-<HTML
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-><META
-NAME="GENERATOR"
-CONTENT="Modular DocBook HTML Stylesheet Version 1.64
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-><HR
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-><DIV
-CLASS="SECT1"
-><H1
-CLASS="SECT1"
-><A
-NAME="GENERAL"
->1. General Information</A
-></H1
-><DIV
-CLASS="SECT2"
-><H3
-CLASS="SECT2"
-><A
-NAME="NEWJB"
->1.1. What is this new version of <SPAN
-CLASS="APPLICATION"
->Privoxy</SPAN
->?</A
-></H3
-><P
-> The original <SPAN
-CLASS="APPLICATION"
-><SPAN
-CLASS="TRADEMARK"
->Internet
- Junkbuster</SPAN
->™</SPAN
-> (tm) is a copyrighted product of <A
-HREF="http://www.junkbusters.com"
-TARGET="_top"
->Junkbusters Corporation</A
->.
- Development of this effort stopped some time ago as of version 2.0.2. Stefan
- Waldherr started the ijbswa project on <A
-HREF="http://sourceforge.net/projects/ijbswa/"
-TARGET="_top"
->Sourceforge</A
-> to
- rekindle development. Other developers subsequently joined with Stefan, and
- have since added many new features, refinements and enhancements. The result
- of this effort is <SPAN
-CLASS="APPLICATION"
->Privoxy</SPAN
->.
- </P
-><P
-> <SPAN
-CLASS="APPLICATION"
->Privoxy</SPAN
-> has evolved from the
- <SPAN
-CLASS="APPLICATION"
->Junkbuster 2.0.2</SPAN
-> code base, and has advanced
- significantly at this point.
- </P
-><P
->
- Please see the <A
-HREF="copyright.html"
->History section</A
-> for more
- information on the history of <SPAN
-CLASS="APPLICATION"
->Junkbuster</SPAN
-> and
- <SPAN
-CLASS="APPLICATION"
->Privoxy</SPAN
->.
- </P
-></DIV
-><DIV
-CLASS="SECT2"
-><H3
-CLASS="SECT2"
-><A
-NAME="AEN44"
->1.2. Why <SPAN
-CLASS="QUOTE"
->"Privoxy"</SPAN
->? Why a name change at all?</A
-></H3
-><P
-> <SPAN
-CLASS="APPLICATION"
->Privoxy</SPAN
-> is the
- <SPAN
-CLASS="QUOTE"
->"<I
-CLASS="EMPHASIS"
->Privacy Enhancing Proxy</I
->"</SPAN
->.</P
-><P
-> There are potential legal complications from the continued use of the
- <SPAN
-CLASS="APPLICATION"
->Junkbuster</SPAN
-> name, which is a registered trademark of
- <A
-HREF="http://junkbusters.com"
-TARGET="_top"
->Junkbusters Corporation</A
->.
- And thus they <SPAN
-CLASS="QUOTE"
->"own"</SPAN
-> the rights to the name.
- (There are, however, no objections from Junkbusters Corporation to the
- <SPAN
-CLASS="APPLICATION"
->Privoxy</SPAN
-> project itself, and they, in fact, still
- share our ideals and goals.)</P
-><P
-> 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.</P
-></DIV
-><DIV
-CLASS="SECT2"
-><H3
-CLASS="SECT2"
-><A
-NAME="DIFFERS"
->1.3. How does <SPAN
-CLASS="APPLICATION"
->Privoxy</SPAN
-> differ
-from the old <SPAN
-CLASS="APPLICATION"
->Junkbuster?</SPAN
-></A
-></H3
-><P
-> <SPAN
-CLASS="APPLICATION"
->Privoxy</SPAN
-> picks up where
- <SPAN
-CLASS="APPLICATION"
->Junkbuster</SPAN
-> left off. All the old features remain.
- The new <SPAN
-CLASS="APPLICATION"
->Privoxy</SPAN
-> 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.
- </P
-><P
-> The configuration has changed significantly as well. This is something that
- users will notice right off the bat if you are upgrading from
- <SPAN
-CLASS="APPLICATION"
->Junkbuster</SPAN
-> 2.0.x. The <SPAN
-CLASS="QUOTE"
->"blocklist"</SPAN
->
- file does not exist any more. This is replaced by <SPAN
-CLASS="QUOTE"
->"actions"</SPAN
->
- files, such as <TT
-CLASS="FILENAME"
->default.actions</TT
->. This is where most of
- the per site configuration is now.
