Privoxy Frequently Asked Questions
-Copyright © 2001, 2002 by Privoxy Developers
+Copyright © 2001-2006 by Privoxy Developers
-$Id: faq.sgml,v 2.2 2002/09/05 04:25:05 hal9 Exp $
+$Id: faq.sgml,v 2.23 2006/10/21 22:19:52 hal9 Exp $
-This FAQ gives quick answers to frequently asked questions about Privoxy. It
-can't and doesn't replace the User Manual.
+This FAQ gives quick answers to frequently asked questions about Privoxy. It is
+not a substitute for the Privoxy User Manual.
+
+What is Privoxy?
Privoxy is a web proxy with advanced filtering capabilities for protecting
-privacy, filtering web page content, managing cookies, controlling access, and
+privacy, modifying web page data, managing cookies, controlling access, and
removing ads, banners, pop-ups and other obnoxious Internet junk. Privoxy has a
very flexible configuration and can be customized to suit individual needs and
tastes. Privoxy has application for both stand-alone systems and multi-user
Privoxy is based on Internet Junkbuster (tm).
-Please note that this document is constantly evolving. This copy represents the
-state at the release of version 3.1.1. You can find the latest version of the
+Please note that this document is a work in progress. This copy represents the
+state at the release of version 3.0.6. You can find the latest version of the
document at http://www.privoxy.org/faq/. Please see the Contact section if you
want to contact the developers.
Table of Contents
1. General Information
- 1.1. What is this new version of Privoxy?
- 1.2. Why "Privoxy"? Why a name change at all?
- 1.3. How does Privoxy differ from the old Junkbuster?
- 1.4. What is a "proxy"? How does Privoxy work?
- 1.5. How does Privoxy know what is an ad, and what is not?
- 1.6. Can Privoxy make mistakes? This does not sound very scientific.
- 1.7. My browser does the same things as Privoxy. Why should I use Privoxy
+ 1.1. Who should use Privoxy?
+ 1.2. Is Privoxy the best choice for me?
+ 1.3. What is a "proxy"? How does Privoxy work?
+ 1.4. Does Privoxy do anything more than ad blocking?
+ 1.5. What is this new version of "Junkbuster"?
+ 1.6. Why "Privoxy"? Why change the name from Junkbuster at all?
+ 1.7. How does Privoxy differ from the old Junkbuster?
+ 1.8. How does Privoxy know what is an ad, and what is not?
+ 1.9. Can Privoxy make mistakes? This does not sound very scientific.
+ 1.10. Will I have to configure Privoxy before I can use it?
+ 1.11. Can Privoxy run as a server on a network?
+ 1.12. My browser does the same things as Privoxy. Why should I use Privoxy
at all?
- 1.8. Is there is a license or fee? What about a warranty? Registration?
- 1.9. I would like to help you, what do I do?
+ 1.13. Why should I trust Privoxy?
+ 1.14. Is there is a license or fee? What about a warranty? Registration?
+ 1.15. Can Privoxy remove spyware? Adware? Viruses?
+ 1.16. Can I use Privoxy with other ad-blocking software?
+ 1.17. I would like to help you, what can I do?
- 1.9.1. Money Money Money
- 1.9.2. Software
- 1.9.3. You want to work with us?
+ 1.17.1. Would you like to participate?
+ 1.17.2. Contribute!
+ 1.17.3. Software
2. Installation
2.1. Which browsers are supported by Privoxy?
2.2. Which operating systems are supported?
- 2.3. Can I install Privoxy over Junkbuster?
- 2.4. I just installed Privoxy. Is there anything special I have to do now?
- 2.5. What is the proxy address of Privoxy?
- 2.6. I just installed Privoxy, and nothing is happening. All the ads are
+ 2.3. Can I use Privoxy with my email client?
+ 2.4. Can I install Privoxy over Junkbuster?
+ 2.5. I just installed Privoxy. Is there anything special I have to do now?
+ 2.6. What is the proxy address of Privoxy?
+ 2.7. I just installed Privoxy, and nothing is happening. All the ads are
there. What's wrong?
+ 2.8. I get a "Privoxy is not being used" dummy page although Privoxy is
+ running and being used.
3. Configuration
- 3.1. Where can I get updated Actions Files?
- 3.2. Can I use my old config files?
- 3.3. What is an "actions" file?
- 3.4. The "actions" concept confuses me. Please list some of these
+ 3.1. What exactly is an "actions" file?
+ 3.2. The "actions" concept confuses me. Please list some of these
"actions".
- 3.5. How are actions files configured? What is the easiest way to do this?
- 3.6. There are several different "actions" files. What are the differences?
- 3.7. How can I make my Yahoo/Hotmail/GMX account work?
- 3.8. What's the difference between the "Cautious", "Medium" and "Advanced"
+ 3.3. How are actions files configured? What is the easiest way to do this?
+ 3.4. There are several different "actions" files. What are the differences?
+ 3.5. Where can I get updated Actions Files?
+ 3.6. Can I use my old config files?
+ 3.7. Why is the configuration so complicated?
+ 3.8. How can I make my Yahoo/Hotmail/Gmail account work?
+ 3.9. What's the difference between the "Cautious", "Medium" and "Advanced"
defaults?
- 3.9. Why can I change the configuration with a browser? Does that not raise
- security issues?
- 3.10. What is the default.filter file? What is a "filter"?
- 3.11. How can I set up Privoxy to act as a proxy for my LAN?
- 3.12. Instead of ads, now I get a checkerboard pattern. I don't want to see
+ 3.10. Why can I change the configuration with a browser? Does that not
+ raise security issues?
+ 3.11. What is the default.filter file? What is a "filter"?
+ 3.12. How can I set up Privoxy to act as a proxy for my LAN?
+ 3.13. Instead of ads, now I get a checkerboard pattern. I don't want to see
anything.
- 3.13. Why would anybody want to see a checkerboard pattern?
- 3.14. I see some images being replaced by a text instead of the
+ 3.14. Why would anybody want to see a checkerboard pattern?
+ 3.15. I see some images being replaced by a text instead of the
checkerboard image. Why and how do I get rid of this?
- 3.15. Can Privoxy run as a service on Win2K/NT?
- 3.16. How can I make Privoxy work with other proxies like Squid?
- 3.17. Can I just set Privoxy to use port 80 and thus avoid individual
+ 3.16. Can Privoxy run as a service on Win2K/NT/XP?
+ 3.17. How can I make Privoxy work with other proxies like Squid or Tor?
+ 3.18. Can I just set Privoxy to use port 80 and thus avoid individual
browser configuration?
- 3.18. Can Privoxy run as a "transparent" proxy?
+ 3.19. Can Privoxy run as a "transparent" proxy?
+ 3.20. How can I configure Privoxy for use with Outlook Express?
+ 3.21. How can I have separate rules just for HTML mail?
+ 3.22. I sometimes notice cookies sneaking through. How?
+ 3.23. Are all cookies bad? Why?
+ 3.24. How can I allow permanent cookies for my trusted sites?
+ 3.25. Can I have separate configurations for different users?
+ 3.26. Can I set-up Privoxy as a whitelist of "good" sites?
+ 3.27. How can I turn off ad-blocking?
+ 3.28. How can I have custom template pages, like the BLOCKED page?
+ 3.29. How can I remove the "Go There Anyway" link from the BLOCKED page?
4. Miscellaneous
4.1. How much does Privoxy slow my browsing down? This has to add extra
time to browsing.
- 4.2. I noticed considerable delays in page requests compared to the old
+ 4.2. I notice considerable delays in page requests compared to the old
Junkbuster. What's wrong?
4.3. What are "http://config.privoxy.org/" and "http://p.p/"?
- 4.4. Do you still maintain the blocklists?
- 4.5. How can I submit new ads?
- 4.6. How can I hide my IP address?
- 4.7. Can Privoxy guarantee I am anonymous?
- 4.8. Might some things break because header information or content is being
- altered?
- 4.9. Can Privoxy act as a "caching" proxy to speed up web browsing?
- 4.10. What about as a firewall? Can Privoxy protect me?
- 4.11. I have large empty spaces / a checkerboard pattern now where ads used
+ 4.4. How can I submit new ads, or report problems?
+ 4.5. If I do submit missed ads, will they be included in future updates?
+ 4.6. Why doesn't anyone answer my support request?
+ 4.7. How can I hide my IP address?
+ 4.8. Can Privoxy guarantee I am anonymous?
+ 4.9. A test site says I am not using a Proxy.
+ 4.10. How do I use Privoxy together with Tor?
+ 4.11. Might some things break because header information or content is
+ being altered?
+ 4.12. Can Privoxy act as a "caching" proxy to speed up web browsing?
+ 4.13. What about as a firewall? Can Privoxy protect me?
+ 4.14. I have large empty spaces / a checkerboard pattern now where ads used
to be. Why?
- 4.12. How can Privoxy filter Secure (HTTPS) URLs?
- 4.13. Privoxy runs as a "server". How secure is it? Do I need to take any
+ 4.15. How can Privoxy filter Secure (HTTPS) URLs?
+ 4.16. Privoxy runs as a "server". How secure is it? Do I need to take any
special precautions?
- 4.14. How can I temporarily disable Privoxy?
- 4.15. When "disabled" is Privoxy totally out of the picture?
- 4.16. My logs show Privoxy "crunches" ads, but also its own CGI pages. What
- is a "crunch"?
- 4.17. Can Privoxy effect files that I download from a webserver? FTP
+ 4.17. How can I temporarily disable Privoxy?
+ 4.18. When "disabled" is Privoxy totally out of the picture?
+ 4.19. How can I tell Privoxy to totally ignore certain sites?
+ 4.20. My logs show Privoxy "crunches" ads, but also its own internal CGI
+ pages. What is a "crunch"?
+ 4.21. Can Privoxy effect files that I download from a webserver? FTP
server?
- 4.18. Where can I find more information about Privoxy and related issues?
+ 4.22. I just downloaded a Perl script, and Privoxy altered it! Yikes, what
+ is wrong!
+ 4.23. Should I continue to use a "HOSTS" file for ad-blocking?
+ 4.24. Where can I find more information about Privoxy and related issues?
+ 4.25. I've noticed that Privoxy changes "Microsoft" to "MicroSuck"! Why are
+ you manipulating my browsing?
5. Troubleshooting
- 5.1. I just upgraded and am getting "connection refused" with every web
- page?
- 5.2. I just added a new rule, but the steenkin ad is still getting through.
+ 5.1. I cannot connect to any websites. Or, I am getting "connection
+ refused" message with every web page. Why?
+ 5.2. Why am I getting a 503 Error (WSAECONNREFUSED) on every page?
+ 5.3. I just added a new rule, but the steenkin ad is still getting through.
How?
- 5.3. One of my favorite sites does not work with Privoxy. What can I do?
- 5.4. After installing Privoxy, I have to log in every time I start IE. What
+ 5.4. One of my favorite sites does not work with Privoxy. What can I do?
+ 5.5. After installing Privoxy, I have to log in every time I start IE. What
gives?
- 5.5. I cannot connect to any FTP sites. Privoxy seems to be blocking me.
- 5.6. In Mac OSX, I can't configure Microsoft Internet Explorer to use
+ 5.6. I cannot connect to any FTP sites. Privoxy is blocking me.
+ 5.7. In Mac OSX, I can't configure Microsoft Internet Explorer to use
Privoxy as the HTTP proxy.
- 5.7. In Mac OSX, I dragged the Privoxy folder to the trash in order to
+ 5.8. In Mac OSX, I dragged the Privoxy folder to the trash in order to
uninstall it. Now the finder tells me I don't have sufficient
privileges to empty the trash.
- 5.8. I get a completely blank page at one site. "View Source" shows only:
- <html><body></body></html>.
+ 5.9. In Mac OSX Panther (10.3), images often fail to load and/or I
+ experience random delays in page loading. I'm using localhost as my
+ browser's proxy setting.
+ 5.10. I get a completely blank page at one site. "View Source" shows only:
+ <html><body></body></html>. Without Privoxy the page loads fine.
+ 5.11. My logs show many "Unable to get my own hostname" lines. Why?
+ 5.12. When I try to launch Privoxy, I get an error message "port 8118 is
+ already in use" (or similar wording). Why?
+ 5.13. Pages with UTF-8 fonts are garbled.
+ 5.14. Why are binary files (such as images) corrupted when Privoxy is used?
