Bypass Proxy Services

April 9, 2008 – 1:10 PM

Many schools, companies and organizations these days use Internet filtering software to block certain websites from access. However, for every one of these blocking tools, there is a work around for savvy users that want to see the content. It’s not that difficult to bypass MySpace filters and other similar filters meant to limit or prohibit access to YouTube, MySpace and other sites.

(Indeed, even in countries where Internet access is severely restricted, there is always a way around the blockages…unless the country completely shuts down Internet access…but this requires far more skills than the casual user possesses.)

If your network is filtering or blocking the site you want to access (and there have been a number of sites over the years that have been blocked inappropriately), the first thing to try is to use what is called a circumvention site, such as StupidCensorship.com. Sites like this use anonymous proxy servers to circumvent web filters and firewalls.

These work around sites work by providing users with an innocent website that is not blocked by the filtering software…it then gets the website that you truly want to visit.

Now, you might have to log on at home (assuming you are not blocked there) and then take the URL to work or school get around the blocking software used on your network. After all, blocking software knows that people will try to bypass it, so does what it can to keep you from searching for those bypasses.

If this filtering software is installed on your PC, you can easily get to the site you want to access by booting a blocking-override software from your CD-ROM drive. This would assume that you have the software on CD. If you can install software on your computer, then Tor is the software of choice.

However if the computer is a public PC (such as at your school or library) with the blocking software installed, you may very well not be able to boot from a blocking-override software CD or install Tor because public computers are often ‘locked down’.

The best choice, then, is to bring a list of anonymizer URLs with you and hope that at least the Internet filtering software does not block one of them. Finding a list of anonymizer URLs is simply a matter of googling to find forums where the posters want to share the information you are looking for…and there is no shortage of people wanting to help others work around blocking software!

Source: Data Stronghold