- </P
-></DIV
-><DIV
-CLASS="SECT2"
-><H3
-CLASS="SECT2"
-><A
-NAME="FEATURES"
->1.4. What are some of the new features?</A
-></H3
-><P
-> <P
-></P
-><UL
-><LI
-><P
-> Integrated browser based configuration and control utility at <A
-HREF="http://config.privoxy.org/"
-TARGET="_top"
->http://config.privoxy.org/</A
->
- (shortcut: <A
-HREF="http://p.p/"
-TARGET="_top"
->http://p.p/</A
->). Browser-based
- tracing of rule and filter effects. Remote toggling.
- </P
-></LI
-><LI
-><P
-> Blocking of annoying pop-up browser windows.
- </P
-></LI
-><LI
-><P
-> HTTP/1.1 compliant (but not all optional 1.1 features are supported).
- </P
-></LI
-><LI
-><P
-> Support for Perl Compatible Regular Expressions in the configuration files, and
- generally a more sophisticated and flexible configuration syntax over
- previous versions.
- </P
-></LI
-><LI
-><P
-> GIF de-animation.
- </P
-></LI
-><LI
-><P
-> Web page content filtering (removes banners based on size,
- invisible <SPAN
-CLASS="QUOTE"
->"web-bugs"</SPAN
->, JavaScript and HTML annoyances, pop-ups, etc.)
- </P
-></LI
-><LI
-><P
-> Bypass many click-tracking scripts (avoids script redirection).
- </P
-></LI
-><LI
-><P
-> Multi-threaded (POSIX and native threads).
- </P
-></LI
-><LI
-><P
-> Auto-detection and re-reading of config file changes.
- </P
-></LI
-><LI
-><P
-> User-customizable HTML templates (e.g. 404 error page).
- </P
-></LI
-><LI
-><P
-> Improved cookie management features (e.g. session based cookies).
- </P
-></LI
-><LI
-><P
-> Improved signal handling, and a true daemon mode (Unix).
- </P
-></LI
-><LI
-><P
-> Builds from source on most UNIX-like systems. Packages available for: Linux
- (RedHat, SuSE, or Debian), Windows, Sun Solaris, Mac OSX, OS/2, HP-UX 11,
- NetBSD and AmigaOS.
- </P
-></LI
-><LI
-><P
-> Every feature now controllable on a per-site or per-location basis, configuration
- more powerful and versatile over-all.
- </P
-></LI
-><LI
-><P
-> Many smaller new features added, limitations and bugs removed, and security holes fixed.
- </P
-></LI
-></UL
-></P
-></DIV
-><DIV
-CLASS="SECT2"
-><H3
-CLASS="SECT2"
-><A
-NAME="PROXYMORON"
->1.5. What is a <SPAN
-CLASS="QUOTE"
->"proxy"</SPAN
->? How does
-<SPAN
-CLASS="APPLICATION"
->Privoxy</SPAN
-> work?</A
-></H3
-><P
-> When you connect to a web site with <SPAN
-CLASS="APPLICATION"
->Privoxy</SPAN
->,
- you are really connecting to your locally running version of
- <SPAN
-CLASS="APPLICATION"
->Privoxy</SPAN
->. <SPAN
-CLASS="APPLICATION"
->Privoxy</SPAN
->
- intercepts your requests for the web page, and relays that to the
- <SPAN
-CLASS="QUOTE"
->"real"</SPAN
-> web site. The web site sends the HTTP data stream
- back to <SPAN
-CLASS="APPLICATION"
->Privoxy</SPAN
->, where
- <SPAN
-CLASS="APPLICATION"
->Privoxy</SPAN
-> can work its magic before it
- relays this data back to your web browser.
- </P
-><P
-> Since <SPAN
-CLASS="APPLICATION"
->Privoxy</SPAN
-> sits between you and the
- WWW, it is in a position to intercept and completely manage all web traffic and
- HTTP content before it gets to your browser.