+ 5.15. What is the "demoronizer" and why is it there?
+ 5.16. Why do I keep seeing "PrivoxyWindowOpen()" in raw source code?
+ 5.17. I am getting too many DNS errors like "404 No Such Domain". Why can't
+ Privoxy do this better?
+ 5.18. At one site Privoxy just hangs, and starts taking all CPU. Why is
+ this?
+ 5.19. I just installed Privoxy, and all my browsing has slowed to a crawl.
+ What gives?
+ 5.20. Why do my filters work on some sites but not on others?
6. Contacting the developers, Bug Reporting and Feature Requests
6.1. Get Support
- 6.2. Report Bugs
+ 6.2. Reporting Problems
+
+ 6.2.1. Reporting Ads or Other Configuration Problems
+ 6.2.2. Reporting Bugs
+
6.3. Request New Features
- 6.4. Report Ads or Other Actions-Related Problems
- 6.5. Other
+ 6.4. Other
7. Privoxy Copyright, License and History
1. General Information
-1.1. What is this new version of Privoxy?
+1.1. Who should use Privoxy?
+
+Anyone that is interested in security, privacy, or in finer-grained control
+over their web and Internet experience. Everyone is encouraged to try Privoxy.
+
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+1.2. Is Privoxy the best choice for me?
+
+Privoxy is certainly a good choice, especially for those who want more control
+and security. Those that have the ability to fine-tune their installation will
+benefit the most. One of Privoxy's strength's is that it is highly configurable
+giving you the ability to completely personalize your installation. Being
+familiar with, or at least having an interest in learning about HTTP and other
+networking protocols, HTML, IP (Internet Protocol), and "Regular Expressions"
+will be a big plus and will help you get the most out of Privoxy. A new
+installation just includes a very basic configuration. The user should take
+this as a starting point only, and enhance it as he or she sees fit. In fact,
+the user is encouraged, and expected to, fine-tune the configuration.
+
+Much of Privoxy's configuration can be done with a Web browser. But there are
+areas where configuration is done using a text editor to edit configuration
+files.
+
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+1.3. What is a "proxy"? How does Privoxy work?
+
+A web proxy is a service, based on a software such as Privoxy, that clients
+(i.e. browsers) can use instead of connecting directly to web servers on the
+Internet. The clients then ask the proxy to fetch the objects they need (web
+pages, images, movies etc) on their behalf, and when the proxy has done so, it
+hands the results back to the client. It is a "go-between". See the Wikipedia
+proxy definition for more.
+
+There are many reasons to use web proxies, such as security (firewalling),
+efficiency (caching) and others, and there are any number of proxies to
+accommodate those needs.
+
+Privoxy is a proxy that is primarily focused on privacy protection, ad and junk
+elimination and freeing the user from restrictions placed on his activities.
+Sitting between your browser(s) and the Internet, it is in a perfect position
+to filter outbound personal information that your browser is leaking, as well
+as inbound junk. It uses a variety of techniques to do this, all of which are
+under your complete control via the various configuration files and options.
+Being a proxy also makes it easier to share configurations among multiple
+browsers and/or users.
+
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+1.4. Does Privoxy do anything more than ad blocking?
-In the beginning, there was the Internet Junkbuster, by Anonymous Coders and
-Junkbusters Corporation. It saved many users a lot of pain in the early days of
-web advertising and user tracking.
+Yes, ad blocking is but one possible use. There are many, many ways Privoxy can
+be used to sanitize and customize web browsing.
+
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+1.5. What is this new version of "Junkbuster"?
+
+A long time ago, there was the Internet Junkbuster, by Anonymous Coders and
+Junkbusters Corporation. This saved many users a lot of pain in the early days
+of web advertising and user tracking.
But the web, its protocols and standards, and with it, the techniques for
-forcing users to consume ads, give up autonomy over their browsing, and for
-spying on them, kept evolving. Unfortunately, the Internet Junkbuster did not.
-Version 2.0.2, published in 1998, was (and is) the last official release
-available from Junkbusters Corporation. Fortunately, it had been released under
-the GNU GPL, which allowed further development by others.
+forcing ads on users, give up autonomy over their browsing, and for tracking
+them, keeps evolving. Unfortunately, the Internet Junkbuster did not. Version
+2.0.2, published in 1998, was (and is) the last official release available from
+Junkbusters Corporation. Fortunately, it had been released under the GNU GPL,
+which allowed further development by others.
So Stefan Waldherr started maintaining an improved version of the software, to
which eventually a number of people contributed patches. It could already
inside out, upside down, and then reassembled it, adding many new features
along the way.
-The result of this is Privoxy, whose first stable release, 3.0, was released
+The result of this is Privoxy, whose first stable version, 3.0, was released
August, 2002.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-1.2. Why "Privoxy"? Why a name change at all?
+1.6. Why "Privoxy"? Why change the name from Junkbuster at all?
-Privoxy is the "Privacy Enhancing Proxy". Also, its content modification and
-junk suppression allow you to browse your "private edition" of the web.
+Though outdated, Junkbusters Corporation continues to offer their original
+version of the Internet Junkbuster, so publishing our Junkbuster-derived
+software under the same name led to confusion.
-Junkbusters Corporation continues to offer their original version of the
-Internet Junkbuster, so publishing our Junkbuster-derived software under the
-same name led to confusion.
+There are also potential legal complications from our use of the Junkbuster
+name, which is a registered trademark of Junkbusters Corporation. There are,
+however, no objections from Junkbusters Corporation to the Privoxy project
+itself, and they, in fact, still share our ideals and goals.
-There are also potential legal complications from the continued use of the
-Junkbuster name, which is a registered trademark of Junkbusters Corporation.
-There are, however, no objections from Junkbusters Corporation to the Privoxy
-project itself, and they, in fact, still share our ideals and goals.
+The developers also believed that there are so many improvements over the
+original code, that it was time to make a clean break from the past and make a
+name in their own right.
-The developers also believed that there are so many changes from the original
-code, that it was time to make a clean break from the past and make a name in
-their own right, especially now with the pending release of version 3.0.
+Privoxy is the "Privacy Enhancing Proxy". Also, its content modification and
+junk suppression gives you, the user, more control, more freedom, and allows
+you to browse your personal and "private edition" of the web.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-1.3. How does Privoxy differ from the old Junkbuster?
+1.7. How does Privoxy differ from the old Junkbuster?
Privoxy picks up where Junkbuster left off. All the old features remain. The
new Privoxy still blocks ads and banners, still manages cookies, and still
-helps protect your privacy. But, these are all enhanced, and many new features
-have been added, all in the same vein.
+helps protect your privacy. But, these are all greatly enhanced, and many, many
+new features have been added, all in the same vein.
The configuration has changed significantly as well. This is something that
users will notice right off the bat if upgrading from Junkbuster 2.0.x. The
"blocklist" "cookielist", "imagelist" and much more has been combined into the
-"actions" files, with a completely different syntax. See the note to upgraders
-for details.
+"actions" files, with a completely different syntax. See the What's New page
+for the latest updates.
Privoxy's new features include:
config.privoxy.org/ (shortcut: http://p.p/). Browser-based tracing of rule
and filter effects. Remote toggling.
- * Web page content filtering (removes banners based on size, invisible
- "web-bugs", JavaScript and HTML annoyances, pop-up windows, etc.)
+ * Web page filtering (text replacements, removes banners based on size,
+ invisible "web-bugs", JavaScript and HTML annoyances, pop-up windows,
+ header manipulation, etc.)
* Modularized configuration that allows for standard settings and user
settings to reside in separate files, so that installing updated actions
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-1.4. What is a "proxy"? How does Privoxy work?
-
-A web proxy is a service, based on a software such as Privoxy, that clients
-(i.e. browsers) can use instead of connecting directly to the web servers on
-the Internet. The clients then ask the proxy to fetch the objects they need
-(web pages, images, movies etc) on their behalf, and when the proxy has done
-so, it hands the results back to the client.
-
-There are many reasons to use web proxies, such as security (firewalling),
-efficiency (caching) and others, and there are just as many different proxies
-to accommodate those needs.
-
-Privoxy is a proxy that is solely focused on privacy protection and junk
-elimination. Sitting between your browser(s) and the Internet, it is in a
-perfect position to filter outbound personal information that your browser is
-leaking, as well as inbound junk. It uses a variety of techniques to do this,
-all of which are under your control via the various configuration files and
-options.
-
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-
-1.5. How does Privoxy know what is an ad, and what is not?
+1.8. How does Privoxy know what is an ad, and what is not?
Privoxy's approach to blocking ads is twofold:
their banners from a directory called "banners"!) and the host (blocking the
big banner hosting services like doublecklick.net already helps a lot). Privoxy
takes advantage of this fact by using URL patterns to sort out and block the
-requests for banners.
+requests for things that sound like they would be ads or banners.
Second, banners tend to come in certain sizes. But you can't tell the size of
an image by its URL without downloading it, and if you do, it's too late to
the first place.
Both of this involves a certain amount of guesswork and is, of course, freely
-configurable.
+and readily configurable.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-1.6. Can Privoxy make mistakes? This does not sound very scientific.
+1.9. Can Privoxy make mistakes? This does not sound very scientific.
Actually, it's a black art ;-) And yes, it is always possible to have a broad
-rule accidentally block or change something by mistake. There is a good chance
-you may run into such a situation at some point. It is tricky writing rules to
-cover every conceivable possibility, and not occasionally get false positives.
+rule accidentally block or change something by mistake. You will almost surely
+run into such situations at some point. It is tricky writing rules to cover
+every conceivable possibility, and not occasionally get false positives.
But this should not be a big concern since the Privoxy configuration is very
flexible, and includes tools to help identify these types of situations so they
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-1.7. My browser does the same things as Privoxy. Why should I use Privoxy at
+1.10. Will I have to configure Privoxy before I can use it?
+
+No, not really. The default installation should give you a good starting point,
+and block most ads and unwanted content. Many of the more advanced features are
+off by default, and would require you to activate them.
+
+You do have to set up your browser to use Privoxy (see the Installation section
+below).
+
+And you will certainly run into situations where there are false positives, or
+ads not being blocked that you may not want to see. In these cases, you would
+certainly benefit by customizing Privoxy's configuration to more closely match
+your individual situation. And we would encourage you to do this. This is where
+the real power of Privoxy lies!
+
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+1.11. Can Privoxy run as a server on a network?
+
+Yes, Privoxy runs as a server already, and can easily be configured to "serve"
+more than one client. See How can I set up Privoxy to act as a proxy for my LAN
+below.
+
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+1.12. My browser does the same things as Privoxy. Why should I use Privoxy at
all?
Modern browsers do indeed have some of the same functionality as Privoxy. Maybe
can do a number of things that browsers just can't.
In addition, a proxy is good choice if you use multiple browsers, or have a LAN
-with multiple computers. This way all the configuration is in one place, and
-you don't have to maintain a similar configuration for possibly many browsers.
+with multiple computers since Privoxy can run as a server application. This way
+all the configuration is in one place, and you don't have to maintain a similar
+configuration for possibly many browsers or users.
+
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+1.13. Why should I trust Privoxy?
+
+The most important reason is because you have access to everything, and you can
+control everything. You can check every line of every configuration file
+yourself. You can check every last bit of source code should you desire. And
+even if you can't read code, there should be some comfort in knowing that
+thousands of other people can, and do read it. You can build the software from
+scratch, if you want, so that you know the executable is clean, and that it is
+yours. In fact, we encourage this level of scrutiny. It is one reason we use
+Privoxy ourselves.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-1.8. Is there is a license or fee? What about a warranty? Registration?
+1.14. Is there is a license or fee? What about a warranty? Registration?
Privoxy is licensed under the GNU General Public License (GPL). It is free to
use, copy, modify or distribute as you wish under the terms of this license.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-1.9. I would like to help you, what do I do?
+1.15. Can Privoxy remove spyware? Adware? Viruses?
+
+No. Privoxy cannot remove anything. It is not a removal tool. It is a
+preventative. Privoxy can help prevent contact from sites that use such tactics
+with appropriate configuration rules, and thus could conceivably prevent
+contamination from such sites.
+
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+1.16. Can I use Privoxy with other ad-blocking software?
+
+Privoxy should work fine with other proxies and other software in general.
