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Concept
Anonymous proxy
Summary
An anonymizer or an anonymous proxy is a tool that attempts to make activity on the Internet untraceable. It is a proxy server computer that acts as an intermediary and privacy shield between a client computer and the rest of the Internet. It accesses the Internet on the user's behalf, protecting personal information of the user by hiding the client computer's identifying information. Anonymous proxy is the opposite of transparent proxy, which sends user information in the connection request header.
There are many reasons for using anonymizers, such as minimizing risk, prevention of identity theft, or protecting search histories from public disclosure.
Some countries apply heavy censorship on the internet. Anonymizers can help to allow free access to all of the internet content, but they cannot help against persecution for accessing the anonymizer website itself. Furthermore, as information itself about anonymizer websites are banned in those countries, users are wary that they may be falling into a government-set trap.
Anonymizers are also used by people who wish to receive objective information with the growing target marketing on the internet and targeted information. For example, large news outlets such as CNN target the viewers according to region and give different information to different populations. Websites such as YouTube obtain information about the last videos viewed on a computer, and they propose "recommended" videos accordingly, and most of the online targeted marketing is done by showing advertisements according to that region. Anonymizers are used for avoiding that kind of targeting and getting a more objective view of information.
For building a reliable anonymous system, anonymous proxy signatures are helpful. It can be used in anonymous voting or other authentication processes that value anonymity.
Sometimes anonymizers are implemented to work only with one particular protocol. The advantage is that no extra software is needed. The operation occurs in this manner: a connection is made by the user to the anonymizer.
Official source
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