelic football [youtube.com] which saves me the trouble of having to go to a pub and pay $20 per game.
Re:Botnets and Seven Chains (Score:5, Informative)
Or Tor. Which is the same thing as a bot net proxy, but consensual. Make sure you don't send any personally identifiable traffic through the tunnel, because the exit nodes are monitored.
Re:Botnets and Seven Chains (Score:5, Informative)
An anti-MITM browser plugin like Perspectives or Convergence is a good thing to use when browsing via a proxy.
Re:The best anonymouse proxy is an open wifi (Score:5, Informative)
Be sure to alter the MAC address of your wireless adapter, or the log files on the open wifi router could be used to identify your computer.
Re:Botnets and Seven Chains (Score:4, Informative)
http://www.forbes.com/2010/02/03/hackers-networking-equipment-technology-security-cisco.html
http://www.networkworld.com/community/node/57070
http://tools.cisco.com/security/center/content/CiscoSecurityAdvisory/cisco-sa-20040407-username
Re:Freenet (Score:5, Informative)
Tried it. Learned my lesson. The place is choked with CP. I'm talking actual rape here - not merely the kind of naked kiddie pictures that get you sent to a federal prison these days. This is stuff you NEVER see on the internet. The real, horrific, deal. There may be "safe" areas, but I couldn't find any, and I didn't exactly want to hang around to find out.
I want something like Freenet to exist. I believe we have the right to unregulated communication, individuals should just suck it up when they are offended rather then resorting to censorship and control. But Freenet appears to be used by criminals exclusively. I couldn't see any evidence of the kind of crypto-hippy idealism I expected.
I'm not going back anywhere near that cess-pit, and I'm not helping to enable it.