WEBVTT - How Proxy Servers Work

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<v Speaker 1>Brought to you by the reinvented two thousand twelve Camray.

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<v Speaker 1>It's ready. Are you get in touch with technology? With

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<v Speaker 1>tech stuff from how stuff works dot com. Hi there, everybody,

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to the podcast. My name is Chris Pillette. I'm

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<v Speaker 1>an editor here at how Stuff Works. Sitting next to me,

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<v Speaker 1>as usual, is senior writer Jonathan Strickland. Hey there, and

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<v Speaker 1>we were gonna talk about something, but we'll have to

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<v Speaker 1>do it through someone else. Yeah, yeah, we have to

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<v Speaker 1>have a proxy. Wouldn't you say? Yeah, I'd say so.

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<v Speaker 1>You had another wonderful segue. Thank you, Mr Pilette. So

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<v Speaker 1>this is in response to an email we received U.

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<v Speaker 1>Tim West wrote to us and said, I'm writing to

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<v Speaker 1>you on behalf of your podcast on parental controls. While

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<v Speaker 1>I was listening to this podcast, I noticed you were

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<v Speaker 1>talking about how your children would find ways to bypass

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<v Speaker 1>parental controls. This made me think of proxy avoidance systems.

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<v Speaker 1>I'm just saying that this would be an interesting podcast

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<v Speaker 1>to develop since I, as well as many others, are

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<v Speaker 1>interested in this topic. Thank you for your in formative podcast.

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<v Speaker 1>There joy to listen to. Well, Thank you, Tim. It's

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<v Speaker 1>a joy to get that kind of email. Um okay,

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<v Speaker 1>so let's start this off by saying we do not

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<v Speaker 1>recommend you use proxies to get around systems. Uh. That way,

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<v Speaker 1>there gout that on the table. We can move on

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<v Speaker 1>from there. Actually, speaking of of unusual, I guess it's

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<v Speaker 1>funny that we looked at this subject very differently when

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<v Speaker 1>we were starting to do the research on it. Yeah,

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<v Speaker 1>it's very true. Uh. Pallette, when he thinks of proxies,

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<v Speaker 1>was thinking of a kind of an administrative system that's

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<v Speaker 1>used to kind of, uh, well, we'll put limitations on

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<v Speaker 1>what you can and can't see when you access the web,

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<v Speaker 1>Whereas I was thinking more along the lines of of

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<v Speaker 1>what I think Tim was saying, which is that, you know,

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<v Speaker 1>using certain websites to get around barriers that would otherwise

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<v Speaker 1>be between you and the content you want to see.

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<v Speaker 1>So it's interesting, I guess, uh, I was saying that

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<v Speaker 1>Pelette's kind of looking at it at the the sort

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<v Speaker 1>of the law abiding way, and I was looking at

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<v Speaker 1>it at the the hooligan kind of way. How unusual. Yeah,

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<v Speaker 1>it never would have pegged it would. Well, what I

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<v Speaker 1>was thinking about was personal experience working in corporations where

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<v Speaker 1>they will put up a in a very advanced firewall

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<v Speaker 1>which blocks a lot of a lot of cyber attacks

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<v Speaker 1>and um basically keeps you from going out to UH

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<v Speaker 1>porn sites or to spend a lot of time on

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<v Speaker 1>Facebook or your email account and things like that. Basically

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<v Speaker 1>trying to keep people productive and keep the company from

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<v Speaker 1>suffering any harm via the Internet. And in this case,

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<v Speaker 1>a proxy server would allow you to get information through

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<v Speaker 1>the firewall, so you you you're essentially bypassing the firewall,

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<v Speaker 1>but you're bypassing it in ways that the company allows

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<v Speaker 1>you to bypass it. So it's like, guess you can

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<v Speaker 1>in fact go to the corporate website UH and to

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<v Speaker 1>some of our competitors to do research, but you may

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<v Speaker 1>not go shopping on Amazon, right. And it kind of

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<v Speaker 1>helps to sort of give a brief overview of how

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<v Speaker 1>the Internet works, sort of an Internet infrastructure rundown to

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<v Speaker 1>sort of understand what we're talking about here. So think

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<v Speaker 1>of the Internet as a series of servers and clients.

