How many lists or websites dedicated to bringing free anonymous proxy server lists are there? Do a quick Google search and you’ll find a ton of them and have you noticed how these lists change or get updated? If you want to know why, I suggest you think about what exactly is the appeal of an anonymous web proxy server.
The reasoning is quite simple, every website you visit on the internet will record your IP address in their logs, so technically all your web browsing history can be traced back to your specific PC and its associated IP address. A lot of people don’t like this and as such anonymous proxy server can help with this specific problem. If you connect to a website through a proxy server, your IP address is not left with the web server you visit, but only the IP address of the proxy server.
That’s cool: I can keep my browsing private using an anonymous proxy
Well, to a certain extent, you are keeping your browsing private from the web server you are visiting, but you may be paying a heavy price. The fact is that by using a proxy server you are funneling absolutely all your data through a single server. On the proxy server you use, there will be a complete record of absolutely every website you visit that matches your IP address; in fact, the owner of this server can quite easily intercept all the data from your browsing sessions.
So do you trust the free proxy server manager you are using?
I’m sure you know all about the administrator of your chosen free anonymous proxy server, after all, you are entrusting them with a lot of your personal data. Sadly people rarely think about this, the simple lure of ‘Free’ and ‘Anonymous Proxy’ seems to offer anonymous browsing at a price we all like. When you combine the facts that many, many of these servers are either misconfigured or the servers hacked, using them becomes utter insanity.
Can you imagine sending all your personal data through a hacked proxy server controlled by an Eastern European hacking group?
Because that’s just what a lot of people are doing by using an anonymous proxy for free if they don’t know who controls or manages this server. The vast majority of these servers are insecure or infested with all kinds of malware. Let’s be honest, who’s going to provide unlimited bandwidth and a free proxy server for nothing, I’m afraid we all know the world doesn’t work that way.
My other problem with anonymous proxies is the fact that people think they have complete privacy when using them. It’s completely false, the vast majority of your web browsing is in clear text, your IP address and the websites you visit are logged by your ISP (which is required to keep logs in accordance with a European directive) and many other places in Internet. . There are ways to be fully protected on the internet, but they usually cost some money or are extremely slow, if your privacy is important you have to decide, but don’t use unknown free anonymous proxy – it’s utter insanity from a security perspective.
