Title: Different proxy types: Public proxy servers
Post by: HIF on June 29, 2010, 11:23:24 PM
Public proxy servers are called 'public' since they could be used by anyone... this is the one that does not require even user name or password to use it. Of course some public proxy server could block user requests for certain countries but that is done for security reasons (there are so called high risk countries, where 90% requests could be illegal, hacking attempts).
Almost every user asks us a question: why someone runs proxy servers for FREE? :) Everyone knows that nothing is done for free in our world. The exception is charity organization and... that is it :) There are several reasons why I cannot tell you many details... but let's speak generally why public proxy server are free:
As the first step - administrator setups a squid proxy server (most popular proxy server) on his server. If he will not change anything in the settings then by default proxy server will behave like public one. As you already know, public proxy server means that anyone from entire the world, who knows the IP and the port of such server, could use it. The proxy server will not ask him for any user name or password.
But actually everything is much easier; you do not need to know the port to use the proxy... If administrator left default settings then the port would be 3128. Some adminstrators think that they are too smart and they change default port to 80 or 8080. They think they are smart but 80 and 8080 another alternative standard. So you have three options of possible default port 80, 8080 and 3128 :)
So what do you need to find a good and fast public proxy server? Just an IP address... that is why some users used to make IP scans... they search for wide range of IPs searching for any public proxy servers.
WARNNG: any port or IP scans are prohibited by the low, so you could have a big problem if you will do it. For your own safety, please never try it by your own!!! :D Also you should never use any proxy server without asking permissions from the owner. If you find any proxy, simply contact the administrator and ask him if you could use and share it with others.
That is just one example how public proxy servers are created... and there are dozens of other ways how public proxy servers may also be created.
What are the advantages of public proxy servers? The main one is your privacy. Just imagine, public proxy servers are used by thousand and thousand new users from the entire world daily. Some users could think that is disadvantage rather than advantage... but do not hurry with your conclusion ;)
If you used public proxy servers, it is almost impossible to find your activity (web requests) among other users activity. The log files, in case they are kept (most servers simple delete them because of big space they took), they are several gigabytes (1gb = 1.000.000 bytes) in size, while your request is just 20-40 bytes :).
That means after max. 24 hours nobody will be able (even theoretically) to find your activity (web requests) even in logs ;) It is absolutely impossible and looks the same like to search a needle in haystack (it is possible only theoretically). But if you steal one million dollar, be sure they will burn down the whole haystack to find you :)
But of course public proxy servers have some disadvantages... the main one is that they die and get alive and then die and get alive again very fast and on regular basis. For the regular user it is really boring to searching for the working one... BUT this affects only 'other' users, our VIP members never have such problem ;)
We developed our engine so it works 24 hours per day and does proxy check every 30 seconds for you. At any time our VIP member can have most recently checked (just 30-60 seconds ago) proxy list... (http://freeproxylist.org/en/) Also we have developed special addon for Firefox (Premium Proxy Switcher (http://freeproxylist.org/en/premium-proxy-switcher.htm)) which helps you manage proxy list automatically, including automatic proxy load and proxy switch in your browser and much, much more!!!
Please do not forgot that with public proxy severs you have hundreds working proxy servers from different countries and cities. That makes even theoretically impossible to track your online activity. You can change your virtual country location within seconds ;)
Keep visiting our forum to read interesting articles :) Needless to say, if you have question related to this article or you are interested in something else, you are more then welcome to post your questions here :)
Almost every user asks us a question: why someone runs proxy servers for FREE? :) Everyone knows that nothing is done for free in our world. The exception is charity organization and... that is it :) There are several reasons why I cannot tell you many details... but let's speak generally why public proxy server are free:
As the first step - administrator setups a squid proxy server (most popular proxy server) on his server. If he will not change anything in the settings then by default proxy server will behave like public one. As you already know, public proxy server means that anyone from entire the world, who knows the IP and the port of such server, could use it. The proxy server will not ask him for any user name or password.
But actually everything is much easier; you do not need to know the port to use the proxy... If administrator left default settings then the port would be 3128. Some adminstrators think that they are too smart and they change default port to 80 or 8080. They think they are smart but 80 and 8080 another alternative standard. So you have three options of possible default port 80, 8080 and 3128 :)
So what do you need to find a good and fast public proxy server? Just an IP address... that is why some users used to make IP scans... they search for wide range of IPs searching for any public proxy servers.
WARNNG: any port or IP scans are prohibited by the low, so you could have a big problem if you will do it. For your own safety, please never try it by your own!!! :D Also you should never use any proxy server without asking permissions from the owner. If you find any proxy, simply contact the administrator and ask him if you could use and share it with others.
That is just one example how public proxy servers are created... and there are dozens of other ways how public proxy servers may also be created.
What are the advantages of public proxy servers? The main one is your privacy. Just imagine, public proxy servers are used by thousand and thousand new users from the entire world daily. Some users could think that is disadvantage rather than advantage... but do not hurry with your conclusion ;)
If you used public proxy servers, it is almost impossible to find your activity (web requests) among other users activity. The log files, in case they are kept (most servers simple delete them because of big space they took), they are several gigabytes (1gb = 1.000.000 bytes) in size, while your request is just 20-40 bytes :).
That means after max. 24 hours nobody will be able (even theoretically) to find your activity (web requests) even in logs ;) It is absolutely impossible and looks the same like to search a needle in haystack (it is possible only theoretically). But if you steal one million dollar, be sure they will burn down the whole haystack to find you :)
But of course public proxy servers have some disadvantages... the main one is that they die and get alive and then die and get alive again very fast and on regular basis. For the regular user it is really boring to searching for the working one... BUT this affects only 'other' users, our VIP members never have such problem ;)
We developed our engine so it works 24 hours per day and does proxy check every 30 seconds for you. At any time our VIP member can have most recently checked (just 30-60 seconds ago) proxy list... (http://freeproxylist.org/en/) Also we have developed special addon for Firefox (Premium Proxy Switcher (http://freeproxylist.org/en/premium-proxy-switcher.htm)) which helps you manage proxy list automatically, including automatic proxy load and proxy switch in your browser and much, much more!!!
Please do not forgot that with public proxy severs you have hundreds working proxy servers from different countries and cities. That makes even theoretically impossible to track your online activity. You can change your virtual country location within seconds ;)
Keep visiting our forum to read interesting articles :) Needless to say, if you have question related to this article or you are interested in something else, you are more then welcome to post your questions here :)
