Everybody who have used
proxies to keep his own privacy in the Internet asked yourself the same question:
How much
anonymous this particular proxy I'm currently using?
In other words whether
all my personal data is hidden or only part of it.
There are many different
proxy anonymity classifications in the Internet.
The simpliest way is to divide all proxies into two parts. First part of proxies are completely anonymous i.e.
they hide all your private information. All other proxies are non-anonymous.
Transparent Proxy
This type of
proxy server identifies itself
as a proxy server and also makes the original IP address available
through the http headers. These are generally used for their ability to
cache websites and do not effectively provide any anonymity to those
who use them. However, the use of a transparent proxy will get you
around simple IP bans. They are transparent in the terms that your IP
address is exposed, not transparent in the terms that you do not know
that you are using it (your system is not specifically configured to use
it.)
Anonymous Proxy
This type of proxy server indentifies itself
as a proxy server, but does not make the original IP address available.
This type of proxy server is detectable, but provides reasonable
anonymity for most users.
High Anonymity Proxies
These proxy servers are called “high anonymity proxy” or "elite
proxy". In contrast to other types of anonymity proxy servers they hide
a fact of using a proxy:
REMOTE_ADDR = proxy IP
HTTP_VIA = not determined
HTTP_X_FORWARDED_FOR = not determined
That means that values of variables are the same as if proxy is not
used, with the exception of one very important thing – proxy IP is used
instead of your IP address.
