Anonymous Proxy Meaning, Types, Usage, Practices, and Free Versions

The modern Internet has become a part of our lives. We can no longer imagine ourselves without the Internet, as we use the Web for numerous everyday operations: from household routines like hailing a cab and ordering food, to professional development and training, in the form of remote work and online university graduation. 

The modern person is a prisoner of their digital constraints, and to get more freedom and security, they are forced to use anonymizers or anonymous proxies. Like real life, the Internet has already accumulated enough problems the community is trying to solve. These include online anonymity, data trading, digital security, targeted advertising, and censorship. Today we will talk about the anonymizer meaning and how it can be useful – and used.

What Is Anonymizer? Definition

What is anonymizer, aka what is an anonymous proxy service? Anonymizer is a specialized server that redirects a user’s address when accessing sites or applications on the Internet. An anonymous proxy server may become the third link in the chain between the user and the website, hiding the original IP address of the user.

How Does Anonymizer Work?

Anonymizer or an anonymous proxy server is a mediator for your connection between the user’s computer and the final website on the Internet. Rather than connecting directly to the target site, your outgoing traffic from your PC is redirected to a proxy server to connect to the target site. This connection path is used to mask your data and the location of the outgoing signal.

An anonymizer is often used to visit illegal sites in a territory or use censored applications. Many users also want to keep their data out of the network so that the information cannot be used for advertising or resale. It is also possible to use an anonymous proxy for the general purpose of increasing online security. Anonymizer replaces the user’s outgoing data with its own while keeping the transition to the end site without specifying the user’s information.

For example, you live in China and need to use information from a head office post with Twitter. But this social network is blocked in the country. You can use a proxy server to bypass the blocked social network and find out the information from the tweet.

What Are the Benefits of Using an Anonymous Proxy Server?

In favor of this type of anonymizer service, there is a set of benefits that it provides to its clients.

1. Increased data security and protection against information theft

It is a custom for your data going from user to Internet. All outgoing traffic is replaced by proxy data, which eliminates the use of information by scammers. No one is surprised to steal from the Internet these days, and using sites with anonymizers reduces the possibility of becoming a victim of fraud. 

Also, anonymizers automatically block potentially dangerous incoming traffic, preventing the installation or exchange of information between the site and your device. Some viruses and malicious programs cannot access your data and equipment. 

This positive quality is often used in companies and business offices. Covert mode of using the Web increases the security of the whole project and positively affects the whole company.

2. Bypass censorship in regions and countries

Censorship is a big problem of the modern Internet. It can be two-way: the sites decide to tighten the service use in certain jurisdictions. For example, cryptocurrency exchanges often use this practice due to changes in the status of cryptocurrencies in some countries or the inability to obtain a license.

Another example of artificial censorship can be compulsory regulation and strict restrictions on Internet use in a certain country. This practice is quite common these days.

Anonymizers can help get past this barrier and gain access to a wider and richer range of information on the Internet.

3. Blocking the use of data for targeting or other ways to tailor the content on the Web to user needs

Targeted advertising is the scourge of today. Advertising networks track and collect information about site visits and our online search queries based on this information. They give out exclusive recommendations that are right for you. That is the main financial source of the Internet. 

On the one hand, they are always customized offers created based on our requests. On the other hand—the collection of information is automatic, it is impossible to trace all the ways of its use, and very often, the user does not even know that he is risking his data. An anonymous proxy server helps reduce the amount of information collected and, therefore, expands user choices.

4. Privacy enhancement

Anonymizer is used to increase your privacy on the Internet. All online activities become untraceable, and the user can visit any source of information online. The user thus also avoids the social or legal consequences of visiting the Internet. It all depends on the internal regulations of the country of residence.

Types of Anonymizers

Not all internet users like the existing tradition of surveillance and data collection. Using anonymizers is an extension of the network’s rights to freedom and privacy. Demand creates supply, and there are currently several types of anonymizers available on the market: network and single point.

The network server will pass your outgoing signal through several computers before sending it to the destination site. Thus, your request gets lost in the mass of PCs that pass through the signal, making it difficult to find the destination site. On the other hand, your data is duplicated across multiple hosts, which means that you increase the security risk of information on each host. 

