CGI Bypass Proxy

From LoveToKnow Web-Design

There are really only two reasons to use a CGI bypass proxy: to be sneaky, or to be free. Since both of these are fairly subjective motivations, this article will simply presume that you have good reasons for wanting to use one to surf the web.

CGI Bypass Proxy

What Does a CGI Bypass Proxy Do?

Simply put, a proxy is simply a program, often using PHP, that sits between the user and the server that actually connects to the internet. You can use proxies to filter out (and therefore restrict) certain kinds of sites from the users computer (for example, keeping adult websites from being visited at work, or keeping political websites from the eyes of citizens).

Proxies can also be used to gather information – from as basic a fact as the IP address where the server request came from to information as complete as every keystroke sent to the web browser. This means that every email, every blog post, and every chat line can be intercepted and monitored by the proxy server.

Understandably, some people aren't comfortable with this kind of scrutiny, and a CGI bypass proxy uses the very same technology to put yet another proxy in between the user and the "monitoring" proxy. This will effectively mask the user, because all server requests will go back to the original proxy, not to the IP address. In addition, as proxies are able to encrypt data as well, the monitoring proxies will only collect gibberish.

Thanks to the efforts of organizations such as the Electronic Frontiers Foundation, access to powerful encryption and the freedom to install proxies maintains the ability of users to have anonymous and free access to almost any information on the internet.

Getting a Proxy Bypass

There are two ways to use a CGI bypass proxy: use one that is already installed on a web page, or install your own.

Finding a Proxy on the Web

There is a constant game of cat-and-mouse going on between people who set up proxy servers designed specifically to get around filters and monitors, and those who try to shut them down, one by one. These sites are known as "circumventors" and tend to be one step ahead of the censors. An example is Anonymouse, which simply opens up to a web page that is googlesque in its simplicity. Underneath a few simple directions, there is a box that says "Enter URL." That's where you put in the site you'd like to anonymously surf – it's as simple as that.

The Anonymouse also features a fairly clear example as to why you might want to surf anonymously: it shows the "signature" of your computer with and without the CGI proxy. Without it, a computer would show the following (these are on the site):

  • IP 68.555.666.777 (not the actual IP for the sake of this article)
  • Host 68-555-666-777.dhcp.mdsn.wi.charter.com
  • Browser & OS Mozilla/5.0 (Macintosh; U; Intel Mac OS X 10.4; en-US; rv:1.9.0.10) Gecko/2009042315 Firefox/3.0.10

Using the site, the information is as follows:

  • IP 193.200.150.137 (actual IP, totally different than previously)
  • Host anonymouse.org
  • Browser & OS http://Anonymouse.org/ (Unix)

Rolling Your Own

Of course, all a service provider needs to do is prevent access to sites such as Anonymouse in order to keep people from using those services. For that reason, you may want to install a CGI bypass proxy on your own server or on a server where you can freely host your own site.

You do have to be careful to first make sure that the server host allows proxy scripts to run on their site, and second that there is some kind of security in place. Keep in mind that the proxy is running on their server, and it's possible for them to also host a proxy to spy on your proxy. Passwords and other information should be very judiciously used through proxies.

That being said, there are many places on the web to learn how to set up these kinds of proxy websites. One example is a political dissident at Erasparsa who provides step-by-step directions for bypassing the firewall set up by the government of Indonesia. The site includes installers for various operating systems, cautions, and is certainly not approved by the Indonesian government.

Regardless of your reasons, CGI proxies used to bypass screening are effective tools and, in the true spirit of the internet, easy to find and implement.

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