- <SPAN
-CLASS="APPLICATION"
->Privoxy</SPAN
-> uses various programming methods to do
- this, all of which is under your control via the various configuration
- files and options.
- </P
-><P
-> There are many kinds of proxies. <SPAN
-CLASS="APPLICATION"
->Privoxy</SPAN
-> best
- fits the <SPAN
-CLASS="QUOTE"
->"filtering proxy"</SPAN
-> category.
- </P
-></DIV
-><DIV
-CLASS="SECT2"
-><H3
-CLASS="SECT2"
-><A
-NAME="AEN124"
->1.6. How does <SPAN
-CLASS="APPLICATION"
->Privoxy</SPAN
-> know what is
-an ad, and what is not?</A
-></H3
-><P
-> <SPAN
-CLASS="APPLICATION"
->Privoxy</SPAN
-> processes all the raw content of every
- web page. So it reads everything on each page. It then compares this to the
- rules as set up in the configuration files, and looks for any matches to
- these rules. <SPAN
-CLASS="APPLICATION"
->Privoxy</SPAN
-> makes heavy use of
- <SPAN
-CLASS="QUOTE"
->"regular expressions"</SPAN
->. (If you are not familiar with regular
- expressions, it is explained briefly in <A
-HREF="../user-manual/appendix.html"
-TARGET="_top"
->the user manual</A
->.) Regular
- expressions facilitate matching of one text string against another, using
- wildcards to build complex patterns. So <SPAN
-CLASS="APPLICATION"
->Privoxy</SPAN
->
- will typically look for URLs and other content that match certain key words
- and expressions as defined in the configuration files. For instance a URL
- that contains <SPAN
-CLASS="QUOTE"
->"/banners"</SPAN
->, has a high probability of containing
- ad banners, and thus would be a prime candidate to have a matching rule.</P
-><P
-> So <SPAN
-CLASS="APPLICATION"
->Privoxy</SPAN
-> will look for these kinds of obvious
- looking culprits. And also, will use lists of known organizations that
- specialize in ads. Again, using complex patterns to match as many potential
- combinations as possible since there tend to be many, many variations used by
- advertisers, and new ones are being introduced all the time.</P
-></DIV
-><DIV
-CLASS="SECT2"
-><H3
-CLASS="SECT2"
-><A
-NAME="AEN136"
->1.7. Can <SPAN
-CLASS="APPLICATION"
->Privoxy</SPAN
-> make mistakes?
-This does not sound very scientific.</A
-></H3
-><P
-> Actually, it's a black art ;-) And yes, it is always possible to have a broad rule
- accidentally block 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.</P
-><P
-> But this should not be a big concern since the
- <SPAN
-CLASS="APPLICATION"
->Privoxy</SPAN
-> 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.
- (<A
-HREF="trouble.html#AEN661"
->See the Troubleshooting section below</A
->.)</P
-></DIV
-><DIV
-CLASS="SECT2"
-><H3
-CLASS="SECT2"
-><A
-NAME="BROWSERS2"
->1.8. My browser does the same things as
-<SPAN
-CLASS="APPLICATION"
->Privoxy</SPAN
->. Why should I use
-<SPAN
-CLASS="APPLICATION"
->Privoxy</SPAN
-> at all?</A
-></H3
-><P
-> Modern browsers do indeed have <I
-CLASS="EMPHASIS"
->some</I
-> of the same
- functionality as <SPAN
-CLASS="APPLICATION"
->Privoxy</SPAN
->. Maybe this is
- adequate for you. But <SPAN
-CLASS="APPLICATION"
->Privoxy</SPAN
-> is much more
- versatile and powerful, and can do a number of things that browsers just can't.
- </P
-><P
-> 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.
-
- </P
-></DIV
-><DIV
-CLASS="SECT2"
-><H3
-CLASS="SECT2"
-><A
-NAME="LICENSE"
->1.9. Is there is a license or fee? What about a
-warranty? Registration?</A
-></H3
-><P
-> <SPAN
-CLASS="APPLICATION"
->Privoxy</SPAN
-> 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. Please see the Copyright section for more
- information on the license and copyright.
-
- </P
-><P
-> There is no warranty of any kind, expressed, implied or otherwise. That is
- something that would cost real money ;-) There is no registration either.