Single-point switches operate on a different principle. All your outgoing requests are routed through the anonymizer’s site and then to the destination. The upside here is the ease of execution, but this type of anonymizer is considered less resistant to tracking information.

Anonymous Proxy Server and VPN: What Is the Difference?

An anonymous proxy server or anonymizer passes through itself all incoming and outgoing information on requests to visit the site from the user. If you type in a search site, the proxy sends your request through itself and then only to the target site. That keeps your traffic anonymous at a minimal cost. However, there is another way to increase online privacy. That is a VPN. A VPN is essentially the same as an anonymous proxy, only with additional traffic encryption, which increases complete privacy.

How to Choose an Anonymous Proxy Server?

If you want to make your work in the network more secure and confidential, you can use an anonymizer. But how to choose the right service that is right for you? There are two options: to conduct your research or use the rating. 

The self-study will include an assessment of many factors: the form of installation on the device, the price of service, automatic or manual IP selection, visualization of the service, bandwidth limitation, the number of simultaneously connected devices, DDoS protection, statistics of use, and much more. This method is quite energy-intensive and complicated.

You can use Proxybros rating data. The service experts study each service, testing it for strength and protection. You can find several recommendations in Proxybros top picks: Top 10 best proxy providers, SOCKS5 proxy services, mobile anonymizers for Android, YouTube, best free versions, and others. Let’s look at a few recommendations.

Anonymizers for Mobile Devices 

Mobile anonymizers are gaining more and more users from year to year. Formed the statistics of growth in the use of mobile devices requires support for privacy and security at a high level. Another plus is the adaptability to different types of mobile communications, including 3G, 4G, 5G, and LTE. The peculiarities of mobile proxies include using the mobile operator’s IP address as a proxy site.

You can access online gambling platforms, which are forbidden in your country, read news and books, and watch TV broadcasts. Any content, if it is not available to you. The reasons for using mobile proxies are the same as for the standard version: security, confidentiality, and anonymity in the network.

Some of the best mobile proxies in the Proxybros ranking include:

• Oxylabs 
• BrightData.com
• Soax.com
• Infatica.io.

Proxies differ in cost, several countries available for use, proxy bridges, speed, and network uptime. 

Mobile Proxies for Android

If you use Android software for your smartphones, you can use these available proxy services:

• Oxylabs 
• iproyal.com 
• hmavpn.com 
• infatica.io 

Anonymizers for YouTube

It is very difficult to live without video content nowadays. That’s why the demand for video hosting services is always high. The most popular is YouTube, but this service is fully or partially blocked in several countries worldwide. For example, in Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, Syria, Sudan, China, North Korea, and Iran, YouTube is blocked completely. Some countries block video hosting periodically. Many users use anonymous proxy servers to access YouTube services and watch and publish content.

The two main tasks that block anonymizers for YouTube are to ensure access to video content anonymously and to promote business through video content. Usually, YouTube blocks such services and imposes penalties on the channel owner. But you can increase the number of views faster with proxies. By using proxies, you can increase the viewability of your videos with special bots and programs.

The pros of proxies for YouTube are the ban on targeting ads and collecting data about you, extended video offerings, protection from malware, and access to Full HD format without restrictions.

Some of the most popular and effective anonymous proxies for YouTube include BrightData.com, Proxy-Seller, Oxylabs, SmartProxy, iproyal.com, Storm Proxies, Rayobyte, and others.

Best Free Versions

Some of the most used proxies are still the free versions. If you are not protecting your business or spending most of your life on the Internet, this may be your best bet since such a service requires no subscription or payment. Some anonymizers put a traffic limit on the free subscription, but more often than not, it is not that small: about 10 GB is the standard package for the non-paid version.

Some of the best free anonymizers are:

• HMA
• Hidemy.name
• 4everproxy
• ProxySite
• KProxy.

Conclusion

In a world of total digitalization and data collection, proxy servers are an alternative solution for privacy-conscious users. The benefits are also increased security and data protection, often traded in the digital marketplace. Of course, the final choice depends on you and your possibilities: your budget for a subscription, the type required, and the purpose for which you want to use it. Based on this assessment, you can choose the service for you, regardless of other opinions.