A proxy is a server with like a "buffer-connection" between your computer and the internet resoruces you are accessing. The data you request comes to the proxy first, and then the proxy sends that information on to you. Anonymous Proxies hide your IP address and thereby prevent internet servers from knowing exactly who you are. Since they do not provide anyone with your IP address, they effectively hide any information about you and your reading interests. Not only that, but most Anonymous proxies hide the fact that you are using a proxy. There are tons of "public proxy servers" out there which are free and open for anyone to use, however most of these are not anonymous. I am going to focus on finding those free AND anonymous ones. Want to see what your public IP address is (and what other websites know about you) go to www.whatismyip.com
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Ok, on with the show...
Using a few google searches, we are able to find TONS of proxy lists.. A good example of a search to use:
+":8080"+":3128"+":80" filetype:txt
So now you are thinking, well I have a million plus proxies, I can quit reading this article, Right? Wrong. These lists are horribly out of date, proxies come up and go down quite often. You would need to check every IP in every one of those lists to get good proxies, and then test them to see if they were anonymous or not.
Enter the automated tools.
There are possibly thousands of different proxy checking tools out there, but I have yet to find a better one that Charon. (download here) It is a Proxy filtering, searching, and checking utility.. And the best part about it is that it is free.
Ok, after you have downloaded Charon, READ THE INCLUDED README FILE!!! Then come back to this article. Ok, now that you have read the Readme, you know how it works, open it up, and click on "Check Proxies" then on "Scan for New Proxies". Charon will go to Google and start pulling proxy lists and testing them. I let mine run for 10-15 minutes and I had over 300+ proxies.
We are only interested in the ones that are anonymous (Anon column says Yes) So you want to filter those proxies out and save them to a list. You can do this by clicking "Filter List" and then "Delete Non-Anon". Save this list by clicking the floppy disk icon (top left).
Now How do I use them?
Since you are running Mozilla Firefox (you are running Firefox Right?) you should go download the Firefox extention: SwitchProxy. SwitchProxy is a FireFox extension that allows you to ‘switch’ between anonymous proxy servers at a chosen interval. =)
After you have installed SwitchProxy, and restarted your browser, you will notice that there is a new proxy toolbar installed. Now we are going to need to import the list of anonymous proxies you have found from the previous step. Click on "Options", "Preferences", "Manage Proxies", "Add", "Anonymous" and then click next. Give your Proxy set a name such as "Proxylist-TodaysDate" and then click on the "Browse" button and find the the file you saved earlier. Once you have found the file, click on the "Load" button. Now we need to enter a time interval to switch proxies (essentially making your connection appear to bounce around the world)
I personally use 120 seconds, but you can make it longer or shorter to fit your needs. Then click save and ok all the way back out. Now in your toolbar select the proxy list and click apply. You are now using the proxies in your list. Remember our first test? Lets try it again.
Go to whatismyip.com or any other type of proxy checker (http://proxy.snipermedia.net is a good one) and see how your ipaddress has changed. Now websites have no idea who you are!
Have fun.