- <SPAN
-CLASS="APPLICATION"
->Privoxy</SPAN
-> really is <I
-CLASS="EMPHASIS"
->free</I
->
- in every respect!
-
- </P
-></DIV
-><DIV
-CLASS="SECT2"
-><H3
-CLASS="SECT2"
-><A
-NAME="JOINTEAM"
->1.10. I would like to help you, what do I do?</A
-></H3
-><DIV
-CLASS="SECT3"
-><H4
-CLASS="SECT3"
-><A
-NAME="JOINTEAM-MONEY"
->1.10.1. Money Money Money</A
-></H4
-><P
-> We, of course, welcome donations and use the money for domain registering,
- regular world-wide get-togethers (hahaha). Anyway, we'll soon describe the
- process how to donate money to the team.</P
-></DIV
-><DIV
-CLASS="SECT3"
-><H4
-CLASS="SECT3"
-><A
-NAME="JOINTEAM-WORK"
->1.10.2. You want to work with us?</A
-></H4
-><P
-> Well, helping the team is always a good idea. We welcome new developers,
- RPM gurus or documentation makers. Simply get an account on sourceforge.net
- and mail your id to the developer mailing list. Then read the
- section Quickstart in the <A
-HREF="../developer-manual/quickstart.html"
-TARGET="_top"
-> Developer's Manual</A
->.</P
-><P
-> 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.</P
-></DIV
-></DIV
-></DIV
-><DIV
-CLASS="NAVFOOTER"
-><HR
-ALIGN="LEFT"
-WIDTH="100%"><TABLE
-WIDTH="100%"
-BORDER="0"
-CELLPADDING="0"
-CELLSPACING="0"
-><TR
-><TD
-WIDTH="33%"
-ALIGN="left"
-VALIGN="top"
-><A
-HREF="index.html"
->Prev</A
-></TD
-><TD
-WIDTH="34%"
-ALIGN="center"
-VALIGN="top"
-><A
-HREF="index.html"
->Home</A
-></TD
-><TD
-WIDTH="33%"
-ALIGN="right"
-VALIGN="top"
-><A
-HREF="installation.html"
->Next</A
-></TD
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-><TD
-WIDTH="33%"
-ALIGN="left"
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->Privoxy Frequently Asked Questions</TD
-><TD
-WIDTH="34%"
-ALIGN="center"
-VALIGN="top"
-> </TD
-><TD
-WIDTH="33%"
-ALIGN="right"
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->Installation</TD
-></TR
-></TABLE
-></DIV
-></BODY
-></HTML
->
\ No newline at end of file
+<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN"
+"http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/loose.dtd">
+
+<html>
+<head>
+ <title>General Information</title>
+ <meta name="GENERATOR" content=
+ "Modular DocBook HTML Stylesheet Version 1.79">
+ <link rel="HOME" title="Privoxy Frequently Asked Questions" href=
+ "index.html">
+ <link rel="PREVIOUS" title="Privoxy Frequently Asked Questions" href=
+ "index.html">
+ <link rel="NEXT" title="Installation" href="installation.html">
+ <link rel="STYLESHEET" type="text/css" href="../p_doc.css">
+ <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=us-ascii">
+</head>
+
+<body class="SECT1" bgcolor="#EEEEEE" text="#000000" link="#0000FF" vlink=
+"#840084" alink="#0000FF">
+ <div class="NAVHEADER">
+ <table summary="Header navigation table" width="100%" border="0"
+ cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0">
+ <tr>
+ <th colspan="3" align="center">Privoxy Frequently Asked
+ Questions</th>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+ <td width="10%" align="left" valign="bottom"><a href="index.html"
+ accesskey="P">Prev</a></td>
+
+ <td width="80%" align="center" valign="bottom"></td>
+
+ <td width="10%" align="right" valign="bottom"><a href=
+ "installation.html" accesskey="N">Next</a></td>
+ </tr>
+ </table>
+ <hr align="left" width="100%">
+ </div>
+
+ <div class="SECT1">
+ <h1 class="SECT1"><a name="GENERAL" id="GENERAL">1. General
+ Information</a></h1>
+
+ <div class="SECT2">
+ <h3 class="SECT2"><a name="WHO-USES" id="WHO-USES">1.1. Who should give
+ <span class="APPLICATION">Privoxy</span> a try?</a></h3>
+
+ <p>Anyone who is interested in security, privacy, or in finer-grained
+ control over their web and Internet experience.</p>
+ </div>
+
+ <div class="SECT2">
+ <h3 class="SECT2"><a name="BESTCHOICE" id="BESTCHOICE">1.2. Is Privoxy
+ the best choice for me?</a></h3>
+
+ <p><span class="APPLICATION">Privoxy</span> 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.</p>
+
+ <p>One of <span class="APPLICATION">Privoxy's</span> 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 <a href=
+ "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Http" target="_top">HTTP</a> and other