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<v Speaker 1>It's not a series of tubes that administration is never mind,

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<v Speaker 1>So we're talking about clients and servers. The client requests

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<v Speaker 1>information from servers, and think of all the servers across

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<v Speaker 1>the world as being nodes, and when you send out

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<v Speaker 1>a request from a client, it goes out until it

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<v Speaker 1>reaches the destination where that information resides. Because all the

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<v Speaker 1>information on the Internet exists on a physical machine somewhere

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<v Speaker 1>more multiple physical machines sometimes I mean for redundancy's sake,

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<v Speaker 1>there are multiple machines with that info. So your your

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<v Speaker 1>request goes out and then that server serves up the

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<v Speaker 1>information sends it back to you. It goes through all

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<v Speaker 1>those nodes, of various nodes to get to you. It

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<v Speaker 1>may not go through the same ones that your request

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<v Speaker 1>went through. Uh. They come in packets. The information comes

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<v Speaker 1>into these little uh, these little packets of information that

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<v Speaker 1>gets reassembled at your computer and then you've got whatever

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<v Speaker 1>it was you sent your request out to get. So

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<v Speaker 1>a proxy server sits between your client and all the

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<v Speaker 1>other servers. It is uh, it's it's kind of like

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<v Speaker 1>a guardian in a way, so it can intercept information

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<v Speaker 1>being sent out or being brought in too, from the

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<v Speaker 1>servers to the client or vice versa. And that's where

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<v Speaker 1>you get filtering, where you can have a proxy server

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<v Speaker 1>set up with filters that block certain websites, you know,

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<v Speaker 1>complete access if you want, so just think of it.

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<v Speaker 1>It's pretty simple really, It's just a big database of

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<v Speaker 1>websites saying, you know, don't allow anyone on this side

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<v Speaker 1>of the proxy server to access these websites. UM. So yeah,

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<v Speaker 1>very simple kind of concept. Uh, and that's your basic

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<v Speaker 1>proxy server. Well, and it reminds me actually of Tour.

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<v Speaker 1>I'm assuming that you're familiar with Tour because what Tour

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<v Speaker 1>does is, um it's an anonymous web browsing software solution.

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<v Speaker 1>And uh, it uses the concept that Jonathan was just

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<v Speaker 1>talking about about the different nodes. UM. Once you send

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<v Speaker 1>a request, in your request bounces between computers in different places,

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<v Speaker 1>and it basically prevents you from being your traffic from

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<v Speaker 1>being analyzed. So if you are from you know, the

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<v Speaker 1>United States, and you use Tour to mask your your information,

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<v Speaker 1>your signal gets bounced around and you might appear to

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<v Speaker 1>be coming from Sweden, for example, because it is basically

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<v Speaker 1>fooling those servers into thinking you're from somewhere else. It's

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<v Speaker 1>it's very much like those spy movies when they're trying

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<v Speaker 1>to trace the call. Right, he's calling from Luxembourg. No,

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<v Speaker 1>wait it's Paris. Wait no, it's Sydney. Australia, same sort

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<v Speaker 1>of concept, really and uh and what Tim was sort

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<v Speaker 1>of referring to are these proxy sites that are run

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<v Speaker 1>by various individuals um where you can log into this

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<v Speaker 1>proxy site and then from the proxy site you can

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<v Speaker 1>then access other websites. So let's say that you are

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<v Speaker 1>trying to access a video site that's hosted in another

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<v Speaker 1>country and that country says only only citizens of that

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<v Speaker 1>country can have access to that site. So you since

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<v Speaker 1>you're notice is and you know, you get an access

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<v Speaker 1>denied when you try to access that site directly. You're

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<v Speaker 1>not thinking of the BBC directly, are you, because they

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<v Speaker 1>completely do not allow citizens of the United States to

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<v Speaker 1>access their web shows. I can neither confirm nor deny that. Well,

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<v Speaker 1>you know, if you were in Europe, say you might

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<v Speaker 1>be able to access Hulu, so it would be the

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<v Speaker 1>same thing. Right, Let's just use a completely theoretical example

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<v Speaker 1>like that. So let's say that I'm in Europe and

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<v Speaker 1>I want access Hulu and I can't. Let's stop smirking

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<v Speaker 1>at any rate, So what what one potential solution? And

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<v Speaker 1>granted again we're not uh suggesting you do this, but

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<v Speaker 1>you could find a proxy site that's located within that

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<v Speaker 1>country and visit that that proxy site. Then you normally

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<v Speaker 1>have to fill out a form of some sort and

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<v Speaker 1>then use that to UH to navigate towards the site

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<v Speaker 1>you really want to go to. Now, from the perspective

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<v Speaker 1>of your target site, it looks like you're coming from

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<v Speaker 1>the proxy. They don't see that you're back in Europe

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<v Speaker 1>or Atlanta, Georgia, or wherever you happen to really be.

