The need for Internet Connectivity and Privacy on the Internet
There are 100s of Millions of Websites and Web Services that are live and offering their services today on the Internet. We just crossed the 1 Billion mark on August of 2014. You read that correctly. There are now 1 Billion websites on the Internet.
And with more and more devices offering Connectivity on the Internet today, more and more Users are accessing these sites and services from a plethora of locations and devices. That would have been unthinkable a couple of decades ago.
Not so long ago, we could access the Internet mostly from our bulky desktop workstation computers. Some of us had the privilege of owning a Laptop Computer that could be carried away and offered Internet Access via an Onboard Modems. Then the revolution of Smartphones and Tablets came, that provided Internet connectivity almost anywhere on the planet by using their Mobile Carriers’ Networks.
Tablets of all kinds and Smartphones of all dimensions and prices have flooded the global market and are giving end-users Access to the Internet via Wi-Fi or 3G/4G/LTE modems. This has been helped also by growth of Internet Access on our homes provided by Internet Companies plus the inevitable “Free Wi-Fi” Internet Access. Wi-Fi is now offered by almost every coffee shop or mall out there, not to mention public free Wi-Fi Hotspots in city squares or public transit and other public places that many towns and cities worldwide offer these days.
Today's’ Users have a wide range of devices to connect to the Internet, ranging from Home/Office Workstations and Servers to Light-Weight Laptops and Netbooks to Smartphones and Tablets. They come in all kinds and sizes, to mention only a few Internet connected devices. And with the “Internet of Things” knocking on our door, we will soon find Internet connected devices and Internet connectivity virtually everywhere we go, at any time.
While it’s easier than ever to connect to the Internet, it has also become increasingly evident that Users are also in need of increased Security and Anonymity during their Internet browsing sessions. A number of Services and devices plus a new mindset is needed today in order to be accessing the Internet in a Safe and Fast way. That is especially true if someone is concerned about people with malicious intent. These people might be listening to what Internet Users see, do and say during their browsing sessions on the World Wide Web. These are thepeople that are actively trying to steal Users Passwords, Private files and anything else of interest. Each day we hear about more and more cases where Internet Users fell victims to such people. While the media is quick to label these guys as hackers, it is a well known fact that not all of these people are hackers. A wide array of people and companies, corporate entities and even government agencies fall into that "hacker" category.
Things such as Firewalls, Antivirus, Antimalware, Secure websites and SSL Certificates, VPNs and Encryption are becoming more and more used every day by normal people with Privacy and Security concerns. One of the things that we are going to discuss in the following article, is the use of Proxy Servers. These are commonly reffered to as just Proxies, lets see how they can help us with our daily tasks on the Internet.
How can Proxies Help with Privacy, Anonymity and SEO
Proxies are used if there are Privacy concerns and someone wants to hide his real identity on the Internet. A Proxy server also allows for multiple connections to services that limit connections on a per IP basis. Also Proxies are needed in order to connect to systems that limit connections to certain IP ranges.
For SEO related tasks and purposes, Proxies are mainly used for Scrapping Search Engines, connecting to various sites for posting and for running multiple web related tasks via multiple threads. That has the benefit of much faster execution and the added benefit of Anonymity, if the Proxies used are Anonymous. More information on Proxy types follows in the next paragraphs.
You can use a Single or Multiple Proxies, depending on your task. Single Proxies are good for browsing the Internet and visiting various websites, in an Anonymous way if the said Proxy does offer Anonymity.
You can also use Proxies to visit geographically prohibited websites that limit connections to specific IP ranges only. For example certain US Music or Movie websites allow connections only from US IP ranges. You can therefore view the content only if you are visiting from within the US. By using an Anonymous Proxy from a US IP range, you could bypass such restrictions and freely browse the websites and view the otherwise blocked for foreign IPs content, when you are not physically in the US.
Proxy Types and Attributes
We have mentioned Proxy Anonymity a few times already. We will now discuss it further and in more details, alongside with other Proxy attributes. Characterized on the basis of the Anonymity levels that they provide, the Proxy Categories are the following:
- Transparent Proxies
- Anonymous Proxies
- Elite Proxies
Transparent Proxies are the Proxies that provide absolutely no Anonymity on the Internet. A User connecting to the Internet through a Transparent Proxy will give away his real IP Address. Plus the fact that he is using a Proxy, among other information, to any service that he connects to or to anyone eavesdropping to his connection.