+
+But it is probably not necessary to use Privoxy in conjunction with other
+ad-blocking products, and this could conceivably cause undesirable results. It
+would be better to choose one software or the other and work a little to tweak
+its configuration to your liking.
+
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+1.17. I would like to help you, what can I do?
+
+1.17.1. Would you like to participate?
+
+Well, we always need help. There is something for everybody who wants to help
+us. We welcome new developers, packagers, testers, documentation writers or
+really anyone with a desire to help in any way. You DO NOT need to be a
+"programmer". There are many other tasks available. In fact, the programmers
+often can't spend as much time programming because of some of the other, more
+mundane things that need to be done, like checking the Tracker feedback
+sections.
+
+So first thing, get an account on SourceForge.net and mail your id to the
+developers mailing list. Then, please read the Developer's Manual, at least the
+pertinent sections.
-1.9.1. Money Money Money
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+1.17.2. Contribute!
We, of course, welcome donations and could use money for domain registering,
buying software to test Privoxy with, and, of course, for regular world-wide
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-1.9.2. Software
+1.17.3. Software
If you are a vendor of a web-related software like a browser, web server or
proxy, and would like us to ensure that Privoxy runs smoothly with your
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-1.9.3. You want to work with us?
-
-Well, helping the team is always a good idea. We welcome new developers,
-packaging gurus or documentation writers. Simply get an account on
-SourceForge.net and mail your id to the developers mailing list. Then read the
-Developer's Manual.
-
-Once we have added you to the team, you'll have write access to the CVS
-repository, and together we'll find a suitable task for you.
-
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-
2. Installation
2.1. Which browsers are supported by Privoxy?
Any browser that can be configured to use a proxy, which should be virtually
-all browsers. Direct browser support is not necessary since Privoxy runs as a
+all browsers, including Firefox, Internet Explorer, and Opera among others.
+Direct browser support is not an absolute requirement since Privoxy runs as a
separate application and talks to the browser in the standardized HTTP
protocol, just like a web server does.
2.2. Which operating systems are supported?
At present, Privoxy is known to run on Windows(95, 98, ME, 2000, XP), Linux
-(RedHat, SuSE, Debian, Conectiva, Gentoo, Slackware), Mac OSX, OS/2, AmigaOS,
-BeOS, FreeBSD, NetBSD, Solaris, and more flavors of Unix.
+(RedHat, SuSE, Debian, Fedora, Gentoo, Slackware and others), Mac OSX, OS/2,
+AmigaOS, FreeBSD, NetBSD, OpenBSD, Solaris, and various other flavors of Unix.
But any operating system that runs TCP/IP, can conceivably take advantage of
Privoxy in a networked situation where Privoxy would run as a server on a LAN
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-2.3. Can I install Privoxy over Junkbuster?
+2.3. Can I use Privoxy with my email client?
+
+As long as there is some way to set a HTTP proxy for the client, then yes, any
+application can be used, whether it is strictly speaking a "browser" or not.
+Though this may not be the best approach for dealing with some of the common
+abuses of HTML in email. See How can I configure Privoxy with Outlook Express?
+below for more on this.
+
+Be aware that HTML email presents a number of unique security and privacy
+related issues, that can require advanced skills to overcome. The developers
+recommend using email clients that can be configured to convert HTML to plain
+text for these reasons.
+
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+2.4. Can I install Privoxy over Junkbuster?
We recommend you un-install Junkbuster first to minimize conflicts and
confusion. You may want to save your old configuration files for future
reference. The configuration files and syntax have substantially changed, so
you will need to manually port your old patterns. See the note to upgraders and
-installation chapter in the user manual for details.
+installation chapter in the User Manual for details.
Note: Some installers may automatically un-install Junkbuster, if present!
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-2.4. I just installed Privoxy. Is there anything special I have to do now?
+2.5. I just installed Privoxy. Is there anything special I have to do now?
All browsers must be told to use Privoxy as a proxy by specifying the correct
proxy address and port number in the appropriate configuration area for the
-browser. See below. You should also flush your browser's memory and disk cache
-to get rid of any cached junk items.
+browser. See the User Manual for more details. You should also flush your
+browser's memory and disk cache to get rid of any cached junk items, and remove
+any stored cookies.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-2.5. What is the proxy address of Privoxy?
+2.6. What is the proxy address of Privoxy?
If you set up the Privoxy to run on the computer you browse from (rather than
your ISP's server or some networked computer on a LAN), the proxy will be on
Privoxy can also be used to proxy for a Local Area Network. In this case, your
would enter either the IP address of the LAN host where Privoxy is running, or
-the equivalent hostname. Port assignment would be same as above. Note that
-Privoxy doesn't listen on any LAN interfaces by default.
+the equivalent hostname, e.g. 192.168.1.1. Port assignment would be same as
+above. Note that Privoxy doesn't listen on any LAN interfaces by default.
-Privoxy does not currently handle protocols such as FTP, SMTP, IM, IRC, ICQ, or
-other Internet protocols.
+Privoxy does not currently handle any other protocols such as FTP, SMTP, IM,
+IRC, ICQ, etc. Be sure that proxying any of these other protocols is not
+activated.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-2.6. I just installed Privoxy, and nothing is happening. All the ads are there.
+2.7. I just installed Privoxy, and nothing is happening. All the ads are there.
What's wrong?
Did you configure your browser to use Privoxy as a proxy? It does not sound
like it. See above. You might also try flushing the browser's caches to force a
full re-reading of pages. You can verify that Privoxy is running, and your
-browser is correctly configured by entering the special URL: http://
-config.privoxy.org/. This should take you to a page titled "This is Privoxy.."
-with access to Privoxy's internal configuration. If you see this, then you are
-good to go. If you receive a page saying "Privoxy is not running", then the
-browser is not set up to use your Privoxy installation. If you receive anything
-else (probably nothing at all), it could either be that the browser is not set
-up correctly, or that Privoxy is not running at all. Check the log file.
+browser is correctly configured by entering the special URL: http://p.p/. This
+should take you to a page titled "This is Privoxy.." with access to Privoxy's
+internal configuration. If you see this, then you are good to go. If you
+receive a page saying "Privoxy is not running", then the browser is not set up
+to use your Privoxy installation. If you receive anything else (probably
+nothing at all), it could either be that the browser is not set up correctly,
+or that Privoxy is not running at all. Check the log file. For instructions on
+starting Privoxy and browser configuration, see the chapter on starting Privoxy
+in the User Manual.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-3. Configuration
+2.8. I get a "Privoxy is not being used" dummy page although Privoxy is running
+and being used.
-3.1. Where can I get updated Actions Files?
+First, make sure that Privoxy is really running and being used by visiting
+http://p.p/. You should see the Privoxy main page. If not, see the chapter on
+starting Privoxy in the User Manual.
-Based on your feedback and the continuing development, updated actions files
-will be made available on the files section of our project page.
+Now if http://p.p/ works for you, but other parts of Privoxy's web interface
+show the dummy page, your browser has cached a redirection it encountered
+before Privoxy was being used. You need to clear your browser's cache. Note
+that shift-reloading the dummy page won't help, since that'll only refresh the
+dummy page, not the redirection that lead you there.
-If you wish to receive an email notification whenever we release updates of
-Privoxy or the actions file, subscribe to our announce mailing list,
-ijbswa-announce@lists.sourceforge.net.
+The procedure for clearing the cache varies from browser to browser. For
+example, Mozilla/Netscape users would click Edit --> Preferences --> Advanced
+--> Cache and then click both "Clear Memory Cache" and "Clear Disk Cache". And,
+Firefox users would click Tools --> Options --> Privacy --> Cache and then
+click "Clear Cache Now".
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-3.2. Can I use my old config files?
-
-The syntax, number, and purpose of configuration files has substantially
-changed from Junkbuster and earlier versions of Privoxy. The old files, like
-blocklist will not work at all. If you are upgrading from a 2.0.x version, you
-will need to port your configuration data to the new format. Note that even the
-pattern syntax has changed! Even configuration files from the 2.9.x versions
-will need to be adapted, as configuration syntax has been very much in flow in
-the 2.9.x series.
-
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+3. Configuration
-3.3. What is an "actions" file?
+3.1. What exactly is an "actions" file?
-Actions files are where various actions that Privoxy might take while
-processing a certain request, are configured. Typically, you would define a set
-of default actions that apply to all URLs, then add exceptions to these
-defaults where needed.
+Privoxy utilizes the concept of " actions" that are used to manipulate and
+control web page data. Actions files are where these actions that Privoxy could
+take while processing a certain request, are configured. Typically, you would
+define a set of default actions that apply globally to all URLs, then add
+exceptions to these defaults where needed. There is a wide array of actions
+available that give the user a high degree of control and flexibility on how to
+process each and every web page.
Actions can be defined on a URL pattern basis, i.e. for single URLs, whole web
sites, groups or parts thereof etc. Actions can also be grouped together and
then applied to requests matching one or more patterns. There are many possible
-actions that might apply to any given site. As an example, if you are blocking
+actions that might apply to any given site. As an example, if you are blocking
cookies as one of your default actions, but need to accept cookies from a given
site, you would need to define an exception for this site in one of your
-actions files, preferably in user.action
+actions files, preferably in user.action.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-3.4. The "actions" concept confuses me. Please list some of these "actions".
+3.2. The "actions" concept confuses me. Please list some of these "actions".
For a comprehensive discussion of the actions concept, please refer to the
-actions file chapter in the user manual. It includes a list of all actions and
+actions file chapter in the User Manual. It includes a list of all actions and
an actions file tutorial to get you started.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-3.5. How are actions files configured? What is the easiest way to do this?
+3.3. How are actions files configured? What is the easiest way to do this?
Actions files are just text files in a special syntax and can be edited with a
text editor. But probably the easiest way is to access Privoxy's user interface
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-3.6. There are several different "actions" files. What are the differences?
+3.4. There are several different "actions" files. What are the differences?
-As of Privoxy v2.9.15, three actions files are being included, to be used for
+Three actions files are being included by the developers, to be used for
different purposes: These are default.action, the "main" actions file which is
-actively maintained by the Privoxy developers, user.action, where users are
-encouraged to make their private customizations, and standard.action, which is
-for internal Privoxy use only. Please see the actions chapter in the user
-manual for a more detailed explanation.
+actively maintained by the Privoxy developers and typically sets the default
+policies, user.action, where users are encouraged to make their private
+customizations, and standard.action, which is for internal Privoxy use only.
+Please see the actions chapter in the User Manual for a more detailed
+explanation.
Earlier versions included three different versions of the default.action file.
The new scheme allows for greater flexibility of local configuration, and for
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-3.7. How can I make my Yahoo/Hotmail/GMX account work?
+3.5. Where can I get updated Actions Files?
+
+Based on your feedback and the continuing development, updates of
+default.action will be made available from time to time on the files section of
+our project page.
+
+If you wish to receive an email notification whenever we release updates of
+Privoxy or the actions file, subscribe to our announce mailing list,
+ijbswa-announce@lists.sourceforge.net.
+
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+3.6. Can I use my old config files?
+
+The syntax and purpose of configuration files has remained the same throughout
+the 3.x series. Although each release contains updated, "improved" versions and
+it is recommended to use the newer configuration files. If upgrading from
+version prior to 3.0.4 the syntax for fast-redirects has changed. See the
+What's New section of the User Manual for details.
+
+But all configuration files have substantially changed from the Junkbuster
+days, and early versions of Privoxy 2.x. The old files, like blocklist will not
+work at all.
+
+Refer to the What's New page for information on configuration changes that may
+occur from one release to another.
+
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+3.7. Why is the configuration so complicated?
+
+"Complicated" is in the eye of the beholder. Those that are familiar with some
+of the underlying concepts, such as regular expression syntax, take to it like
+a fish takes to water. Also, software that tries hard to be "user friendly",
+often lacks sophistication and flexibility. There is always that trade-off
+there between power vs. easy-of-use. Furthermore, anyone is welcome to
+contribute ideas and implementations to enhance Privoxy.
+
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+3.8. How can I make my Yahoo/Hotmail/Gmail account work?