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<v Speaker 1>They see your location as being from whatever the proxy

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<v Speaker 1>site is and UH and so as a result, you

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<v Speaker 1>may be able to get access to this information that

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<v Speaker 1>otherwise you could not access. UM. That's the basic idea

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<v Speaker 1>behind these these proxy avoidance systems. UH. There are some

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<v Speaker 1>major major issues with proxy avoidance systems that we should

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<v Speaker 1>talk about. The first is that unless you are absolutely

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<v Speaker 1>certain that the person running the site is legitimate, you

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<v Speaker 1>risk having all of your traffic monitored and recorded and

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<v Speaker 1>scrutinized by whomever is running that site, because once you

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<v Speaker 1>fill out that form and that information, you're using their

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<v Speaker 1>site to to browse around. If they're tracking the information,

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<v Speaker 1>they can see what you're doing. So if you access

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<v Speaker 1>a site where you have to put in a user

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<v Speaker 1>name and password, there's a chance that they could have

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<v Speaker 1>access to that information. This is what we in the

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<v Speaker 1>Internet biz tend to refer to as a bad thing. Yeah, yes, exactly, So, UM,

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<v Speaker 1>definitely be careful. I, you know, don't recommend using proxy

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<v Speaker 1>sites on in general. I will not say that I

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<v Speaker 1>have never used a proxy site. I won't say that

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<v Speaker 1>I have either, right yeah, yeah, yeah. Was that it

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<v Speaker 1>for your your bad things? Yeah, that was it for

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<v Speaker 1>my bad thing. So that's that's the general low down

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<v Speaker 1>on on proxy avoidance systems. All right, all right, Well,

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<v Speaker 1>you know, if you were thinking of it from my

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<v Speaker 1>point of view, the one where I was talking about

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<v Speaker 1>your behind the corporate firewall and it's really annoying that

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<v Speaker 1>you can't get to your Gmail. Um, there were a

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<v Speaker 1>couple of things that that might work for you. Um.

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<v Speaker 1>Now this is an entirely different thing. Keeping your mind,

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<v Speaker 1>I mean, this is you being restricted by a uh

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<v Speaker 1>tight firewall. I'm looking for a way to fool the

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<v Speaker 1>proxy into letting you through. Well, uh, simple way to

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<v Speaker 1>do that might be just to add an S to

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<v Speaker 1>the h T t P. A lot of proxies, as

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<v Speaker 1>it turns out, corporate proxies are looking for HTTP calling

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<v Speaker 1>slash slash, and the website you're looking for, well, they

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<v Speaker 1>may not be looking for a secure version of that site,

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<v Speaker 1>and you may simply be able to fool the the

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<v Speaker 1>proxy server into letting you through simply by adding an

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<v Speaker 1>S to your hdt P. I'm not saying it'll work.

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<v Speaker 1>And again, this is another version of it's probably not

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<v Speaker 1>necessarily a good idea to do this yourself. I mean,

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<v Speaker 1>you could get caught surfing some site that you shouldn't

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<v Speaker 1>at work and get fired, So I wouldn't advocate doing that. Um. Also,

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<v Speaker 1>I know that some people have used, uh, the Google

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<v Speaker 1>language tools to get through things. Translating English to English

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<v Speaker 1>will let people through because it fools the fools the

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<v Speaker 1>website into thinking it's actually using Google for a useful purpose,

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<v Speaker 1>until of course they find out and block the English

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<v Speaker 1>to English translation as part of the u r L.

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<v Speaker 1>Because these services use your l's to block. I mean

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<v Speaker 1>they're they're putting those in specifically, so uh, you know,

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<v Speaker 1>that's why you can get through to Pandora for two

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<v Speaker 1>months and then somebody goes too much bandwidth and they

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<v Speaker 1>cut and they cut you off. You're talking like you

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<v Speaker 1>speak from experience here, Chris I mean, you're and I

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<v Speaker 1>just know that some people have done this, and I

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<v Speaker 1>also know that some people have in order to get

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<v Speaker 1>through instant messaging protocols. They find out they download a

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<v Speaker 1>multi protocol client like a Pigeon or trillion or something

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<v Speaker 1>like that digsby, and uh, they find out that their

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<v Speaker 1>their corporate UM I T people have blocked the servers

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<v Speaker 1>that go through there. Well, actually they're blocking the ports

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<v Speaker 1>in those cases probably, And if you do a search online,

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<v Speaker 1>you might find out that there are other ports that

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<v Speaker 1>use another server's chat. Servers that use the same protocols,

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<v Speaker 1>like for example, I c Q might use a number

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<v Speaker 1>of different servers and ports, and if you, you know,

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<v Speaker 1>play around with that, you might find out that, well,

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<v Speaker 1>some of them aren't blocked. Not that I would advocate

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<v Speaker 1>doing that losing your job, because that would be terrible.

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<v Speaker 1>That would I would not like that, and I would

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<v Speaker 1>have corporate parents. Wow. But that's uh, that see that

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<v Speaker 1>that was the kind of thing I was thinking about.