Anonymous Proxies on the other hand, provide a High level of Anonymity by hiding your IP Address, but let the services know that you are browsing through a Proxy. So while they will not reveal your original IP Address, they might trigger certain responses from Web Services that don’t like Proxy Users. Such responses might be warnings or blocking of the service as most Webmaster view Proxy Users with suspicion.
Finally, Elite Proxies are highly Anonymous Proxies, and not only do they hide your original IP Address on the Internet, but also hide the fact that you are using a Proxy at all. Using an Elite Proxy should be indistinguishable from not using one at all. It should provide no indication or information about your Internet session on any service or device that listens or monitors your Internet connection.
Based on the type of connections that they allow, Proxy Servers can be sorted in the following categories or Proxy Types:
- HTTP Proxies
- SOCKS Proxies
- SSL Proxies
Many well-known applications support Proxies, like most modern Internet Browsers like Chrome, Internet Explorer, Firefox, Opera etc. Also SEO applications like Xrumer, Hrefer, Ubot, GSA, ZennoMP and many others support Proxies.
If a program does not directly support Proxies, there is always the option to use Proxies in the Operating System that you run on your Computer. Operating Systems like Windows, Linux and Mac OS can use proxies, causing all applications to use the Proxy IP address, even if the applications that run on these sytems don’t support proxies natively. The option to route all traffic coming in and out of a Server, exists usually in the Internet Options and is most often called a “Gateway”. By setting a Proxy Address that we have access to, as the Gateway for our traffic in a computer,causes all the traffic coming in and going out of the computer to be routed through a Proxy.
While choosing a proxy, you must look for a number of attributes that the Proxies must have in order for them to be usable and provide a good experience.
These Proxy attributes are Proxy Anonymity, Proxy Speed and Availability. Regarding Proxy Anonymity, there are various levels that a Proxy Server can provide. As for Availability, there are Public Proxies and Private Proxies.
Public Proxies are the ones that don’t require a Username and Password and can be accessed by all members of the public, which is everyone with an Internet connection. Private Proxies on the other hand, require a username and a password in order to allow Users to connect to them.
By definition, public Proxies make up most of the Proxies out there with private Proxies being a lot less in numbers.
If we gather all Proxy Servers in a list, then we would have what is known as a
Proxy List. While analyzing a Proxy List, we would see that most of the Proxies out there are
Transparent, followed by a small portion of Anonymous
Proxies and an even smaller percentage
Elite Proxies. That relation can be visualized like this:
Transparent Proxies > Anonymous Proxies > Elite Proxies
We mentioned Proxy Lists and we need to elaborate on them. Given the fact that there are many websites and individuals out there that provide such lists there are a few things you should know.
Proxy Lists contain Proxy Addresses, one per line and are offered in a text file. The user has to setup the file so that the program that is going to use it, can access it and use the Proxies within it.
The Proxy Lists come in 2 formats:
- IP:Port
- User:Pass@IP:
These 2 formats are the “standard” and usually all programs out there that support Proxies will accept a Proxy List written in the format mentioned above.
The IP:Port format of Proxy Lists is the most common one and has 2 parts. The IP part is the Address of the Proxy Server and the Port part is the port on the Server where the Proxy Service listens for incoming connections. These 2 values are separated by the semicolon symbol “:” (without the quotes)
This format is read like: IP XXXX on port XXXX. For example:
192.168.1.1:8080 is read as “IP 192.168.1.1 on Port 8080” and so on.
The User:Pass@IP:Port format is also used in Proxy Lists. It has 4 parts and is used for Private Proxy Servers that require a username and a password to connect to as a security measure. Without the credentials, connecting to the Server is not possible. The first part is the Username, followed by the Password. They are separated by the semicolon symbol “:”. Then there is a “@” symbol and following that, we find the IP and Port mentioned before. Again the “:” symbol is used to separate the fields in proxy lists.