The default configuration shouldn't impact the usability of any of these
-services. It will, however, make all cookies temporary, so that your browser
+services. It may, however, make all cookies temporary, so that your browser
will forget your login credentials in between browser sessions. If you would
like not to have to log in manually each time you access those websites, simply
turn off all cookie handling for them in the user.action file. An example for
{ -crunch-incoming-cookies -crunch-outgoing-cookies -session-cookies-only }
.login.yahoo.com
+These kinds of sites are often quite complex and heavy with Javascript and thus
+"fragile". So if still a problem, we have an alias just for such sticky
+situations:
+
+# Gmail is a _fragile_ site:
+#
+{ fragile }
+ # Gmail is ...
+ mail.google.com
+
+Be sure to flush your browser's caches whenever making these kinds of changes,
+just to make sure the changes "take".
+
+Make sure the domain, host and path are appropriate as well. Your browser can
+tell you where you are specifically and you should use that information for
+your configuration settings. Note that above it is not referenced as gmail.com,
+which is a valid domain name.
+
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-3.8. What's the difference between the "Cautious", "Medium" and "Advanced"
+3.9. What's the difference between the "Cautious", "Medium" and "Advanced"
defaults?
Configuring Privoxy is not entirely trivial. To help you get started, we
-provide you with three different default action "packages" in the web based
-actions file editor at http://config.privoxy.org/show-status. The following
-table shows you, which of the most important features are enabled in each
-configuration:
-
-Table 1. Default Configurations
-
-+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
-|Feature |Cautious |Intermadiate |Advanced |
-|-------------------+------------------+-------------------+------------------|
-|Ad-blocking by URL |yes |yes |yes |
-|-------------------+------------------+-------------------+------------------|
-|Ad-filtering by |yes |yes |yes |
-|size | | | |
-|-------------------+------------------+-------------------+------------------|
-|GIF de-animation |no |yes |yes |
-|-------------------+------------------+-------------------+------------------|
-|Referer forging |no |yes |yes |
-|-------------------+------------------+-------------------+------------------|
-|Cookie handling |none |session-only |kill |
-|-------------------+------------------+-------------------+------------------|
-|Pop-up killing |no |yes |yes |
-|-------------------+------------------+-------------------+------------------|
-|Fast redirects |no |no |yes |
-|-------------------+------------------+-------------------+------------------|
-|HTML taming |yes |yes |yes |
-|-------------------+------------------+-------------------+------------------|
-|JavaScript taming |yes |yes |yes |
-|-------------------+------------------+-------------------+------------------|
-|Web-bug killing |yes |yes |yes |
-|-------------------+------------------+-------------------+------------------|
-|Fun text |no |no |yes |
-|replacements | | | |
-|-------------------+------------------+-------------------+------------------|
-|Image tag |no |no |yes |
-|reordering | | | |
-|-------------------+------------------+-------------------+------------------|
-|Ad-filtering by |no |no |yes |
-|link | | | |
-+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
+provide you with three different default action "profiles" in the web based
+actions file editor at http://config.privoxy.org/show-status. See the User
+Manual for a list of actions, and how the default profiles are set.
Where the defaults are likely to break some sites, exceptions for known popular
"problem" sites are included, but in general, the more aggressive your default
-settings are, the more exceptions you will have to make later. See the user
-manual for a more deatiled discussion.
+settings are, the more exceptions you will have to make later. New users are
+best to start off in "Cautious" setting. This is safest and will have the
+fewest problems. See the User Manual for a more detailed discussion.
+
+It should be noted that the "Advanced" profile (formerly known as the
+"Adventuresome" profile) is more aggressive, and will make use of some of
+Privoxy's advanced features. Use at your own risk!
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-3.9. Why can I change the configuration with a browser? Does that not raise
+3.10. Why can I change the configuration with a browser? Does that not raise
security issues?
It may seem strange that regular users can edit the config files with their
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-3.10. What is the default.filter file? What is a "filter"?
+3.11. What is the default.filter file? What is a "filter"?
-The default.filter file is where filters are defined, which can be used to
-modify or remove, web page content on the fly. Filters apply to anything in the
-page source, including HTML tags, and JavaScript. Regular expressions are used
-to accomplish this. There are a number of pre-defined filters to deal with
-common annoyances. The filters are only defined here, to invoke them, you need
-to use the filter action in one of the actions files. Filtering is
-automatically disabled for inappropriate MIME types.
+The default.filter file is where filters as supplied by the developers are
+defined. Filters are a special subset of actions that can be used to modify or
+remove, web page content on the fly. Filters apply to anything in the page
+source (and optionally both client and server headers), including HTML tags,
+and JavaScript. Regular expressions are used to accomplish this. There are a
+number of pre-defined filters to deal with common annoyances. The filters are
+only defined here, to invoke them, you need to use the filter action in one of
+the actions files. Filtering is automatically disabled for inappropriate MIME
+types.
If you are familiar with regular expressions, and HTML, you can look at the
provided default.filter with a text editor and define your own filters. This is
potentially a very powerful feature, but requires some expertise in both
-regular expressions and HTML/HTTP.
+regular expressions and HTML/HTTP. You should place any modifications to the
+default filters, or any new ones you create in a separate file, such as
+user.filter, so they won't be overwritten during upgrades. The ability to
+define multiple filter files in config is a new feature as of v. 3.0.5.
-Presently, there is no GUI editor option for this part of the configuration,
-but you can disable/enable the various pre-defined filters of the included
-default.filter file with the web-based actions file editor.
+There is no GUI editor option for this part of the configuration, but you can
+disable/enable the various pre-defined filters of the included default.filter
+file with the web-based actions file editor.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-3.11. How can I set up Privoxy to act as a proxy for my LAN?
+3.12. How can I set up Privoxy to act as a proxy for my LAN?
By default, Privoxy only responds to requests from 127.0.0.1 (localhost). To
have it act as a server for a network, this needs to be changed in the main
Save the file, and restart Privoxy. Configure all browsers on the network then
to use this address and port number.
+Alternately, you can have Privoxy listen on all available interfaces:
+
+ listen-address :8118
+
+And then use Privoxy's permit-access feature to limit connections. A firewall
+in this situation is recommended as well.
+
+The above steps should be the same for any TCP network, regardless of operating
+system.
+
If you run Privoxy on a LAN with untrusted users, we recommend that you
double-check the access control and security options!
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-3.12. Instead of ads, now I get a checkerboard pattern. I don't want to see
+3.13. Instead of ads, now I get a checkerboard pattern. I don't want to see
anything.
The replacement for blocked images can be controlled with the set-image-blocker
URLs match both a handle-as-image and block action.
If you want to see nothing, then change the set-image-blocker action to
-"blank". This can be done by editing the default.action file, or trough the
+"blank". This can be done by editing the user.action file, or through the
web-based actions file editor.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-3.13. Why would anybody want to see a checkerboard pattern?
+3.14. Why would anybody want to see a checkerboard pattern?
-Remember that telling which image is an ad and which isn't, is mostly
-guesswork. While we hope that the standard configuration is rather smart, it
-can and will make errors. The checkerboard image is visually decent, but it
-shows you that and where images were blocked, which can be very helpful in case
-some navigation aid or otherwise innocent image was erraneously blocked. Some
-people might also enjoy seeing how many banners they don't have to see..
+Remember that telling which image is an ad and which isn't, is an educated
+guess. While we hope that the standard configuration is rather smart, it will
+make occasional mistakes. The checkerboard image is visually decent, and it
+shows you where images have been blocked, which can be very helpful in case
+some navigation aid or otherwise innocent image was erroneously blocked. It is
+recommended for new users so they can "see" what is happening. Some people
+might also enjoy seeing how many banners they don't have to see.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-3.14. I see some images being replaced by a text instead of the checkerboard
+3.15. I see some images being replaced by a text instead of the checkerboard
image. Why and how do I get rid of this?
This happens when the banners are not embedded in the HTML code of the page
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-3.15. Can Privoxy run as a service on Win2K/NT?
+3.16. Can Privoxy run as a service on Win2K/NT/XP?
-Yes, it can run as a system service using srvany.exe. The only catch is that
-this will effectively disable the Privoxy icon (and its menu!) in the taskbar.
-You can have one or the other, but not both at this time :(
+Yes. Version 3.0.5 introduces full Windows service functionality. See the User
+Manual for details on how to install and configure Privoxy as a service.
-There is a pending feature request for this functionality. See the discussion
-at http://sourceforge.net/tracker/?func=detail&atid=361118&aid=485617&group_id=
-11118, for details, and a sample configuration.
+Earlier 3.x versions could run as a system service using srvany.exe. See the
+discussion at http://sourceforge.net/tracker/?func=detail&atid=361118&aid=
+485617&group_id=11118, for details, and a sample configuration.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-3.16. How can I make Privoxy work with other proxies like Squid?
+3.17. How can I make Privoxy work with other proxies like Squid or Tor?
This can be done and is often useful to combine the benefits of Privoxy with
-those of a caching proxy. See the forwarding chapter in the user manual which
-describes how to do this.
+those of a another proxy. See the forwarding chapter in the User Manual which
+describes how to do this, and the How do I use Privoxy together with Tor
+section below.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-3.17. Can I just set Privoxy to use port 80 and thus avoid individual browser
+3.18. Can I just set Privoxy to use port 80 and thus avoid individual browser
configuration?
No, its more complicated than that. This only works with special kinds of
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-3.18. Can Privoxy run as a "transparent" proxy?
+3.19. Can Privoxy run as a "transparent" proxy?
-No, Privoxy currently does not have this ability, though it is planned for a
+No, Privoxy currently does not have this ability, though it may be added in a
future release. Transparent proxies require special handling of the request
headers beyond what Privoxy is now capable of.
Chaining Privoxy behind another proxy that has this ability should work though.
-See the forwarding chapter in the user manual. As a transparent proxy to be
-used for chaining we recommend Transproxy (http://www.transproxy.nlc.net.au/).
+See the forwarding chapter in the User Manual. As a transparent proxy to be
+used for chaining we suggest Transproxy (http://transproxy.sourceforge.net/).
+
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+3.20. How can I configure Privoxy for use with Outlook Express?
+
+Outlook Express uses Internet Explorer components to both render HTML, and
+fetch any HTTP requests that may be embedded in an HTML email. So however you
+have Privoxy configured to work with IE, this configuration should
+automatically be shared.
+
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+3.21. How can I have separate rules just for HTML mail?
+
+The short answer is, you can't. Privoxy has no way of knowing which particular
+application makes a request, so there is no way to distinguish between web
+pages and HTML mail. Privoxy just blindly proxies all requests. In the case of
+Outlook Express (see above), OE uses IE anyway, and there is no way for Privoxy
+to ever be able to distinguish between them (nor could any other proxy type
+application for that matter).
+
+For a good discussion of some of the issues involved (including privacy and
+security issues), see http://sourceforge.net/tracker/?func=detail&atid=211118&
+aid=629518&group_id=11118.
+
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+3.22. I sometimes notice cookies sneaking through. How?
+
+Cookies can be set in several ways. The classic method is via the Set-Cookie
+HTTP header. This is straightforward, and an easy one to manipulate, such as
+the Privoxy concept of session-cookies-only. There is also the possibility of
+using Javascript to set cookies (Privoxy calls these content-cookies). This is
+trickier because the syntax can vary widely, and thus requires a certain amount
+of guesswork. It is not realistic to catch all of these short of disabling
+Javascript, which would break many sites. And lastly, if the cookies are
+embedded in a HTTPS/SSL secure session via Javascript, they are beyond
+Privoxy's reach.
+
+All in all, Privoxy can help manage cookies in general, can help minimize the
+loss of privacy posed by cookies, but can't realistically stop all cookies.
+
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+3.23. Are all cookies bad? Why?
+
+No, in fact there are many beneficial uses of cookies. Cookies are just a
+method that browsers can use to store data between pages, or between browser
+sessions. Sometimes there is a good reason for this, and the user's life is a
+bit easier as a result. But there is a long history of some websites taking
+advantage of this layer of trust, and using the data they glean from you and
+your browsing habits for their own purposes, and maybe to your potential
+detriment. Such sites are using you and storing their data on your system. That
+is why the security conscious watch from whom those cookies come, and why they
+really need to be there.
+
+See the Wikipedia cookie definition for more.
+
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+3.24. How can I allow permanent cookies for my trusted sites?
+
+There are several actions that relate to cookies. The default behavior is to
+allow only "session cookies", which means the cookies only last for the current
+browser session. This eliminates most kinds of abuse related to cookies. But
+there may be cases where we want cookies to last.