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<v Speaker 1>I do know people who were sty fold by that

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<v Speaker 1>lack of access to fun and games during work hours. Sure,

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<v Speaker 1>And I should also point out that proxy sites tend

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<v Speaker 1>to you know, they tend to come and go pretty

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<v Speaker 1>quickly because Uh, it turns out that a lot of

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<v Speaker 1>companies don't like people accessing proxy sites for the same

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<v Speaker 1>reason that they put the firewall up in the first place. Really,

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<v Speaker 1>so um, often they'll block access to those. But on

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<v Speaker 1>the flip side, for everyone that you lose access to,

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<v Speaker 1>it seems like two more pop up. Again. It's one

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<v Speaker 1>of those issues where you definitely have to do your

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<v Speaker 1>homework and make sure that whichever one you go to

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<v Speaker 1>is a reputable as far as that goes proxy site. UM.

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<v Speaker 1>And we should also point out that there are cases

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<v Speaker 1>where these sites have been very very important for people

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<v Speaker 1>who are let's say, overseas. Um. It turns out that

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<v Speaker 1>a lot of journalists in China have used proxy sites

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<v Speaker 1>in order to get information out of that country because

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<v Speaker 1>they're so restrictive. I mean, it's the great our Wall

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<v Speaker 1>of China is famous for restricting information in and out

0:13:04.679 --> 0:13:09.720
<v Speaker 1>of that country, and without things like proxy sites, Uh,

0:13:09.760 --> 0:13:12.160
<v Speaker 1>it would make it much more difficult for information to

0:13:12.320 --> 0:13:18.680
<v Speaker 1>pass across that firewall. So I mean, it's um, it's

0:13:18.800 --> 0:13:22.240
<v Speaker 1>it's a sticky issue. It's one that we actually debated

0:13:22.240 --> 0:13:24.720
<v Speaker 1>on whether or not we should even address this. But

0:13:24.840 --> 0:13:27.520
<v Speaker 1>then the information is out there and people want to

0:13:27.559 --> 0:13:31.600
<v Speaker 1>know about it. And really, I think our our listeners are,

0:13:31.640 --> 0:13:35.000
<v Speaker 1>on the whole, are very responsible and upstanding lot, wouldn't

0:13:35.040 --> 0:13:39.280
<v Speaker 1>you say, I'd say so, and they probably realized too that, uh,

0:13:39.360 --> 0:13:41.080
<v Speaker 1>you know, it's it's fun to talk about some of

0:13:41.080 --> 0:13:42.920
<v Speaker 1>these things, but when I talk when you talk about

0:13:43.200 --> 0:13:46.000
<v Speaker 1>losing your job or having your access restricted or you know,

0:13:46.040 --> 0:13:49.600
<v Speaker 1>getting into llegal trouble, that's another thing entirely. You don't

0:13:49.600 --> 0:13:52.760
<v Speaker 1>want to mess with that lightly, right, right, So, so, Tim,

0:13:52.800 --> 0:13:55.200
<v Speaker 1>We're sure you were just you know, curious, and we

0:13:55.240 --> 0:13:58.679
<v Speaker 1>hope that we've satisfied your curiosity with this discussion. Did

0:13:58.679 --> 0:14:03.880
<v Speaker 1>you have any I'm I'm dry, excellent, fantastic, So I'm

0:14:03.880 --> 0:14:06.720
<v Speaker 1>glad we were able to to to clear that up

0:14:06.720 --> 0:14:10.120
<v Speaker 1>for you. Tim. If any of you have any questions,

0:14:10.160 --> 0:14:12.600
<v Speaker 1>you can write us at podcasts at how stuff works

0:14:12.640 --> 0:14:15.480
<v Speaker 1>dot com. We love getting that email, so definitely right in.

0:14:16.040 --> 0:14:18.160
<v Speaker 1>And if you want to learn more about the Internet,

0:14:18.640 --> 0:14:22.280
<v Speaker 1>the web, how the web is different from the Internet,

0:14:22.400 --> 0:14:24.920
<v Speaker 1>all of these topics you can find right now at

0:14:24.960 --> 0:14:27.360
<v Speaker 1>how stuff works dot com. And we'll talk to you

0:14:27.400 --> 0:14:31.200
<v Speaker 1>again really soon for more on this and thousands of

0:14:31.200 --> 0:14:38.400
<v Speaker 1>other topics. Is it how stuff works? Dot com brought

0:14:38.400 --> 0:14:41.600
<v Speaker 1>to you by the reinvented two thousand twelve camera. It's ready,

0:14:41.760 --> 0:14:42.200
<v Speaker 1>are you