| - Privoxy Frequently Asked Questions - | -||
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Anyone who is interested in security, privacy, or in finer-grained control over their web and Internet + experience.
- Anyone who is interested in security, privacy, or in finer-grained - control over their web and Internet experience. -
-- Privoxy is certainly a good - choice, especially for those who want more control and security. - Those with the willingness to read the documentation and the - ability to fine-tune their installation will benefit the most. -
-- One of Privoxy's strengths 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, 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. Also note that - the web-based action editor doesn't use authentication and should - only be enabled in environments where all clients with access to - Privoxy listening port can be - trusted. -
-- A web proxy is a service, based on a software such as - Privoxy, that clients (i.e. - browsers) can use instead of connecting to web servers directly. - The clients then ask the proxy to request objects (web pages, - images, movies etc) on their behalf and to forward the data to the - clients. It is a "go-between". For - details, see Wikipedia's proxy definition. -
-- 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 enhancement, 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. -
-- Yes, ad blocking is but one possible use. There are many, many ways - Privoxy can be used to sanitize - and customize web browsing. -
-- 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 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 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 replace banners with a transparent image, - and had a first version of pop-up killing, but it was still very - closely based on the original, with all its limitations, such as - the lack of HTTP/1.1 support, flexible per-site configuration, or - content modification. The last release from this effort was version - 2.0.2-10, published in 2000. -
-- Then, some developers picked up the thread, and started - turning the software inside out, upside down, and then reassembled - it, adding many new features along the way. -
-- The result of this is Privoxy, - whose first stable version, 3.0, was released August, 2002. -
-- As of 2012 the Junkbusters Corporation's website - (http://www.junkbusters.com/) has been shut down, but Privoxy is - still actively maintained. -
-- Though outdated, Junkbusters Corporation continued to offer their - original version of the Internet - Junkbuster for a while, so publishing our Junkbuster-derived software under the same - name would have led to confusion. -
-- There were also potential legal reasons not to use the Junkbuster name, as it was (and maybe still - is) a registered trademark of Junkbusters Corporation. There were, - however, no objections from Junkbusters Corporation to the Privoxy project itself, and they, in - fact, shared our ideals and goals. -
-- The Privoxy developers also believed that there were 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. -
-- 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. -
-- Privoxy picks up where Junkbuster left off. Privoxy still blocks ads and banners, still - manages cookies, and still helps protect your privacy. - But, most of these features have been enhanced, and many new ones - have been added, all in the same vein. -
-- Privoxy's new features include: -
--
-- Supports "Connection: keep-alive". Outgoing connections can be - kept alive independently from the client. -
-- Supports IPv6, provided the operating system does so too, and - the configure script detects it. -
-- Supports tagging which allows to change the behaviour based on - client and server headers. -
-- Can be run as an "intercepting" proxy, which obviates the need - to configure browsers individually. -
-- Sophisticated actions and filters for manipulating both server - and client headers. -
-- Can be chained with other proxies. -
-- Integrated browser-based configuration and control utility at - http://config.privoxy.org/ (shortcut: http://p.p/). Browser-based - tracing of rule and filter effects. Remote toggling. -
-- Web page filtering (text replacements, removes banners based on - size, invisible "web-bugs" and HTML - annoyances, etc.) -
-- Modularized configuration that allows for standard settings and - user settings to reside in separate files, so that installing - updated actions files won't overwrite individual user settings. -
-- Support for Perl Compatible Regular Expressions in the - configuration files, and a more sophisticated and flexible - configuration syntax. -
-- GIF de-animation. -
-- Bypass many click-tracking scripts (avoids script redirection). -
-- User-customizable HTML templates for most proxy-generated pages - (e.g. "blocked" page). -
-- Auto-detection and re-reading of config file changes. -
-- Most features are controllable on a per-site or per-location - basis. -
-- Many smaller new features added, limitations and bugs removed. -
-- Privoxy's approach to blocking ads - is twofold: -
-- First, there are certain patterns in the locations (URLs) of banner images. This - applies to both the path (you wouldn't guess how many web sites - serve 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 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 save bandwidth. Therefore, Privoxy also inspects the HTML sources of web - pages while they are loaded, and replaces references to images with - standard banner sizes by dummy references, so that your browser - doesn't request them anymore in the first place. -