+
+To disable all cookie actions, so that cookies are allowed unrestricted, both
+in and out, for example.com:
+
+ { -crunch-incoming-cookies -crunch-outgoing-cookies -session-cookies-only -filter{content-cookies} }
+ .example.com
+
+Place the above in user.action. Note some of these may be off by default
+anyway, so this might be redundant, but there is no harm being explicit in what
+you want to happen. user.action includes an alias for this situation, called
+allow-all-cookies.
+
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+3.25. Can I have separate configurations for different users?
+
+Each instance of Privoxy has its own configuration, including such attributes
+as the TCP port that it listens on. What you can do is run multiple instances
+of Privoxy, each with a unique listen-address configuration setting, and
+configuration path, and then each of these can have their own configurations.
+Think of it as per-port configuration.
+
+Simple enough for a few users, but for large installations, consider having
+groups of users that might share like configurations.
+
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+3.26. Can I set-up Privoxy as a whitelist of "good" sites?
+
+Sure. There are a couple of things you can do for simple white-listing. Here's
+one real easy one:
+
+ ############################################################
+ # Blacklist
+ ############################################################
+ { +block }
+ / # Block *all* URLs
+
+ ############################################################
+ # Whitelist
+ ############################################################
+ { -block }
+ kids.example.com
+ toys.example.com
+ games.example.com
+
+This allows access to only those three sites by first blocking all URLs, and
+then subsequently allowing three specific exceptions.
+
+A more interesting approach is Privoxy's trustfile concept, which incorporates
+the notion of "trusted referrers". See the User Manual Trust documentation.
+
+These are fairly simple approaches and are not completely foolproof. There are
+various other configuration options that should be disabled (described
+elsewhere here and in the User Manual) so that users can't modify their own
+configuration and easily circumvent the whitelist.
+
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+3.27. How can I turn off ad-blocking?
+
+Ad blocking is achieved through a complex application of various Privoxy
+actions. These actions are deployed against simple images, banners, flash
+animations, text pages, JavaScript, pop-ups and pop-unders, etc., so its not as
+simple as just turning one or two actions off. The various actions that make up
+Privoxy ad blocking are hard-coded into the default configuration files. It has
+been assumed that everyone using Privoxy is interested in this particular
+feature.
+
+If you want to do without this, there are several approaches you can take: You
+can manually undo the many block rules in default.action. Or even easier, just
+create your own default.action file from scratch without the many ad blocking
+rules, and corresponding exceptions. Or lastly, if you are not concerned about
+the additional blocks that are done for privacy reasons, you can very easily
+over-ride all blocking with the following very simple rule in your user.action:
+
+ # Unblock everybody, everywhere
+ { -block }
+ / # UN-Block *all* URLs
+
+Or even a more comprehensive reversing of various ad related actions:
+
+ # Unblock everybody, everywhere, and turn off appropriate filtering, etc
+ { -block \
+ -filter{banners-by-size} \
+ -filter{banners-by-link} \
+ allow-popups \
+ }
+ / # UN-Block *all* URLs and allow ads
+
+This last "action" in this compound statement, allow-popups, is an alias that
+disables various pop-up blocking features.
+
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+3.28. How can I have custom template pages, like the BLOCKED page?
+
+Privoxy "templates" are specialized text files utilized by Privoxy for various
+purposes and can easily be modified using any text editor. All the template
+pages are installed in a sub-directory appropriately named: templates. Knowing
+something about HTML syntax will of course be helpful. You cannot rename any of
+these files, or create completely new templates, that is not possible. But you
+can change the page content to whatever you like. Be forewarned that these
+files are subject to being overwritten during upgrades, so be sure to save any
+customizations.
+
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+3.29. How can I remove the "Go There Anyway" link from the BLOCKED page?
+
+Editing the BLOCKED template page (see above) may dissuade some users, but this
+method is easily circumvented. Where you need this level of control, you should
+build Privoxy from source, and enable various features that are available as
+compile-time options. You should configure the sources as follows:
+
+ ./configure --disable-toggle --disable-editor --disable-force
+
+This will create an executable with hard-coded security features so that
+Privoxy does not allow easy bypassing of blocked sites, or changing the current
+configuration via any connected user's web browser. Some of these features can
+also be toggled on/off via options in Privoxy's main config file. But
+compiled-in compliance is a much better method of ensuring that a block is
+really a block.
+
+Default builds of Privoxy are typically built with these features disabled.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
4.1. How much does Privoxy slow my browsing down? This has to add extra time to
browsing.
-It should not slow you down any in real terms, and may actually help speed
-things up since ads, banners and other junk are not being displayed. The actual
-processing time required by Privoxy itself for each page, is relatively small
-in the overall scheme of things, and happens very quickly. This is typically
-more than offset by time saved not downloading and rendering ad images.
+How much of an impact depends on many things, including the CPU of the host
+system, how aggressive the configuration is, which specific actions are being
+triggered, the size of the page, the bandwidth of the connection, etc.
+
+Overall, it should not slow you down any in real terms, and may actually help
+speed things up since ads, banners and other junk are not typically being
+retrieved and displayed. The actual processing time required by Privoxy itself
+for each page, is relatively small in the overall scheme of things, and happens
+very quickly. This is typically more than offset by time saved not downloading
+and rendering ad images (if ad blocking is being used).
+
+"Filtering" content via the filter or deanimate-gifs actions will certainly
+cause a perceived slowdown, since the entire document needs to be buffered
+before displaying. And on very large documents, filtering may have some
+measurable impact. How much depends on the page size, the actual definition of
+the filter(s), etc. See below. Most other actions have little to no impact on
+speed.
-"Filtering" content via the filter or deanimate-gifs actions may cause a
-perceived slowdown, since the entire document needs to be buffered before
-displaying. See below.
+Also, when filtering is enabled, typically there is a disabling of compression,
+(see prevent-compression). This can have an impact on speed as well. Again, the
+page size, etc. will determine how much of an impact.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-4.2. I noticed considerable delays in page requests compared to the old
+4.2. I notice considerable delays in page requests compared to the old
Junkbuster. What's wrong?
If you use any filter action, such as filtering banners by size, web-bugs etc,
order for the filtering mechanism to work, and nothing is sent to the browser
during this time.
-The loading time does not really change in real numbers, but the feeling is
-different, because most browsers are able to start rendering incomplete
-content, giving the user a feeling of "it works". This effect is especially
-noticeable on slow dialup connections.
+The loading time typically does not really change much in real numbers, but the
+feeling is different, because most browsers are able to start rendering
+incomplete content, giving the user a feeling of "it works". This effect is
+more noticeable on slower dialup connections. Extremely large documents may
+have some impact on the time to load the page where there is filtering being
+done. But overall, the difference should be very minimal. If there is a big
+impact, then probably some other situation is contributing (like anti-virus
+software).
-Filtering is automatically disabled for inappropriate MIME types.
+Filtering is automatically disabled for inappropriate MIME types. But note that
+if the web server mis-reports the MIME type, then content that should not be
+filtered, could be. Privoxy only knows how to differentiate filterable content
+because of the MIME type as reported by the server, or because of some
+configuration setting that enables/disables filtering.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
server".
This also makes for a good test for your browser configuration: If entering the
-URL http://config.privoxy.org/ takes you to a page saying "This is Privoxy..",
-everything is OK. If you get a page saying "Privoxy is not working" instead,
-then your browser didn't use Privoxy for the request, hence it could not be
-intercepted, and you have accessed the real web site at config.privoxy.org.
+URL http://config.privoxy.org/ takes you to a page saying "This is Privoxy
+...", everything is OK. If you get a page saying "Privoxy is not working"
+instead, then your browser didn't use Privoxy for the request, hence it could
+not be intercepted, and you have accessed the real web site at
+config.privoxy.org.
With recent versions of Privoxy (version 2.9.x and later), the user interface
features information on the run time status, the configuration, and even a
Note that the built-in URLs from earlier versions of Junkbuster / Privoxy,
http://example.com/show-proxy-args and http://i.j.b/, are no longer supported.
If you still use such an old version, you should really consider upgrading to
-3.1.1.
+3.0.6.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-4.4. Do you still maintain the blocklists?
+4.4. How can I submit new ads, or report problems?
-No. The patterns for blocking now reside (among other things) in the actions
-files, which are actively maintained instead. See next question ...
+Please see the Contact section for various ways to interact with the
+developers.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-4.5. How can I submit new ads?
+4.5. If I do submit missed ads, will they be included in future updates?
-Yes, absolutely! Please see the Contact section for how to do that. Please note
-that you (technically) need the latest Privoxy version for this to work.
+Whether such submissions are eventually included in the default.action
+configuration file depends on how significant the issue is. We of course want
+to address any potential problem with major, high-profile sites such as Google,
+Yahoo, etc. Any site with global or regional reach, has a good chance of being
+a candidate. But at the other end of the spectrum are any number of smaller,
+low-profile sites such as for local clubs or schools. Since their reach and
+impact are much less, they are best handled by inclusion in the user's
+user.action, and thus would be unlikely to be included.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-4.6. How can I hide my IP address?
+4.6. Why doesn't anyone answer my support request?
-If you run both the browser and the proxy locally, you cannot hide your IP
-address with Privoxy or any other software. The server needs to know your IP
-address to send the answers back to you.
+Rest assured that it has been read and considered. Why it is not answered,
+could be for various reasons, including no one has a good answer for it, no one
+has had time to yet investigate it thoroughly, it has been reported numerous
+times already, or because not enough information was provided to help us help
+you. Your efforts are not wasted, and we do appreciate them.
-Fortunately there are many publicly usable anonymous proxies out there, which
-solve the problem by providing a further level of indirection between you and
-the web server, shared by many people, and thus letting your requests "drown"
-in white noise of unrelated requests as far as user tracking is concerned.
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+4.7. How can I hide my IP address?
+
+If you run both the browser and Privoxy locally, you cannot hide your IP
+address with Privoxy or ultimately any other software alone. The server needs
+to know your IP address so that it knows where to send the responses back.
-Most of them will, however, log your IP address and make it available to the
-authorities in case you abuse that anonymity for criminal purposes. In fact you
-can't even rule out that some of them only exist to *collect* information on
-(those suspicious) people with a more than average preference for privacy.
+There are many publicly usable "anonymous" proxies out there, which provide a
+further level of indirection between you and the web server.
-You can find a list of anonymous public proxies at multiproxy.org and many more
-through Google. A particularly interesting project is the JAP service offered
-by the Technical University of Dresden (http://anon.inf.tu-dresden.de/
-index_en.html.
+However, these proxies are called "anonymous" because you don't need a
+password, not because they would offer any real anonymity. Most of them will
+log your IP address and make it available to the authorities in case you
+violate the law of the country they run in. In fact you can't even rule out
+that some of them only exist to *collect* information on (those suspicious)
+people with a more than average preference for privacy.
-There is, however, even in the single-machine case the possibility to make the
-server believe that your machine is in fact a shared proxy serving a whole big
-LAN, and we are looking into that.
+Your best bet is to chain Privoxy with Tor, an EFF supported onion routing
+system. The configuration details can be found in How do I use Privoxy together
+with Tor section just below.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-4.7. Can Privoxy guarantee I am anonymous?
+4.8. Can Privoxy guarantee I am anonymous?
-No. Your chances of remaining anonymous are greatly improved, but unless you
-are an expert on Internet security it would be safest to assume that everything
-you do on the Web can be traced back to you.
+No. Your chances of remaining anonymous are greatly improved, but unless you
+chain Privoxy with Tor or a similar system and know what you're doing when it
+comes to configuring the rest of your system, it would be safest to assume that
+everything you do on the Web can be traced back to you.
Privoxy can remove various information about you, and allows you more freedom
to decide which sites you can trust, and what details you want to reveal. But
-it's still possible that web sites can find out who you are. Here's one way
-this can happen.
+it neither hides your IP address, nor can it guarantee that the rest of the
+system behaves correctly. There are several possibilities how a web sites can
+find out who you are, even if you are using a strict Privoxy configuration and
+chained it with Tor.
+
+Most of Privoxy's protection can be easily subverted by an insecure browser
+configuration, therefore you should use a browser that can be configured to
+only execute code from trusted sites, and be careful which sites you trust. For
+example there is no point in having Privoxy modify the User-Agent header, if
+websites can get all the information they want through JavaScript, ActiveX,
+Flash, Java etc.
