Hello proxy fans and proxy haters

Let’s get back to the last paragraph of my previous article:

The United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Article 12 states the following right:

“No one shall be subjected to arbitrary interference with his privacy, family, home or correspondence, nor to attacks upon his honor and reputation. Everyone has the right to the protection of the law against such interference or attacks.”

This statement protects an individual’s right to privacy in several different areas, one of those areas is the Internet.

The use of the Internet at school or work has become a controversial topic. Many debate about whether students or employees should be using scheduled “work” time to check their personal e-mail accounts or their MySpace page or to view videos on YouTube. Many schools, libraries and businesses have put up a block, denying personal Internet access. Several individuals believe that this is an infringement on their rights to privacy when performing Web activities.

There is a much more serious privacy issue at stake though. It seems that some government officials in foreign countries such as China restrict a person’s access to certain Websites on the Internet. A person is forbidden to browse certain topics and Web pages while online. This is a clear obstruction of the privacy rights given to every individual under the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights. A solution has been found for this dilemma though. A proxy server allows an individual to perform Web activities anonymously. This has fueled the fire for privacy debates and controversy.

A proxy server is a way to perform Internet activities such as Web surfing, sending and receiving e-mail, chatting online and transferring files with a shield of anonymity. The proxy server protects an individual’s private information including their IP address. This means that an individual’s Web activities can not be traced back to their personal computer. The proxy server uses its own IP address, therefore protecting the individual, when a specific Web page is requested. The proxy server will request the Web page through the use of their own IP address and then forward the Web page to the individual who made the initial request. By using a proxy server a person is activating their right to privacy. A proxy server ensures that an individual’s Web activities and private information remain anonymous.

In Myanmar, the country’s military has forbidden their citizens to access Websites such as Weird News, sites that contain pornography and the Free Burma Coalition website. In Saudi Arabia and China, the citizens are not allowed to access websites that are considered to be anti-government or pornography websites. Even in the United States, over forty-percent of the schools and libraries deny user’s access to Geocities or Tripod hosted websites. Is it fair to limit what an individual can access on the Web? Is this a clear invasion of privacy?

The Internet Censorship Explorer, a program created by the University of Toronto, allows individuals to test the waters of organizational and national Internet-blocking programs that have been activated by different government leaders and public institutions. A user of the Internet Censorship Explorer program will type in a specific Website address and a country into the program’s search index. The program software is then designed to scan ports that are available servers in that particular country; the software is technically searching for open servers. This allows the individual in that restricted country to surf the Web anonymously therefore lifting the Internet restriction ban. The user of Internet Censorship Explorer is using a foreign computer as a proxy server. The proxy server attempts to retrieve the requested Web page by going around the country’s designated firewall. The Web page will either become accessible to the user of the proxy server or will come up as “page blocked”. This type of port-scanning technology is considered to be part of a gray area that is currently in operation.

This type of port-scanning method mentioned above is completely legal in Canada and the United States. In other countries port-scanning is looked upon as a malicious attempt at hacking. It is severely frowned upon by network security administrators. Is this a reasonable viewpoint though if the country is denying individuals the right to privacy and the right to access information?

The director of the Internet Censorship Exploration program, Ronald Diebert commented in an article on wired.com, “We do not have explicit prior permission to use the computers. However, we are assuming that if a port is left open, it is intended to be used as a proxy and is configured as such.” He continues his train of thought by adding “I feel strongly about the value of this type of research…Uncovering censorship and surveillance practices is fair game.”

Computer Forensics examiner, Jon Asdourian also said in the same article on wired.com, “They’re using resources that would not normally be available. Using someone else’s resources without their knowledge is abhorrent to us.”

This is why proxy servers fall into a gray area. Many question if it is right for proxy servers to allow users to anonymously surf the Web. While others question if it is right for a government or public institution to control what information an individual can access on the Web. This is a huge controversy that has been discussed by computer experts and citizens around the globe. We, as humans, are given the right to privacy. A proxy server is ensuring that are rights to privacy are kept intact. A proxy server is ensuring that our private information remains to be private. This is a right that we all have. So one wonders why a proxy server falls into a gray area. Many individuals view proxy servers as a privacy insurance plan but others view proxy servers as an instrument used to hack into open ports.

It seems that this controversy can be related to the flip of a coin. On one side of the coin is government leaders and public institutions proclaiming that proxy server’s work in a gray area and on the other side of the coin is the public protesting that proxy servers are working to protect their right to privacy. What side of the coin do you fall into? Privacy is a right that some countries claim is a luxury. One can only be sure of one thing. Proxy servers will continue to be used as long as there are restrictions placed on Internet use. As long as proxy servers are used for the “greater good” of an individual’s right to privacy then this will be an issue highly and passionately debated. These are the two clearly defined sides of the coin. As the coin is tossed into the air, one wonders who will win this controversial and sensitive coin toss.

This time I definitely hope to hear some opinions of yours and have a nice week ahead