This format is read like: “Username XXXX with Password XXXX at IP XXXX on Port XXXX”. For example:
test:123abc@192.168.1.1:8080 is read as: “User test with Password 123abc at IP 192.168.1.1 on Port 8080” and so on.
Some Proxy Lists also come with extra information fields. Those include (besides the main fields of IP and Port) things like the average response time of the Proxy Server.Sometimes also the country where the Proxy Server is supposedly located etc. Such information, while it might be useful to some Users, is not necessary. In fact most of the times will cause the Proxy List to not work out of the box, as many applications don’t understand these extra fields. Extra cleanup is required in such cases in order to remove such fields from the Proxy Lists.
Why You should be Careful with Anonymous Proxies
It must be mentioned that no matter how Anonymous a Proxy Provider or Proxy List claims or appears to be, you should always consider the connections monitored. Never engage in activity that requires total Anonymity or Security of the connection and transmitted material, such as connecting to your bank account or buying something online, using a Proxy server that you dont control.
In such cases, always consider the connection through a Proxy as not protected in any way, as Transparent and that the information you want to protect is in fact “leaking” and visible somewhere across the line. If you (theoretically) would consider engaging in what might be considered illegal or dubious activities of any kind, while using Proxies from online Proxy Lists, just because you think you will be protected, don’t do it.
No one can absolutely guarantee that what you do via a Proxy, is not being monitored or logged. That is because no one has full and sole ownership of the entire infrastructure that makes up the Internet. At any point, the connections to a Proxy from a Proxy List can be compromised or monitored. It’s up to you only, if you want to take the risk of using public accessible Proxies while logging into your bank account or using your credit card online. That is an example of a major security mistake and it would be wise to not engage in such activities when using Proxies of any sorts from any kind of Proxy List.
Use the Proxies in a Proxy List to work smarter and better, and avoid limits set by limited connections and applications. Do not use proxies to cause problems and havoc in computer systems and user activity. That is unethical and probably illegal in most cases.
Why You Should Use Kensai's Fast Proxy List
For an example of a Fast Proxy List that contain all types of Proxies, including Anonymous Proxies and Elite Proxies, you should check out our Fast And Daily Refreshed Proxy List. The Proxy List is updated every 3 to 5 hours, daily, 24/7 and the number of Proxies it contains varies from 3500 up to 7000 Proxies on each update. All Proxies in our Proxies list are live Proxies that are tested and working. The Fast Proxy List is produced after testing more than 350.000 Public Proxy IPs. It is the Top Public Proxy List available on the Internet today.The Proxy List contains mostly Anonymous and Elite Proxies among other Proxy Types.It is being used Daily by hundreds of Users from our SEO Community Forum, The SEO Bay . There are tons of reviews available on both the forum and around the Internet SEO Forums about our Proxy List. Just do a search for “Kensai Proxy Service” or “Kensai Proxy List” in Google and you will see why this Proxy List is considered "The Number One Proxy List" by all the Top Proxy Users out there.
Besides the Proxy List, on the Proxy Service website you can find a number of other scripts. Scripts like the proxy synchronization script that you can run in order to automate the process of updating the Proxy List and download a Fresh Proxy List without manual interference. We currently offer 2 Proxy Synchronization Scripts. One can be used to update the Proxy List and restart Hrefer (the Xrumer Website Scraper). The other script can be used to update the Proxy List and you can use it with any program that reads Proxies from a Proxy file on the Hard Disk, such as GSA SER and others.
Alongside the Proxy Service and the daily, 24/7 Fresh and Updated Fast Proxy List that includes Anonymous Proxies, Elite Proxies, Transparent Proxies, in order to help you with all of your SEO tasks we offer a large number of other services for the same price. These services include Xrumer Blacklists, Xrumer XAS_AI and Xmessages Cleaners and Mergers, Niche Keyword Generators and Strong Password Generator. We also offer several other services that can be found on our forum Xrumer Optimization and Xrumer Mods section, Hrefer Mods and Hrefer Engines or the VIP SEO Section of TheSEOBay. We are looking forward in hearing back from you and in helping you with all of your SEO projects, as we are certain that after testing our proxy services, you will come back for more.