A few browsers disclose the user's email address in certain situations, such as
when transferring a file by FTP. Privoxy does not filter FTP. If you need this
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-4.8. Might some things break because header information or content is being
+4.9. A test site says I am not using a Proxy.
+
+Good! Actually, they are probably testing for some other kinds of proxies.
+Hiding yourself completely would require additional steps.
+
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+4.10. How do I use Privoxy together with Tor?
+
+Before you configure Privoxy to use Tor (http://tor.eff.org/), please follow
+the User Manual chapters 2. Installation and 5. Startup to make sure Privoxy
+itself is setup correctly.
+
+If it is, refer to Tor's extensive documentation to learn how to install Tor,
+and make sure Tor's logfile says that "Tor has successfully opened a circuit"
+and it "looks like client functionality is working".
+
+If either Tor or Privoxy isn't working, their combination most likely will
+neither. Testing them on their own will also help you to direct problem reports
+to the right audience. If Privoxy isn't working, don't bother the Tor
+developers. If Tor isn't working, don't send bug reports to the Privoxy Team.
+
+If you verified that Privoxy and Tor are working, it is time to connect them.
+As far as Privoxy is concerned, Tor is just another proxy that can be reached
+by socks4 or socks4a. Most likely you are interested in Tor to increase your
+anonymity level, therefore you should use socks4a, to make sure Privoxy's DNS
+requests are done through Tor and thus invisible to your local network.
+
+Since Privoxy 3.0.5, its main configuration file is already prepared for Tor,
+if you are using a default Tor configuration and run it on the same system as
+Privoxy, you just have to edit the forwarding section and uncomment the line:
+
+# forward-socks4a / 127.0.0.1:9050 .
+
+
+This is enough to reach the Internet, but additionally you should uncomment the
+following forward rules, to make sure your local network is still reachable
+through Privoxy:
+
+# forward 192.168.*.*/ .
+# forward 10.*.*.*/ .
+# forward 127.*.*.*/ .
+
+
+Unencrypted connections to systems in these address ranges will be as (un)
+secure as the local network is, but the alternative is that you can't reach the
+network at all. If you also want to be able to reach servers in your local
+network by using their names, you will need additional exceptions that look
+like this:
+
+# forward localhost/ .
+
+
+Save the modified configuration file and open http://config.privoxy.org/
+show-status/ in your browser, confirm that Privoxy has reloaded its
+configuration and that there are no other forward lines, unless you know that
+you need them. If everything looks good, refer to Tor Faq 4.2 to learn how to
+verify that you are really using Tor.
+
+Afterward, please take the time to at least skim through the rest of Tor's
+documentation. Make sure you understand what Tor does, why it is no replacement
+for application level security, and why you shouldn't use it for unencrypted
+logins.
+
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+4.11. Might some things break because header information or content is being
altered?
-Definitely. More and more sites use HTTP header content to decide what to
-display and how to display it. There is many ways that this can be handled, so
-having hard and fast rules, is tricky.
+Definitely. It is common for sites to use browser type, browser version, HTTP
+header content, and various other techniques in order to dynamically decide
+what to display and how to display it. What you see, and what I see, might be
+very different. There are many, many ways that this can be handled, so having
+hard and fast rules, is tricky.
-"User-Agent" in particular is often used in this way to identify the browser,
-and adjust content accordingly. Changing this now (at least not further than
-removing the OS information) is not recommended, since so many sites do look
-for it. You may get undesirable results by changing this.
+"User-Agent" is often used in this way to identify the browser, and adjust
+content accordingly. Changing this now (at least not further than removing the
+OS information) is not recommended, since so many sites do look for it. You may
+get undesirable results by changing just this one aspect.
-For instance, different browsers use different encodings of Russian and Czech
+Also, different browsers use different encodings of Russian and Czech
characters, certain web servers convert pages on-the-fly according to the User
Agent header. Giving a "User Agent" with the wrong operating system or browser
manufacturer causes some sites in these languages to be garbled; Surfers to
if unavailable. The weather maps of Intellicast have been blocked by their
server when no "Referer" or cookie is provided, is another example. (But you
can forge both headers without giving information away). There are many other
-ways things can go wrong when trying to fool a web server.
+ways things that can go wrong when trying to fool a web server. The results of
+which could inadvertently cause pages to load incorrectly, partially, or even
+not at all. And there may be no obvious clues as to just what went wrong, or
+why. Nowhere will there be a message that says "Turn off fast-redirects or
+else! "
Similar thoughts apply to modifying JavaScript, and, to a lesser degree, HTML
elements.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-4.9. Can Privoxy act as a "caching" proxy to speed up web browsing?
+4.12. Can Privoxy act as a "caching" proxy to speed up web browsing?
No, it does not have this ability at all. You want something like Squid for
this. And, yes, before you ask, Privoxy can co-exist with other kinds of
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-4.10. What about as a firewall? Can Privoxy protect me?
+4.13. What about as a firewall? Can Privoxy protect me?
Not in the way you mean, or in the way a true firewall can. Privoxy can help
protect your privacy, but not protect you from intrusion attempts. It is, of
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-4.11. I have large empty spaces / a checkerboard pattern now where ads used to
+4.14. I have large empty spaces / a checkerboard pattern now where ads used to
be. Why?
-It would be technically possible eliminate the banners in a way that frees
-their screen estate in many cases, by doing all banner blocking with filters,
-i.e. eliminating the whole image references from the HTML pages instead of
-letting them stay in, and blocking the resulting requests for the banners
-themselves.
+It is technically possible to eliminate banners and ads in a way that frees
+their allocated page space. This could easily be done by blocking with
+Privoxy's filters, and eliminating the entire image references from the HTML
+page source.
+
+But, this would consume considerably more CPU resources (IOW, slow things
+down), would likely destroy the layout of some web pages which rely on the
+banners utilizing a certain amount of page space, and might fail in other
+cases, where the screen space is reserved (e.g. by HTML tables for instance).
+Also, making ads and banners disappear without any trace complicates
+troubleshooting, and would sooner or later be problematic.
-But this would consume considerable CPU resources, would likely destroy the
-layout of many web pages which rely on the banners consuming a certain amount
-of screen space, and would fail in other cases, where the screen space is
-reserved e.g. by tables anyway. Also, making the banners disappear without a
-visual trace complicates troubleshooting.
+The better alternative is to instead let them stay, and block the resulting
+requests for the banners themselves as is now the case. This leaves either
+empty space, or the familiar checkerboard pattern.
-So we won't support this in the default configuration, but you can of course
-define appropriate filters yourself.
+So the developers won't support this in the default configuration, but you can
+of course define appropriate filters yourself to achieve this.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-4.12. How can Privoxy filter Secure (HTTPS) URLs?
+4.15. How can Privoxy filter Secure (HTTPS) URLs?
Since secure HTTP connections are encrypted SSL sessions between your browser
and the secure site, and are meant to be reliably secure, there is little that
efficiency reasons, which exposes them to the full power of Privoxy's ad
blocking.
+"Content cookies" (those that are embedded in the actual HTML or JS page
+content, see filter{content-cookies}), in an SSL transaction will be impossible
+to block under these conditions. Fortunately, this does not seem to be a very
+common scenario since most cookies come by traditional means.
+
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-4.13. Privoxy runs as a "server". How secure is it? Do I need to take any
+4.16. Privoxy runs as a "server". How secure is it? Do I need to take any
special precautions?
There are no known exploits that might affect Privoxy. On Unix-like systems,
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-4.14. How can I temporarily disable Privoxy?
+4.17. How can I temporarily disable Privoxy?
The easiest way is to access Privoxy with your browser by using the remote
toggle URL: http://config.privoxy.org/toggle. See the Bookmarklets section of
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-4.15. When "disabled" is Privoxy totally out of the picture?
+4.18. When "disabled" is Privoxy totally out of the picture?
No, this just means all filtering and actions are disabled. Privoxy is still
acting as a proxy, but just not doing any of the things that Privoxy would
normally be expected to do. It is still a "middle-man" in the interaction
-between your browser and web sites.
+between your browser and web sites. See below to bypass the proxy.
+
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+4.19. How can I tell Privoxy to totally ignore certain sites?
+
+Bypassing a proxy, or proxying based on arbitrary criteria, is purely a browser
+configuration issue, not a Privoxy issue. Modern browsers typically do have
+settings for not proxying certain sites. Check your browser's help files.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-4.16. My logs show Privoxy "crunches" ads, but also its own CGI pages. What is
-a "crunch"?
+4.20. My logs show Privoxy "crunches" ads, but also its own internal CGI pages.
+What is a "crunch"?
A "crunch" simply means Privoxy intercepted something, nothing more. Often this
is indeed ads or banners, but Privoxy uses the same mechanism for trapping
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-4.17. Can Privoxy effect files that I download from a webserver? FTP server?
+4.21. Can Privoxy effect files that I download from a webserver? FTP server?
From the webserver's perspective, there is no difference between viewing a
document (i.e. a page), and downloading a file. The same is true of Privoxy. If
there is a match for a block pattern, it will still be blocked, and of course
-this is obvious. Filtering is potentially more of a concern since the results
-are not always so obvious.
+this is obvious.
+
+Filtering is potentially more of a concern since the results are not always so
+obvious, and the effects of filtering are there whether the file is simply
+viewed, or downloaded. And potentially whether the content is some obnoxious
+advertisement, or Mr. Jimmy's latest/greatest source code jewel. Of course, one
+of these presumably is "bad" content that we don't want, and the other is
+"good" content that we do want. Privoxy is blind to the differences, and can
+only distinguish "good from bad" by the configuration parameters we give it.
Privoxy knows the differences in files according to the "Document Type" as
reported by the webserver. If this is reported accurately (e.g. "application/
zip" for a zip archive), then Privoxy knows to ignore these where appropriate.
-It is possible, however, that documents that are of an unknown type (generally
-assumed to be "text/plain") will be filtered, as will those that might be
-incorrectly reported by the webserver. If such a file is a downloaded file that
-is intended to be saved to disk, then any content that might have been altered
-by filtering, will be saved too, for these (probably very rare) cases.
+Privoxy potentially can filter HTML as well as plain text documents, subject to
+configuration parameters of course. Also, documents that are of an unknown type
+(generally assumed to be "text/plain") can be filtered, as will those that
+might be incorrectly reported by the webserver. If such a file is a downloaded
+file that is intended to be saved to disk, then any content that might have
+been altered by filtering, will be saved too, for these (probably rare) cases.
+
+Note that versions later than 3.0.2 do NOT filter document types reported as
+"text/plain". Prior to this, Privoxy did filter this document type.
-Privoxy does not do FTP at all, only HTTP protocols.
+In short, filtering is "ON" if a) the Document Type as reported by the
+webserver is appropriate and b) the configuration allows it (or at least does
+not disallow it). That's it. There is no magic cookie anywhere to say this is
+"good" and this is "bad". It's the configuration that let's it all happen or
+not.
+
+If you download text files, you probably do not want these to be filtered,
+particularly if the content is source code, or other critical content. Source
+code sometimes might be mistaken for Javascript (i.e. the kind that might open
+a pop-up window). It is recommended to turn off filtering for download sites
+(particularly if the content may be plain text files and you are using version
+3.0.2 or earlier) in your user.action file. And also, for any site or page
+where making any changes at all to the content is to be avoided.
+
+Privoxy does not do FTP at all, only HTTP and HTTPS (SSL) protocols, so please
+don't try.
+
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+4.22. I just downloaded a Perl script, and Privoxy altered it! Yikes, what is
+wrong!
+
+Please read above.
+
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+4.23. Should I continue to use a "HOSTS" file for ad-blocking?
+
+One time-tested technique to defeat common ads is to trick the local DNS system
+by giving a phony IP address for the ad generator in the local HOSTS file,
+typically using 127.0.0.1, aka localhost. This effectively blocks the ad.
+
+There is no reason to use this technique in conjunction with Privoxy. Privoxy
+does essentially the same thing, much more elegantly and with much more
+flexibility. A large HOSTS file, in fact, not only duplicates effort, but may
+get in the way. It is recommended to remove such entries from your HOSTS file.
+If you think your hosts list is neglected by Privoxy's configuration, consider
+adding your list to your user.action file:
+
+ { +block }
+ www.ad.example1.com
+ ad.example2.com
+ ads.galore.example.com
+ etc.example.com
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-4.18. Where can I find more information about Privoxy and related issues?