-- Both of this involves a certain amount of guesswork and is, of - course, freely and readily configurable. -
-- Actually, it's a black art ;-) And yes, it is always possible to - have a broad 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 - can be addressed as needed, allowing you to customize your - installation. (See the - Troubleshooting section below.) -
-- That depends on your expectations. The default installation should - give you a good starting point, and block most ads and unwanted content, but many - of the more advanced features are off by default, and 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 encourage you to do this. - This is where the real power of Privoxy lies! -
-- 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. -
-- Modern browsers do indeed have some of the same functionality as Privoxy. Maybe this is adequate for you. - But Privoxy is very versatile and - powerful, and can probably do a number of things your browser just - can't. -
-- In addition, a proxy is good choice if you use multiple browsers, - or have a LAN 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. -
-- Note, however, that it's recommended to leverage both your - browser's and Privoxy's privacy - enhancing features at the same time. While your browser probably - lacks some features Privoxy - offers, it should also be able to do some things more reliably, for - example restricting and suppressing JavaScript. -
-- 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 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. -
-- Privoxy is free software and - licensed under the GNU General Public License (GPL) version 2. It is free - to use, copy, modify or distribute as you wish under the terms of - this license. Please see the Copyright - section for more information on the license and copyright. Or the - LICENSE file that should be included. -
-- There is no - warranty of any kind, expressed, implied or otherwise. - That is something that would cost real money ;-) There is no - registration either. -
-- No, at least not reliably enough to trust it. Privoxy is not designed to be a malware - removal tool and the default configuration doesn't even try to - filter out any malware. -
-- Privoxy could help prevent contact - from (known) sites that use such tactics with appropriate - configuration rules, and thus could conceivably prevent - contamination from such sites. However, keeping such a - configuration up to date would require a lot of time and effort - that would be better spend on keeping your software itself up to - date so it doesn't have known vulnerabilities. -
-- 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 - might be better to choose one software or the other and work a - little to tweak its configuration to your liking. -
-- Note that this is an advice specific to ad blocking. -
-- 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 or responding to user questions on the mailing lists. -
-- So first thing, subscribe to the Privoxy Users or the Privoxy Developers mailing list, join the - discussion, help out other users, provide general feedback or - report problems you noticed. -
-- If you intend to help out with the trackers, you also might want - to get an account on SourceForge.net so we don't confuse - you with the other name-less users. -
-- We also have a Developer's Manual. While it is partly out of date, - it's still worth reading. -
-- Our TODO list may be of interest to you as well. - Please let us know if you want to work on one of the items - listed. -
-- Donations are welcome. Our TODO list is rather long and being able to pay - one (or more) developers to work on Privoxy would make a huge - difference, even if it was only for a couple of weeks. Donations - may also be used for Privoxy-related travel expenses (for example - to attend conferences), for hardware used for Privoxy development - and for hosting expenses etc. -
-- Privoxy is an associated project - of Software in - the Public Interest (SPI), which allows us to receive - tax-deductible donations in the United States. If you want to - donate through SPI, please use SPI's donation - page to see what the options are. -
-- You can also donate to Privoxy using a bank account or a "Paypal" - address: -
-
- Name on account: Zwiebelfreunde
- e.V.
- IBAN: DE95430609671126825604
- BIC: GENODEM1GLS
- Bank: GLS Bank
-
- "Paypal" address: privoxy@zwiebelfreunde.de -
-- Donations made through Zwiebelfreunde e.V. are tax-deductible in - Germany and other countries that recognize German charitable - clubs. Feel free to use the Subject field to provide a name to be - credited and a list of TODO list items you are interested in the - most. For example: Max Mustermann: #16, #1, #14. -
-- Note that donations made through Zwiebelfreunde e.V. currently - can't be checked automatically so you may not get credited right - away. The credits currently reflect donations received before - 2016-01-14. -
-- If you have any questions regarding donations please mail to - either the public user mailing list or, if it's a private matter, - to Fabian - Keil (Privoxy's SPI liaison) directly. -
-Privoxy is certainly a good choice, especially for those who want more + control and security. Those with the willingness to read the documentation and the ability to fine-tune their + installation will benefit the most.
