Online Privacy - How Strong is Your Kung Fu?

[Nick W]

Recently i've had an overwhelming desire to protect my online anonymity whilst doing backlink checks, site: checks and scoping out KW's.

Clearly a good set of proxy servers is a must for the terminally paranoid. I currently try to choose proxies near me from these sites:

http://www.samair.ru/proxy/
http://www.stayinvisible.com/index.pl/proxy_list
http://www.checker.freeproxy.ru/checker/

There are 3 levels of of proxy server anonymity:

Transparent (rubbish)
Anonymous (more rubbish)
High Anonymity (good)

Why is anonymous rubbish? - Go check it out for yourself (http://www.stayinvisible.com/index.pl/test_your_ip_nocache). Even the High Anonymity servers need a careful check before you use them. Some are not high anonymity at all :eek: Add to that the fact that if you have java enabled people can still see your IP! and you can see it can be a little tricky to get the level of anonymity you desire.

What to look for
When checking your proxy server, you need to look for these headers, X_FORWARDED_FOR and REMOTE_PC_ADDR - there are probably others, if you know what they are, please tell! :)

Best Browser
Undoubtably Moz or Firebird, there is a terrific extension for both browsers called Switch Proxy (http://extensionroom.mozdev.org/more-info/switchproxy) that will allow you to feed Moz/FB a text file of proxy servers and set the browser to switch proxy every X seconds. Got get it, it's cool :cool:

Speed
If you can get all of the above covered, the next issue is speed. It's all well and good having total anonymity but if it takes half an hour to connect it's worse than useless right? I'd be most appreciative if anyone could let me know where or how i might find secure, fast proxies. I dont mind paying....

Some Questions
Personally, i beleive my kung fu is indeed strong, but there are almost certainly some players out there that are stronger, so...

Is this enough?
What more could I do?
Just how secure am i?


How important is high anonymity to you? and what can you add to the above?

Nick

[ukgimp]

>>How important is high anonymity to you?

From tomorrow, very, I will be on my own network, not one that I dont give a damn about.

>>and what can you add to the above?

Nothing as yet, but I will be investigation options and I will report back if I can add

[Nick W]

After further reading and a little practical investigation (http://www.stylesheet.org/proxycheck.php) you can add HTTP_VIA to that list of headers.

Whereas i've not seen it with a value of [you real ip addr] it IS a red flag. NOT high anonymity.

Nick

[littleman]

You also have to think about locally stored information. Make sure you flush your cookies, turn off js, java, and make sure your UA is very common and/or rotate them with snoops.

[Nick W]

Any tips, urls for good, FAST proxies LM?

I've gotta say, i was blown away when i realized that having java enabled stripped me of my anonymity!

Nick

[littleman]

Not that I am willing to post on a public forum ;).
But seriously, running local applications (local application server) and having access to enormous DHCP networks can be be an alternative to using public proxies.

[Nick W]

Hmmmm... we need to talk :)

Nick

[ppg]

>http://www.checker.freeproxy.ru/checker/

I've found this to be tad unreliable.
The real litmus test is to set up your browser to use a proxy, then visit one of the tester pages with java disabled to see what you get.
This is a good one:
http://www.stayinvisible.com/index.pl/test_your_ip_nocache

HTTP_VIA
quite right Nick, this is a flag. The value is the server address that your request is forwarded through if you're using a proxy. High annonymity proxies don't include this variable.

I wonder if the strongest kung-fu you can get, the five point palm-exploding heart technique of anonymity, is to have your own proxy service running on a 'sympathetic' isp with an access list to prevent it ending up on one of the free poxy lists :).

[Nick W]

For private, family surfing, these guys: theproxyconnection.com seem very well equipped and helpful.

about $50 a month high bandwidth - over 1000 proxies

Nick

[gambit0]

I just joined this web site Ultimate Anonymity @ http://www.ultimate-anonymity.com/
There I was given the following:
Updated October 22, 2004 Our Available Proxies: Location
Proxy Address
Port
Ukraine 62.64.73.98 3128
Denmark 212.237.3.2 8080
Hong Kong 202.85.169.91 80
Canada 204.244.102.39 80
Iran 217.219.57.5 80
Poland 80.55.195.214 80
Sudan 212.0.128.249 80
Location
Proxy Address
Port
Guatemala 200.12.50.153 80
China 211.15.5.4 8080
Thailand 61.19.240.10 80
China 61.50.172.139 80
Canada 216.208.14.227 8080

And for SSL they listed:
In addition to a standard environmental check, we visited various SSL signup pages where the IP address is displayed to ensure our real IP address was masked.

212.165.158.100 Port 80
217.172.70.182 Port 3128
213.115.111.153 Port 80
200.79.91.6 Port 8080
62.152.120.11 Port 80
61.50.172.139 Port 80
213.156.63.50 Port 8080

I just installed the Firefox Browser and Opera Browser can anyone tell me how to set up Firefox and or Opera Browsers? I am using Windows XP Pro on my single computer desktop with a Linkey’s Router for a network connection for my ReplayTV with a Comcast cable connection to the internet. I am also confused by the thing called sockets, Mixmaster, and Proxy hunter.