+4.24. Where can I find more information about Privoxy and related issues?
Other references and sites of interest to Privoxy users:
http://config.privoxy.org/, the web-based user interface. Privoxy must be
running for this to work. Shortcut: http://p.p/
-http://www.privoxy.org/actions/, to submit "misses" to the developers.
-
-http://cvs.sourceforge.net/cgi-bin/viewcvs.cgi/ijbswa/contrib/, cool and fun
-ideas from Privoxy users.
+http://sourceforge.net/tracker/?group_id=11118&atid=460288, to submit "misses"
+and other configuration related suggestions to the developers.
http://www.junkbusters.com/ht/en/cookies.html, an explanation how cookies are
used to track web users.
http://www.junkbusters.com/ijb.html, the original Internet Junkbuster.
-http://www.waldherr.org/junkbuster/, Stefan Waldherr's version of Junkbuster,
-from which Privoxy was derived.
-
-http://privacy.net/analyze/, a useful site to check what information about you
-is leaked while you browse the web.
+http://privacy.net/, a useful site to check what information about you is
+leaked while you browse the web.
http://www.squid-cache.org/, a very popular caching proxy, which is often used
together with Privoxy.
+http://tor.eff.org/, Tor can help anonymize web browsing, web publishing,
+instant messaging, IRC, SSH, and other applications.
+
http://www.privoxy.org/developer-manual/, the Privoxy developer manual.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+4.25. I've noticed that Privoxy changes "Microsoft" to "MicroSuck"! Why are you
+manipulating my browsing?
+
+We're not. The text substitutions that you are seeing are disabled in the
+default configuration as shipped. You have either manually activated the "fun"
+filter which is clearly labeled "Text replacements for subversive browsing fun!
+" or you are using an older Privoxy version and have implicitly activated it by
+choosing the "Adventuresome" profile in the web-based editor. Please upgrade!
+
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
5. Troubleshooting
-5.1. I just upgraded and am getting "connection refused" with every web page?
+5.1. I cannot connect to any websites. Or, I am getting "connection refused"
+message with every web page. Why?
+
+There are several possibilities:
-Either Privoxy is not running, or your browser is configured for a different
-port than what Privoxy is using.
+ * Privoxy is not running. Solution: verify that Privoxy is installed
+ correctly, has not crashed, and is indeed running. Look at Privoxy's logs
+ to see what they say.
+
+ * Or your browser is configured for a different port than what Privoxy is
+ using. Solution: verify that Privoxy and your browser are set to the same
+ port (listen-address).
+
+ * Or if using a forwarding rule, you have a configuration problem or a
+ problem with a host in the forwarding chain. Solution: temporarily alter
+ your configuration and take the forwarders out of the equation.
+
+ * Or you have a firewall that is interfering and blocking you. Solution: try
+ disabling or removing the firewall as a simple test.
+
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-The old Privoxy (and also Junkbuster) used port 8000 by default. This has been
-changed to port 8118 now, due to a conflict with NAS (Network Audio Service),
-which uses port 8000. If you haven't, you need to change your browser to the
-new port number, or alternately change the listen-address option in Privoxy's
-main configuration file.
+5.2. Why am I getting a 503 Error (WSAECONNREFUSED) on every page?
+
+More than likely this is a problem with your TCP/IP networking. ZoneAlarm has
+been reported to cause this symptom -- even if not running! The solution is to
+either fight the ZA configuration, or uninstall ZoneAlarm, and then find
+something better behaved in its place. Other personal firewall type products
+may cause similar type problems if not configured correctly.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-5.2. I just added a new rule, but the steenkin ad is still getting through.
+5.3. I just added a new rule, but the steenkin ad is still getting through.
How?
If the ad had been displayed before you added its URL, it will probably be held
in the browser's cache for some time, so it will be displayed without the need
-for any request to the server, and Privoxy will not be in the picture. The best
-thing to do is try flushing the browser's caches. And then try again.
+for any request to the server, and Privoxy will not be involved. Flush the
+browser's caches, and then try again.
If this doesn't help, you probably have an error in the rule you applied. Try
pasting the full URL of the offending ad into http://config.privoxy.org/
-show-url-info and see if it really matches your new rule.
-
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-
-5.3. One of my favorite sites does not work with Privoxy. What can I do?
+show-url-info and see if it really matches your new rule. Blocking ads is like
+blocking spam: a lot of tinkering is required to stay ahead of the game. And
+remember you need to block the URL of the ad in question, which may be entirely
+different from the site URL itself. Most ads are hosted on different servers
+than the main site itself. If you right-click on the ad, you should be able to
+get all the relevant information you need. Alternately, you can find the
+correct URL by looking at Privoxy's logs.
+
+Below is a slightly modified real-life log snippet that originates with one
+requested URL: www.example.com (name of site was changed for this example, the
+number of requests is real). You can see in this the complexity of what goes
+into making up this one "page". There are eight different domains involved
+here, with thirty two separate URLs requested in all, making up all manner of
+images, Shockwave Flash, JavaScript, CSS stylesheets, scripts, and other
+related content. Some of this content is obviously "good" or "bad", but not
+all. Many of the more questionable looking requests, are going to outside
+domains that seem to be identifying themselves with suspicious looking names,
+making our job a little easier. Privoxy has "crunched" (meaning caught and
+BLOCKED) quite a few items in this example, but perhaps missed a few as well.
+
+Request: www.example.com/
+Request: www.example.com/favicon.ico
+Request: img.example.com/main.css
+Request: img.example.com/sr.js
+Request: example.betamarker.com/example.html
+Request: www.lik-sang.com/Banners/bestsellers/skyscraper.php?likref=BSellers
+Request: img.example.com/pb.png
+Request: www.google-analytics.com/urchin.js crunch!
+Request: www.advertising-department.com/ats/switch.ps.php?26856 crunch!
+Request: img.example.com/p.gif
+Request: www.popuptraffic.com/assign.php?l=example&mode=behind crunch!
+Request: www.popuptraffic.com/scripts/popup.php?hid=5c3cf&tmpl=PBa.tmpl crunch!
+Request: www.popuptraffic.com/assign.php?l=example crunch!
+Request: www.lik-sang.com/Banners/best_sellers/best_sellers.css
+Request: www.adtrak.net/adx.js crunch!
+Request: img.example.com/hbg.gif
+Request: img.example.com/example.jpg
+Request: img.example.com/mt.png
+Request: img.example.com/mm.png
+Request: img.example.com/mb.png
+Request: www.popuptraffic.com/scripts/popup.php?hid=a71b91fa5&tmpl=Ua.tmp crunch!
+Request: www.example.com/tracker.js
+Request: www.lik-sang.com/Banners/best_sellers/lsi_head.gif
+Request: www.adtrak.net/adjs.php?n=020548130&what=zone:61 crunch!
+Request: www.adtrak.net/adjs.php?n=463594413&what=zone:58&source=Ua crunch!
+Request: www.lik-sang.com/Banners/best_sellers/bottomani.swf
+Request: mmm.elitemediagroup.net/install.php?allowpop=no&popupmincook=0&allowsp2=1 crunch!
+Request: www.example.com/tracker.js?screen=1400x1050&win=962x693
+Request: www.adtrak.net/adlog.php?bannerid=1309&clientid=439&zoneid=61 crunch!
+Request: 66.70.21.80/scripts/click.php?hid=5c3cf599a9efd0320d26&si
+Request: 66.70.21.80/img/pixel.gif
+Request: www.adtrak.net/adlog.php?bannerid=1309&clientid=439&zoneid=58&source=Ua&block=86400 crunch!
+Request: 66.70.21.80/scripts/click.php?hid=a71b9f6504b0c5681fa5&si=Ua
+
+Despite 12 out of 32 requests being blocked, the page looked, and seemed to
+behave perfectly "normal" (minus some ads, of course).
+
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+5.4. One of my favorite sites does not work with Privoxy. What can I do?
First verify that it is indeed a Privoxy problem, by toggling off Privoxy
through http://config.privoxy.org/toggle, and then shift-reloading the problem
page (i.e. holding down the shift key while clicking reload. Alternatively,
flush your browser's disk and memory caches).
-If still a problem, go to http://config.privoxy.org/show-url-info and paste the
-full URL of the page in question into the prompt. See which actions are being
-applied to the URL, and which matches in which actions files are responsible
-for that. Now, armed with this information, go to http://config.privoxy.org/
-show-status and select the appropriate actions files for editing.
+If the problem went away, we know we have a configuration related problem. Now
+go to http://config.privoxy.org/show-url-info and paste the full URL of the
+page in question into the prompt. See which actions are being applied to the
+URL, and which matches in which actions files are responsible for that. It
+might be helpful also to look at your logs for this site too, to see what else
+might be happening. Many sites are complex and require a number of related
+pages to help present their content. Look at what else might be used by the
+page in question, and what of that might be required. Now, armed with this
+information, go to http://config.privoxy.org/show-status and select the
+appropriate actions files for editing.
You can now either look for a section which disables the actions that you
suspect to cause the problem and add a pattern for your site there, or make up
actions, but is also likely to turn off more actions then needed, and thus
lower your privacy and protection more than necessary,
-Troubleshooting actions is discussed in more detail in the user-manual appendix
-. There is also an actions tutorial.
+Troubleshooting actions is discussed in more detail in the User Manual
+appendix, Troubleshooting: the Anatomy of an Action. There is also an actions
+tutorial with general configuration information and examples.
+
+As a last resort, you can always see if your browser has a setting that will
+bypass the proxy setting for selective sites. Modern browsers can do this.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-5.4. After installing Privoxy, I have to log in every time I start IE. What
+5.5. After installing Privoxy, I have to log in every time I start IE. What
gives?
This is a quirk that effects the installation of Privoxy, in conjunction with
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-5.5. I cannot connect to any FTP sites. Privoxy seems to be blocking me.
+5.6. I cannot connect to any FTP sites. Privoxy is blocking me.
Privoxy cannot act as a proxy for FTP traffic, so do not configure your browser
to use Privoxy as an FTP proxy. The same is true for any protocol other than
-HTTP or HTTPS.
+HTTP or HTTPS (SSL).
+
+Most browsers understand FTP as well as HTTP. If you connect to a site, with a
+URL like ftp://ftp.example.com, your browser is making an FTP connection, and
+not a HTTP connection. So while your browser may speak FTP, Privoxy does not,
+and cannot proxy such traffic.
+
+To complicate matters, some systems may have a generic "proxy" setting, which
+will enable various protocols, including both HTTP and FTP proxying! So it is
+possible to accidentally enable FTP proxying in these cases. And of course, if
+this happens, Privoxy will indeed cause problems since it does not know FTP.
+Newer version will give a sane error message if a FTP connection is attempted.
+Just disable the FTP setting and all will be well again.
+
+Will Privoxy ever proxy FTP traffic? Unlikely. There just is not much reason,
+and the work to make this happen is more than it may seem.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-5.6. In Mac OSX, I can't configure Microsoft Internet Explorer to use Privoxy
+5.7. In Mac OSX, I can't configure Microsoft Internet Explorer to use Privoxy
as the HTTP proxy.
Microsoft Internet Explorer (in versions like 5.1) respects system-wide network
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-5.7. In Mac OSX, I dragged the Privoxy folder to the trash in order to
+5.8. In Mac OSX, I dragged the Privoxy folder to the trash in order to
uninstall it. Now the finder tells me I don't have sufficient privileges to
empty the trash.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-5.8. I get a completely blank page at one site. "View Source" shows only:
-<html><body></body></html>.
+5.9. In Mac OSX Panther (10.3), images often fail to load and/or I experience
+random delays in page loading. I'm using localhost as my browser's proxy
+setting.
+
+We believe this is due to an IPv6-related bug in OSX, but don't fully
+understand the issue yet. In any case, changing the proxy setting to 127.0.0.1
+instead of localhost works around the problem.
+
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+5.10. I get a completely blank page at one site. "View Source" shows only:
+<html><body></body></html>. Without Privoxy the page loads fine.
-This is often the result of a webserver using PHP that mishandles the request
-Privoxy sends to not compress the content (a PHP bug).
+Chances are that the site suffers from a bug in PHP, which results in empty
+pages being sent if the client explicitly requests an uncompressed page, like
+Privoxy does. This bug has been fixed in PHP 4.2.3.
-In a default configuration, Privoxy requests all data be sent "uncompressed".