+One of Privoxy's strengths 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, 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. Also note that the web-based action editor doesn't use authentication and should + only be enabled in environments where all clients with access to Privoxy + listening port can be trusted.
+A web proxy is a service, based on a + software such as Privoxy, that clients (i.e. browsers) can use instead of + connecting to web servers directly. The clients then ask the proxy to request objects (web pages, images, movies + etc) on their behalf and to forward the data to the clients. It is a "go-between". For + details, see Wikipedia's proxy + definition.
+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 enhancement, 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.
+Yes, ad blocking is but one possible use. There are many, many ways Privoxy + can be used to sanitize and customize web browsing.
+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 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 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 replace banners with a transparent image, and had a first version of + pop-up killing, but it was still very closely based on the original, with all its limitations, such as the lack + of HTTP/1.1 support, flexible per-site configuration, or content modification. The last release from this effort + was version 2.0.2-10, published in 2000.
+Then, some developers + picked up the thread, and started turning the software inside out, upside down, and then reassembled it, adding + many new features + along the way.
+The result of this is Privoxy, whose first stable version, 3.0, was released + August, 2002.
+As of 2012 the Junkbusters Corporation's website (http://www.junkbusters.com/) has been shut down, but Privoxy + is still actively maintained.
+Though outdated, Junkbusters Corporation continued to offer their original version of the Internet Junkbuster for a while, so publishing our Junkbuster-derived software under the same name would have led to confusion.
+There were also potential legal reasons not to use the Junkbuster name, as it + was (and maybe still is) a registered trademark of Junkbusters Corporation. There were, however, no objections + from Junkbusters Corporation to the Privoxy project itself, and they, in fact, + shared our ideals and goals.
+The Privoxy developers also believed that there were 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.
+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.
+Privoxy picks up where Junkbuster left off. + Privoxy still blocks ads and banners, still manages cookies, and still helps protect your privacy. + But, most of these features have been enhanced, and many new ones have been added, all in the same vein.
+Privoxy's new features include:
+Supports "Connection: keep-alive". Outgoing connections can be kept alive independently from the + client.
+Supports IPv6, provided the operating system does so too, and the configure script detects it.
+Supports tagging which allows to change the behaviour based on client and server headers.
+Supports https inspection which allows to filter https requests.
+Can be run as an "intercepting" proxy, which obviates the need to configure browsers individually.
+Sophisticated actions and filters for manipulating both server and client headers.
+Can be chained with other proxies.
+Integrated browser-based configuration and control utility at http://config.privoxy.org/ (shortcut: http://p.p/). + Browser-based tracing of rule and filter effects. Remote toggling.
+Web page filtering (text replacements, removes banners based on size, invisible "web-bugs" and HTML annoyances, etc.)
+Modularized configuration that allows for standard settings and user settings to reside in separate files, + so that installing updated actions files won't overwrite individual user settings.
+Support for Perl Compatible Regular Expressions in the configuration files, and a more sophisticated and + flexible configuration syntax.
+GIF de-animation.
+Bypass many click-tracking scripts (avoids script redirection).
+User-customizable HTML templates for most proxy-generated pages (e.g. "blocked" page).
+Auto-detection and re-reading of config file changes.
+Most features are controllable on a per-site or per-location basis.
+Many smaller new features added, limitations and bugs removed.
+Privoxy's approach to blocking ads is twofold:
+First, there are certain patterns in the locations + (URLs) of banner images. This applies to both the path (you wouldn't guess how many web sites serve 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 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 save + bandwidth. Therefore, Privoxy also inspects the HTML sources of web pages while + they are loaded, and replaces references to images with standard banner sizes by dummy references, so that your + browser doesn't request them anymore in the first place.
+Both of this involves a certain amount of guesswork and is, of course, freely and readily configurable.
+Actually, it's a black art ;-) And yes, it is always possible to have a broad 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 can be addressed as needed, + allowing you to customize your installation. (See the Troubleshooting section + below.)
+That depends on your expectations. The default installation should give you a good starting point, and block + most ads and unwanted content, but many of the more + advanced features are off by default, and 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 encourage + you to do this. This is where the real power of Privoxy lies!