+ networking protocols, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Html"
+ target="_top">HTML</a>, and <a href=
+ "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regular_expressions" target=
+ "_top"><span class="QUOTE">"Regular Expressions"</span></a> will be a
+ big plus and will help you get the most out of <span class=
+ "APPLICATION">Privoxy</span>. 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.</p>
+
+ <p>Much of <span class="APPLICATION">Privoxy's</span> configuration can
+ be done with a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_browser"
+ target="_top">Web browser</a>. But there are areas where configuration
+ is done using a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Text_editors"
+ target="_top">text editor</a> 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
+ <span class="APPLICATION">Privoxy</span> listening port can be
+ trusted.</p>
+ </div>
+
+ <div class="SECT2">
+ <h3 class="SECT2"><a name="PROXYMORON" id="PROXYMORON">1.3. What is a
+ <span class="QUOTE">"proxy"</span>? How does Privoxy work?</a></h3>
+
+ <p>A <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proxy_server" target=
+ "_top">web proxy</a> is a service, based on a software such as
+ <span class="APPLICATION">Privoxy</span>, 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
+ <span class="QUOTE">"go-between"</span>. For details, see <a href=
+ "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proxy_server" target="_top">Wikipedia's
+ proxy definition</a>.</p>
+
+ <p>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.</p>
+
+ <p><span class="APPLICATION">Privoxy</span> 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.</p>
+ </div>
+
+ <div class="SECT2">
+ <h3 class="SECT2"><a name="OTHERSTUFF" id="OTHERSTUFF">1.4. Does
+ Privoxy do anything more than ad blocking?</a></h3>
+
+ <p>Yes, ad blocking is but one possible use. There are many, many ways
+ <span class="APPLICATION">Privoxy</span> can be used to sanitize and
+ customize web browsing.</p>
+ </div>
+
+ <div class="SECT2">
+ <h3 class="SECT2"><a name="NEWJB" id="NEWJB">1.5. What is this new
+ version of <span class="QUOTE">"Junkbuster"</span>?</a></h3>
+
+ <p>A long time ago, there was the <span class="APPLICATION">Internet
+ Junkbuster</span>, by Anonymous Coders and Junkbusters Corporation.
+ This saved many users a lot of pain in the early days of web
+ advertising and user tracking.</p>
+
+ <p>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
+ <span class="APPLICATION">Internet Junkbuster</span> 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 <a href="http://www.gnu.org/licenses/old-licenses/gpl-2.0.html"
+ target="_top">GPL</a>, which allowed further development by others.</p>
+
+ <p>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.</p>
+
+ <p>Then, some <a href=
+ "http://www.privoxy.org/user-manual/copyright.html#AUTHORS" target=
+ "_top">developers</a> picked up the thread, and started turning the
+ software inside out, upside down, and then reassembled it, adding many
+ <a href="http://www.privoxy.org/user-manual/introduction.html#FEATURES"
+ target="_top">new features</a> along the way.</p>
+
+ <p>The result of this is <span class="APPLICATION">Privoxy</span>,
+ whose first stable version, 3.0, was released August, 2002.</p>
+
+ <p>As of 2012 the Junkbusters Corporation's website
+ (http://www.junkbusters.com/) has been shut down, but Privoxy is still
+ actively maintained.</p>
+ </div>
+
+ <div class="SECT2">
+ <h3 class="SECT2"><a name="WHYPRIVOXY" id="WHYPRIVOXY">1.6. Why
+ <span class="QUOTE">"Privoxy"</span>? Why change the name from
+ Junkbuster at all?</a></h3>
+
+ <p>Though outdated, Junkbusters Corporation continued to offer their
+ original version of the <span class="APPLICATION">Internet
+ Junkbuster</span> for a while, so publishing our <span class=
+ "APPLICATION">Junkbuster</span>-derived software under the same name
+ would have led to confusion.</p>
+
+ <p>There were also potential legal reasons not to use the <span class=
+ "APPLICATION">Junkbuster</span> name, as it was (and maybe still is) a
+ registered trademark of Junkbusters Corporation. There were, however,
+ no objections from Junkbusters Corporation to the <span class=