-This is required for the page filtering and other magic to work. In some rare
-cases, the browser and webserver miscommunicate and the result is a totally
-blank page. The suggested work around is to selectively turn off this feature
-for sites that exhibit such behavior. Example section for user.action:
+To find out if this is in fact the source of the problem, try adding the site
+to a -prevent-compression section in user.action:
# Make exceptions for ill-behaved sites:
#
{-prevent-compression}
.example.com
+If that works, you may also want to report the problem to the site's
+webmasters, telling them to use zlib.output_compression instead of ob_gzhandler
+in their PHP applications (workaround) or upgrade to PHP 4.2.3 or later (fix).
+
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+5.11. My logs show many "Unable to get my own hostname" lines. Why?
+
+Privoxy tries to get the hostname of the system its running on from the IP
+address of the system interface it is bound to (from the config file
+listen-address setting). If the system cannot supply this information, Privoxy
+logs this condition.
+
+Typically, this would be considered a minor system configuration error. It is
+not a fatal error to Privoxy however, but may result in a much slower response
+from Privoxy on some platforms due to DNS timeouts.
+
+This can be caused by a problem with the local HOSTS file. If this file has
+been changed from the original, try reverting it to see if that helps. Make
+sure whatever name(s) are used for the local system, that they resolve both
+ways.
+
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+5.12. When I try to launch Privoxy, I get an error message "port 8118 is
+already in use" (or similar wording). Why?
+
+Port 8118 is Privoxy's default TCP "listening" port. Typically this message
+would mean that there is already one instance of Privoxy running, and your
+system is actually trying to start a second Privoxy on the same port, which
+will not work. (You can have multiple instances but they must be assigned
+different ports.) How and why this might happen varies from platform to
+platform, but you need to check your installation and start-up procedures.
+
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+5.13. Pages with UTF-8 fonts are garbled.
+
+This is caused by the "demoronizer" filter. You should either upgrade Privoxy,
+or at least upgrade to the most recent default.action file available from
+SourceForge. Or you can simply disable the demoronizer filter.
+
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+5.14. Why are binary files (such as images) corrupted when Privoxy is used?
+
+This may also be caused by the "demoronizer" filter, in conjunction with a web
+server that is misreporting a file type. Binary files are exempted from
+Privoxy's filtering (unless the web server by mistake says the file is
+something else). Either upgrade Privoxy, or go to the most recent
+default.action file available from SourceForge.
+
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+5.15. What is the "demoronizer" and why is it there?
+
+The original demoronizer was a Perl script that cleaned up HTML pages which
+were created with certain Microsoft products. MS has used proprietary
+extensions to standardized font encodings (ISO 8859-1), which has caused
+problems for pages that are viewed with non-Microsoft products (and are
+expecting to see a standard set of fonts). The demoronizer corrected these
+errors so the pages displayed correctly. Privoxy borrowed from this script,
+introducing a filter based on the original demoronizer, which in turn could
+correct these errors on the fly.
+
+But this is only needed in some situations, and will cause serious problems in
+some other situations.
+
+If you are using Microsoft products, you do not need it. If you need to view
+pages with UTF-8 characters (such as Cyrillic or Chinese), then it will cause
+corruption of the fonts, and thus should not be on.
+
+On the other hand, if you use non-Microsoft products, and you occasionally
+notice wierd characters on pages, you might want to try it.
+
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+5.16. Why do I keep seeing "PrivoxyWindowOpen()" in raw source code?
+
+Privoxy is attempting to disable malicious Javascript in this case, with the
+unsolicited-popups filter. Privoxy cannot tell very well "good" code snippets
+from "bad" code snippets.
+
+If you see this in HTML source, and the page displays without problems, then
+this is good, and likely some pop-up window was disabled. If you see this where
+it is causing a problem, such as a downloaded program source code file, then
+you should set an exception for this site or page such that the integrity of
+the page stays in tact by disabling all filtering.
+
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+5.17. I am getting too many DNS errors like "404 No Such Domain". Why can't
+Privoxy do this better?
+
+There are potentially several factors here. First of all, the DNS resolution is
+done by the underlying operating system -- not Privoxy itself. Privoxy merely
+initiates the process and hands it off, and then later reports whatever the
+outcome was. And tries to give a coherent message if there seems to be a
+problem. In some cases, this might otherwise be mitigated by the browser itself
+which might try some work-arounds and alternate approaches (e.g adding "www."
+to the URL). In other cases, if Privoxy is being chained with another proxy,
+this could complicate the issue, and cause undue delays and timeouts. In the
+case of a "socks4a" proxy, the socks server handles all the DNS. Privoxy would
+just be the "messenger" which is reporting whatever problem occurred
+downstream, and not the root cause of the error.
+
+In any case, newer versions include various improvements to help Privoxy better
+handle these cases.
+
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+5.18. At one site Privoxy just hangs, and starts taking all CPU. Why is this?
+
+This is probably a manifestation of the "100% cpu" problem that occurs on pages
+containing many (thousands upon thousands) of blank lines. The blank lines are
+in the raw HTML source of the page, and the browser just ignores them. But the
+pattern matching in Privoxy's page filtering mechanism is trying to match
+against absurdly long strings and this becomes very CPU-intensive, taking a
+long, long time to complete. Until a better solution comes along, disable
+filtering on these pages, particularly the js-annoyances and unsolicited-popups
+filters.
+
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+5.19. I just installed Privoxy, and all my browsing has slowed to a crawl. What
+gives?
+
+This should not happen, and for the overwhelming number of users world-wide, it
+does not happen. I would suspect some inadvertent interaction of software
+components such as anti-virus software, spyware protectors, personal firewalls
+or similar components. Try disabling (or uninstalling) these one at a time and
+see if that helps.
+
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+5.20. Why do my filters work on some sites but not on others?
+
+It's probably due to compression. It is a common practice for web servers to
+send their content "compressed" in order to speed things up, and then let the
+browser "uncompress" them. Privoxy does not (yet) support compression. But we
+can force the web server to bend to our will ;-) So for filtering, make sure
+you have prevent-compression turned ON!
+
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
6. Contacting the developers, Bug Reporting and Feature Requests
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-6.2. Report Bugs
+6.2. Reporting Problems
+
+"Problems" for our purposes, come in two forms:
+
+ * Configuration issues, such as ads that slip through, or sites that don't
+ function properly due to one Privoxy "action" or another being turned "on".
+
+ * "Bugs" in the programming code that makes up Privoxy, such as that might
+ cause a crash.
+
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+6.2.1. Reporting Ads or Other Configuration Problems
+
+Please send feedback on ads that slipped through, innocent images that were
+blocked, sites that don't work properly, and other configuration related
+problem of default.action file, to http://sourceforge.net/tracker/?group_id=
+11118&atid=460288, the Actions File Tracker.
+
+New, improved default.action files may occasionally be made available based on
+your feedback. These will be announced on the ijbswa-announce list and
+available from our the files section of our project page.
+
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+6.2.2. Reporting Bugs
Please report all bugs only through our bug tracker: http://sourceforge.net/
tracker/?group_id=11118&atid=111118.
Before doing so, please make sure that the bug has not already been submitted
-and observe the additional hints at the top of the submit form.
+and observe the additional hints at the top of the submit form. If already
+submitted, please feel free to add any info to the original report that might
+help to solve the issue.
Please try to verify that it is a Privoxy bug, and not a browser or site bug
-first. If unsure, try toggling off Privoxy, and see if the problem persists.
-The appendix of the user manual also has helpful information on action
-debugging. If you are using your own custom configuration, please try the stock
-configs to see if the problem is configuration related.
+first. If unsure, try toggling off Privoxy, and see if the problem persists. If
+you are using your own custom configuration, please try the stock configs to
+see if the problem is configuration related.
-If not using the latest version, chances are that the bug has been found and
-fixed in the meantime. We would appreciate if you could take the time to
-upgrade to the latest version (or even the latest CVS snapshot) and verify your
-bug, but this is not required for reporting.
+If not using the latest version, the bug may have been found and fixed in the
+meantime. We would appreciate if you could take the time to upgrade to the
+latest version (or even the latest CVS snapshot) and verify your bug.
+
+Please be sure to provide the following information:
+
+ * The exact Privoxy version of the proxy software (if you got the source from
+ CVS, please also provide the source code revisions as shown in http://
+ config.privoxy.org/show-version).
+
+ * The operating system and versions you run Privoxy on, (e.g. Windows XP
+ SP2), if you are using a Unix flavor, sending the output of "uname -a"
+ should do.
+
+ * The name, platform, and version of the browser you were using (e.g.
+ Internet Explorer v5.5 for Mac).
+
+ * The URL where the problem occurred, or some way for us to duplicate the
+ problem (e.g. http://somesite.example.com/?somethingelse=123).
+
+ * Whether your version of Privoxy is one supplied by the developers of
+ Privoxy via SourceForge, or somewhere else.
+
+ * Whether you are using Privoxy in tandem with another proxy such as Tor. If
+ so, please try disabling the other proxy.
+
+ * Whether you are using a personal firewall product. If so, does Privoxy work
+ without it?
+
+ * Any other pertinent information to help identify the problem such as config
+ or log file excerpts (yes, you should have log file entries for each action
+ taken).
+
+ * Please provide your SF login, or email address, in case we need to contact
+ you.
+
+The appendix of the Privoxy User Manual also has helpful information on
+understanding actions, and action debugging.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-6.4. Report Ads or Other Actions-Related Problems
-
-Please send feedback on ads that slipped through, innocent images that were
-blocked, and any other problems relating to the default.action file through our
-actions feedback mechanism located at http://www.privoxy.org/actions/. On this
-page, you will also find a bookmark which will take you back there from any
-troubled site and even pre-fill the form!
-
-New, improved default.action files will occasionally be made available based on
-your feedback. These will be announced on the ijbswa-announce list and
-available from our the files section of our project page.
-
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-
-6.5. Other
+6.4. Other
For any other issues, feel free to use the mailing lists. Technically
interested users and people who wish to contribute to the project are also
7. Privoxy Copyright, License and History
-Copyright © 2001, 2002 by Privoxy Developers <developers@privoxy.org>
+Copyright © 2001 - 2006 by Privoxy Developers <
+ijbswa-developers@lists.sourceforge.net>
Some source code is based on code Copyright © 1997 by Anonymous Coders and
Junkbusters, Inc. and licensed under the GNU General Public License.
This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY
WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A
PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public License for more details, which
-is available from the Free Software Foundation, Inc, 59 Temple Place - Suite
-330, Boston, MA 02111-1307, USA.
+is available from the Free Software Foundation, Inc, 51 Franklin Street, Fifth
+Floor, Boston, MA 02110-1301, USA
You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License along with
this program; if not, write to the
Free Software
- Foundation, Inc. 59 Temple Place - Suite 330
- Boston, MA 02111-1307
+ Foundation, Inc. 51 Franklin Street, Fifth Floor
+ Boston, MA 02110-1301
USA
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
7.2. History
-In the beginning, there was the Internet Junkbuster, by Anonymous Coders and
-Junkbusters Corporation. It saved many users a lot of pain in the early days of
-web advertising and user tracking.
+A long time ago, there was the Internet Junkbuster, by Anonymous Coders and
+Junkbusters Corporation. This saved many users a lot of pain in the early days
+of web advertising and user tracking.
But the web, its protocols and standards, and with it, the techniques for
-forcing users to consume ads, give up autonomy over their browsing, and for
-spying on them, kept evolving. Unfortunately, the Internet Junkbuster did not.
-Version 2.0.2, published in 1998, was (and is) the last official release
-available from Junkbusters Corporation. Fortunately, it had been released under
-the GNU GPL, which allowed further development by others.
+forcing ads on users, give up autonomy over their browsing, and for tracking
+them, keeps evolving. Unfortunately, the Internet Junkbuster did not. Version
+2.0.2, published in 1998, was (and is) the last official release available from
+Junkbusters Corporation. Fortunately, it had been released under the GNU GPL,
+which allowed further development by others.
So Stefan Waldherr started maintaining an improved version of the software, to
which eventually a number of people contributed patches. It could already
inside out, upside down, and then reassembled it, adding many new features
along the way.
-The result of this is Privoxy, whose first stable release, 3.0, was released
+The result of this is Privoxy, whose first stable version, 3.0, was released
August, 2002.
projects / privoxy.git / blobdiff