chainable proxys4all _redux_

Posted by AnonyMouse on February 05, 1999


: There has been some discussion on usenet recently and I've gotten a request
: concerning what I meant by "reverse engineering" to chain proxies and could
: I explain how _exactly_ to find, test (for anonymity), and use them.  The
: basic idea is this: although not all chainable proxies have web interfaces
: (a web page with a form where you can enter the URL you want to surf to
: using the proxy), several do have such interfaces.  Three that are well
: known are MagusNet, the Anonymizer, and the Anonymicer.  Before starting,
: go to http://www.tamos.com/bin/proxy.cgi and write down the set of four
: decimal digits that make up your current IP address.  Now, here's how to
: figure out how to learn to chain proxies with web form interfaces:

: 1. MagusNet
: Go to the MagusNet form at http://proxy.magusnet.com:8084/ (ports 8089 and
: 10080 also work) and enter http://www.tamos.com/bin/proxy.cgi into the form's
: box and hit your Enter key.  You will be taken to
: http://www.tamos.com/bin/proxy.cgi , but look at the URL displayed for the
: page:
: http://128.11.219.251:8084/-_-http://www.tamos.com/bin/proxy.cgi .  That
: prefix of http://128.11.219.251:8084/-_- is the prefix you will write in
: front of any URL you wish to chain through MagusNet in the future, e.g.
: http://128.11.219.251:8084/-_-http://www.altavista.com/ , or whatever.
: Also notice the IP address displayed: 128.11.219.238 .  This is the identity
: MagusNet gives out when it conceals your real identity.  [see note 1]

: 2. Anonymizer
: Go to the Anonymizer form at http://www.anonymizer.com/surf_free.shtml and
: enter http://www.tamos.com/bin/proxy.cgi into the form's box and hit
: your Enter key.  You will be taken to http://www.tamos.com/bin/proxy.cgi ,
: but, again, look at the URL displayed for the page:
: http://anon.free.anonymizer.com/http://www.tamos.com/bin/proxy.cgi .  That
: prefix of http://anon.free.anonymizer.com/ is the prefix you will write in
: front of any URL you wish to chain through Anonymizer in the future, e.g.
: http://anon.free.anonymizer.com/http://www.hotbot.com/ , or whatever.
: Also notice the IP address displayed: 209.75.196.2 .  This is the identity
: Anonymizer gives out when it conceals your real identity.  [see note 2]

: 3. Anonymicer
: Go to the Anonymicer form at http://www.in.tum.de/~pircher/anonymicer/ and
: enter http://www.tamos.com/bin/proxy.cgi into the form's box and hit
: your Enter key.  You will be taken to http://www.tamos.com/bin/proxy.cgi ,
: but (you guessed it) look at the URL displayed for the page:
: http://www.in.tum.de/cgi-bin/ucgi/pircher/anon-www.pl/http://www.tamos.com/bin/proxy.cgi .
: That prefix of http://www.in.tum.de/cgi-bin/ucgi/pircher/anon-www.pl/ is
: the prefix you will write in front of any URL you wish to chain through
: Anonymizer in the future, e.g.
: http://www.in.tum.de/cgi-bin/ucgi/pircher/anon-www.pl/http://www.ibm.com/ ,
: or whatever.  Also notice the interesting IP address displayed.  :)

: Now you have three chainable prefixes (more if you followed the advice given
: in the notes).  Now, experiment chaining two (or maybe all three of them
: together, for example:
: http://128.11.219.251:8084/-_-http://www.in.tum.de/cgi-bin/ucgi/pircher/anon-www.pl/http://www.tamos.com/bin/proxy.cgi
: or
: http://www.in.tum.de/cgi-bin/ucgi/pircher/anon-www.pl/http://anon.free.anonymizer.com/http://www.tamos.com/bin/proxy.cgi
: or use your own imagination.  Notice that only the IP address of the _last_
: proxy in the chain is revealed to the page you visit.

: Proxies with web interfaces are often capable of easily decoding into
: prefixes to use in chains using this technique.  (And not all proxies
: with web form interfaces advertize the fact that they function as anonymous
: proxies, so experiment and see if other pages that have forms to enter URLs
: can also be used as anonymous chainable proxies.)  Combine chaining proxies
: like these with an anonymous proxy from the Proxys4All lists (or ones that
: you've found elsewhere, as described in note 1), configured for use by
: your browser, and your real identity is several steps removed from the sites
: you visit.  Use Junkbuster on your own computer to control other ENV
: information and you've got about as much privacy as you're going to be able
: to find in cyberspace surfing.  For more information, please read the other
: posts on this Board.  And if you find something interesting, post it yourself.

: AnonyMouse

: note 1: Also try ports 8088 and 8090 for some additional interesting results.
: MagusNet uses a DeleGate proxy server; many other DeleGate proxy servers also
: have web interfaces and are chainable; to find several, notice the title of
: the MagusNet page: "DeleGate for Non-CERN-Proxy clients".  Searching for
: that phrase on the standard US and Japanese search engines will turn up
: several other DeleGate proxy servers you can easily find the prefixes for
: using the exact same technique outlined above.  Many other DeleGates have no
: web interfaces, but they are chainable, too.  Any time you are testing
: proxies you have found by scanning with ProxyHunter, searching on Search
: Engines, or sieved out of lists like the ones at Proxys4All or out of
: guestbooks or Boards at sites dealing with proxies, internet privacy, warez,
: hacking, porn, etc., just test them to see if they can be chained.  For
: example, if the _fictional_ proxy cs.foobar.jp:80 is identified as a DeleGate
: on the Tamos page (or any of the other ENV testers listed on the Proxys4All
: Tools page), try http://cs.foobar.jp:80/-_-http://www.tamos.com/bin/proxy.cgi
: and see if it works.  If it does (and many times it will), you've got another
: chainable proxy to add to your list.

: note 2: The Anonymizer makes you wait 40 seconds before taking you to the page.
: This is an incentive to get you to use their pay service.  If you don't want
: to wait, use the prefix http://invis.free.anonymizer.com/ rather than the time
: delay prefix http://anon.free.anonymizer.com/ .  Even using the "no wait"
: prefix, however, and links you click on will revert back to the 40 second
: delay prefix, so you'll have to do a lot of copying and pasting URLs to avoid
: the delay every time you go to another page.  What a drag.  :(

: note 3: Of couse, other proxy servers are also chainable, but I think these
: are the easiest to find and I'll leave it to someone else to explain how to
: find others.  Good hunting!

: P.S. ieFaF, want to have more fun with Junkbuster?  I know I do.  It may
: not be a privacy enhancement, but check out this idea on what to set in
: wafers (anti-cookies) to be given to sites using cookies.  Joy, joy, fun, fun!
: Yes, I know, for better privacy it's ideal to just refuse the cookies and
: return nothing, but maybe you'd like some wafers in your Yellow Submarine.