+ "APPLICATION">Privoxy</span> project itself, and they, in fact, shared
+ our ideals and goals.</p>
+
+ <p>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.</p>
+
+ <p><span class="APPLICATION">Privoxy</span> is the <span class=
+ "QUOTE">"<span class="emphasis"><i class="EMPHASIS">Privacy Enhancing
+ Proxy</i></span>"</span>. Also, its content modification and junk
+ suppression gives <span class="emphasis"><i class=
+ "EMPHASIS">you</i></span>, the user, more control, more freedom, and
+ allows you to browse your personal and <span class=
+ "QUOTE">"<span class="emphasis"><i class="EMPHASIS">private</i></span>
+ edition"</span> of the web.</p>
+ </div>
+
+ <div class="SECT2">
+ <h3 class="SECT2"><a name="DIFFERS" id="DIFFERS">1.7. How does Privoxy
+ differ from the old Junkbuster?</a></h3>
+
+ <p><span class="APPLICATION">Privoxy</span> picks up where <span class=
+ "APPLICATION">Junkbuster</span> left off. <span class=
+ "APPLICATION">Privoxy</span> still blocks ads and banners, still
+ manages <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Browser_cookie" target=
+ "_top">cookies</a>, 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.</p>
+
+ <p><span class="APPLICATION">Privoxy</span>'s new features include:</p>
+
+ <ul>
+ <li>
+ <p>Supports "Connection: keep-alive". Outgoing connections can be
+ kept alive independently from the client.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>Supports IPv6, provided the operating system does so too, and
+ the configure script detects it.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>Supports tagging which allows to change the behaviour based on
+ client and server headers.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>Can be run as an "intercepting" proxy, which obviates the need
+ to configure browsers individually.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>Sophisticated actions and filters for manipulating both server
+ and client headers.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>Can be chained with other proxies.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>Integrated browser-based configuration and control utility at
+ <a href="http://config.privoxy.org/" target=
+ "_top">http://config.privoxy.org/</a> (shortcut: <a href=
+ "http://p.p/" target="_top">http://p.p/</a>). Browser-based tracing
+ of rule and filter effects. Remote toggling.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>Web page filtering (text replacements, removes banners based on
+ size, invisible <span class="QUOTE">"web-bugs"</span> and HTML
+ annoyances, etc.)</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>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.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>Support for Perl Compatible Regular Expressions in the
+ configuration files, and a more sophisticated and flexible
+ configuration syntax.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>GIF de-animation.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>Bypass many click-tracking scripts (avoids script
+ redirection).</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>User-customizable HTML templates for most proxy-generated pages
+ (e.g. "blocked" page).</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>Auto-detection and re-reading of config file changes.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>Most features are controllable on a per-site or per-location
+ basis.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>Many smaller new features added, limitations and bugs
+ removed.</p>
+ </li>
+ </ul>
+ </div>
+
+ <div class="SECT2">
+ <h3 class="SECT2"><a name="WHATSANAD" id="WHATSANAD">1.8. How does
+ Privoxy know what is an ad, and what is not?</a></h3>
+
+ <p><span class="APPLICATION">Privoxy</span>'s approach to blocking ads
+ is twofold:</p>
+
+ <p>First, there are certain patterns in the <span class=
+ "emphasis"><i class="EMPHASIS">locations</i></span> (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 <span class=
+ "QUOTE">"banners"</span>!) and the host (blocking the big banner
+ hosting services like doublecklick.net already helps a lot).
