Filtering

A Polish Proxy from Krakow

The internet used to be pretty open but unfortunately there are now a huge amount of filters and blocks applied from every level. This has led obviously to a huge amount of tools and software designed to bypass these filters primarily based on a core of proxy and VPN servers. But they can get expensive if you want any flexibility purely because you often need more in different countries. Think of my friend who is from Krakow originally but now lives in the UK – he often likes to connect back to websites in his home land for obvious reasons. But increasingly he will get blocked because of his location. What he needs is a Polish proxy in order to access these sites – for instance the Polish media channels.

But my friend also likes to watch some strange American series which is only available in the US, plus he likes a show on Canadian pilots on Canadian TV. So to watch all these he’d need a Polish, US and Canadian proxy or VPN service. You’ll notice that many of the proxy providers will sell you access to specific servers but they usually charge extra for each location. But there are a couple who just charge a single subscription and give you access to their entire network.

Here’s how one of my favorites works – first I connect to Google with my normal address.

But unfortunately this means I am tied into a UK location, which is fine if you just want to access UK related sites but what if you want to access sites that are restricted to Poland, Russia, USA or anywhere else on the planet? I need to be able to fool these sites that I am located somewhere else which I can do through using either a proxy or VPN server. For this demonstration I am going to use a Poland based proxy from a company called Overplay.

Here’s what I do – just connect up to my Overplay software and scroll down their list of available proxies.  From the screenshot you can see I have a polish proxy server available so I just connect through that.   It takes about 10 seconds to connect and to extablish the connection after you put in your username and password.

Polish proxyKrakow Proxy Server

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then you’re connected – at this point you have a VPN tunnel connected between you and the Overplay server in Krakow, Poland.  In plain English this means that you will now appear to every web site you visit to be from Poland.  For instance here’s what you see if you visit Google whilst using the Poland proxy.   The geo location checks your IP address and delivers the Polish version of the search engine.

Of course this isn’t particularly useful if you aren’t actually in Poland.  However if you are getting blocked from a specific site because of your location it can be an incredibly useful tool.   It means all Polish content is available to you whilst connected, any look ups will reveal your location to be Krakow because that’s where the server is located.

 

Internet Censorship – Online Anonymity Pros and Cons

To be honest the more I think of this subject, the more I keep filling in the cons category and see little for the Pros. For instance you may have read recently a survey commissioned by Google about the value of the internet economy to different countries. To the UK economy the internet was estimated to be worth over 100 billion dollars – a staggering amount of money I’m sure you’ll agree.

online anonymity pros and cons

It is potentially one of the biggest benefits that the internet can give to the economies of the world, the chance to open up world markets to people, companies and countries across the world. Some investment in infrastructure could give people the chance to set up online businesses and engage with economies across the planet.  Imagine the potential opportunities that are available in less developed countries, the chance to access these market irrespective of your location.

So what has this got to do with online anonymity?  After all doing business online is partly about trust and being anonymous from your customers hardly helps this.  Of course this is a perfectly fair opinion and a very valid point.   Indeed if the internet was a huge global digital marketplace where we where all treated completely equal then there would be little reason to hide your identity online.  Unfortunately it isn’t and there are many barriers of entry to even the simplest online business from many countries.  Payment processors, geo targeting restrictions and

Considering the Online Anonymity Pros and Cons

This is one of the reasons why being anonymous is good, it gives you the chance to detach your online business persona from your personal one. If you live in a country where it’s difficult to operate online for whatever reason, then you can detach from this and operate virtually from another country. For instance I know loads of people who now make their living entirely online, from web designers, marketers, programmers you name it. An amazing chance to perhaps equalize the life chances of people across the planet.

Why are lots of people at a disadvantage? Well there’s a variety of reasons, from access to payment processors to simply credibility issues. The internet should really be a level playing field where we can all have exactly the same access irrespective of who we are and where we are located.

In reality of course this isn’t happening, the same backward, despotic governments that have created third world countries have spotted the internet and seen it as a threat rather than an opportunity. But of course they’re probably right it is certainly a threat to them, alas the opportunities for their people will be denied. I strongly believe there is no real argument, there is no internet censorship pros and cons discussion to be had.

You will see investment in internet technology, Saudi Arabia have spent a fortune in hardware to spy on their citizens, Syria force Cyber Cafe owners to monitor their customers – whilst they filter at a packet level every single web request from their country. Of course we know about China and Iran who live in fear of every web site that allows people to communicate and talk to each other.

There is no real ‘pro’ to internet censorship and blocking only excuses. Despite what people may argue regarding the ethics of online anonymity. The reality is that even if it was decided that online anonymity is bad and should be prevented then only ‘law abiding’ people would follow these restrictions. It is possible to be pretty much invisible online if you have some knowledge and the ability to fund a solution. So anyone who is involved in criminal acts is likely to take these options, the poor and innocent would be blocked from these solutions.