+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.
+Modern browsers do indeed have some of the same + functionality as Privoxy. Maybe this is adequate for you. But Privoxy is very versatile and powerful, and can probably do a number of things your browser + just can't.
+In addition, a proxy is good choice if you use multiple browsers, or have a LAN 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.
+Note, however, that it's recommended to leverage both your browser's and Privoxy's privacy enhancing features at the same time. While your browser probably lacks + some features Privoxy offers, it should also be able to do some things more + reliably, for example restricting and suppressing JavaScript.
+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 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.
+Privoxy is free software. It is free to use, copy, modify or distribute as + you wish under the terms of its license. Please see the Copyright section for more + information on the license and copyright.
+There is no warranty of any kind, expressed, implied or + otherwise. That is something that would cost real money ;-) There is no registration either.
+No, at least not reliably enough to trust it. Privoxy is not designed to be a + malware removal tool and the default configuration doesn't even try to filter out any malware.
+Privoxy could help prevent contact from (known) sites that use such tactics + with appropriate configuration rules, and thus could conceivably prevent contamination from such sites. However, + keeping such a configuration up to date would require a lot of time and effort that would be better spend on + keeping your software itself up to date so it doesn't have known vulnerabilities.
+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 might be better to choose one + software or the other and work a little to tweak its configuration to your liking.
+Note that this is an advice specific to ad blocking.
+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 or responding to user questions on the mailing lists.
+So first thing, subscribe to the Privoxy Users or the Privoxy Developers mailing list, join the discussion, help out other users, provide general feedback + or report problems you noticed.
+If you intend to help out with the trackers, you also might want to get an account on SourceForge.net so we don't + confuse you with the other name-less users.
+We also have a Developer's Manual. While it is + partly out of date, it's still worth reading.
+Our TODO + list may be of interest to you as well. Please let us know if you want to work on one of the items + listed.
- We are currently offering the following sponsor levels as an - experiment: -
-- Logo shown at the bottom of the Privoxy - homepage. Logo, link and self description on the sponsor - page. -
-- Logo shown randomly at the bottom of the Privoxy - homepage. Logo, link and self description on the sponsor - page. -
-- Logo and link on the sponsor - page. -
-- The logo sizes depend on the sponsor level. Logos are served from - our server, no requests are made to the sponsor website unless the - links are being used. -
-- The details may change over time but changes will only affect new - sponsors (or existing sponsors that explicitly agreed to the - changes). -
-- If you want to become a sponsor, please contact Fabian Keil. New - sponsors are only accepted if no developer objects. -
+Donations are welcome. Our TODO list is + rather long and being able to pay one (or more) developers to work on Privoxy would make a huge difference, + even if it was only for a couple of weeks. Donations may also be used for Privoxy-related travel expenses (for + example to attend conferences), for hardware used for Privoxy development and for hosting expenses etc.
+Privoxy is an associated project of Software in the Public Interest (SPI), which allows us to receive tax-deductible donations in + the United States. You can donate via + Paypal and Click + & Pledge. For details, please have a look at SPI's general donation page.
+If you have any questions regarding donations please mail to either the public user mailing list or, if it's + a private matter, to Fabian Keil (Privoxy's SPI liaison) + directly.
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| - Privoxy Frequently Asked Questions - | -- - | -- Installation - | -
We are currently offering the following sponsor levels as an experiment:
+Logo or text link shown at the bottom of the Privoxy + homepage. Logo, link and self description on the sponsor page.
+Logo or text link shown at the bottom of the Privoxy + homepage. Logo, link and self description on the sponsor page.
+Logo and link on the sponsor page.
+The logo sizes depend on the sponsor level. Logos are served from our server, no requests are made to the + sponsor website unless the links are being used.
+Link targets are without path ("https://www.example.org/" not "https://www.example.org/seo/keyword/spam/").
+The details may change over time but changes will only affect new sponsors (or existing sponsors that + explicitly agreed to the changes).
+If you want to become a sponsor, please contact Fabian + Keil and include the link target in the mail. New sponsors are only accepted if no Privoxy team member objects.