+ <span class="APPLICATION">Privoxy</span> takes advantage of this fact
+ by using <a href="../user-manual/actions-file.html#AF-PATTERNS" target=
+ "_top">URL patterns</a> to sort out and block the requests for things
+ that sound like they would be ads or banners.</p>
+
+ <p>Second, banners tend to come in certain <span class=
+ "emphasis"><i class="EMPHASIS">sizes</i></span>. 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, <span class=
+ "APPLICATION">Privoxy</span> 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.</p>
+
+ <p>Both of this involves a certain amount of guesswork and is, of
+ course, freely and readily configurable.</p>
+ </div>
+
+ <div class="SECT2">
+ <h3 class="SECT2"><a name="MISTAKES" id="MISTAKES">1.9. Can Privoxy
+ make mistakes? This does not sound very scientific.</a></h3>
+
+ <p>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.</p>
+
+ <p>But this should not be a big concern since the <span class=
+ "APPLICATION">Privoxy</span> 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.
+ (<a href="trouble.html#BADSITE">See the Troubleshooting section
+ below</a>.)</p>
+ </div>
+
+ <div class="SECT2">
+ <h3 class="SECT2"><a name="CONFIGORNOT" id="CONFIGORNOT">1.10. Will I
+ have to configure Privoxy before I can use it?</a></h3>
+
+ <p>That depends on your expectations. The default installation should
+ give you a good starting point, and block <span class=
+ "emphasis"><i class="EMPHASIS">most</i></span> ads and unwanted
+ content, but many of the more advanced features are off by default, and
+ require you to activate them.</p>
+
+ <p>You do have to set up your browser to use <span class=
+ "APPLICATION">Privoxy</span> (see the <a href=
+ "installation.html#FIRSTSTEP">Installation section below</a>).</p>
+
+ <p>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 <span class=
+ "APPLICATION">Privoxy's</span> configuration to more closely match your
+ individual situation. And we encourage you to do this. This is where
+ the real power of <span class="APPLICATION">Privoxy</span> lies!</p>
+ </div>
+
+ <div class="SECT2">
+ <h3 class="SECT2"><a name="LAN" id="LAN">1.11. Can Privoxy run as a
+ server on a network?</a></h3>
+
+ <p>Yes, <span class="APPLICATION">Privoxy</span> runs as a server
+ already, and can easily be configured to <span class=
+ "QUOTE">"serve"</span> more than one client. See <a href=
+ "configuration.html#LANCONFIG">How can I set up Privoxy to act as a
+ proxy for my LAN</a> below.</p>
+ </div>
+
+ <div class="SECT2">
+ <h3 class="SECT2"><a name="BROWSERS2" id="BROWSERS2">1.12. My browser
+ does the same things as Privoxy. Why should I use Privoxy at
+ all?</a></h3>
+
+ <p>Modern browsers do indeed have <span class="emphasis"><i class=
+ "EMPHASIS">some</i></span> of the same functionality as <span class=
+ "APPLICATION">Privoxy</span>. Maybe this is adequate for you. But
+ <span class="APPLICATION">Privoxy</span> is very versatile and
+ powerful, and can probably do a number of things your browser just
+ can't.</p>
+
+ <p>In addition, a proxy is good choice if you use multiple browsers, or
+ have a LAN with multiple computers since <span class=
+ "APPLICATION">Privoxy</span> 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.</p>
+
+ <p>Note, however, that it's recommended to leverage both your browser's
+ and <span class="APPLICATION">Privoxy's</span> privacy enhancing
+ features at the same time. While your browser probably lacks some
+ features <span class="APPLICATION">Privoxy</span> offers, it should
+ also be able to do some things more reliably, for example restricting
+ and suppressing JavaScript.</p>
+ </div>
+
+ <div class="SECT2">
+ <h3 class="SECT2"><a name="WHYTRUST" id="WHYTRUST">1.13. Why should I
+ trust Privoxy?</a></h3>
+
+ <p>The most important reason is because you have access to <span class=
+ "emphasis"><i class="EMPHASIS">everything</i></span>, 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 <span class="emphasis"><i class=
+ "EMPHASIS">yours</i></span>. In fact, we encourage this level of
+ scrutiny. It is one reason we use <span class=
+ "APPLICATION">Privoxy</span> ourselves.</p>
+ </div>
+
+ <div class="SECT2">
+ <h3 class="SECT2"><a name="LICENSE" id="LICENSE">1.14. Is there is a
+ license or fee? What about a warranty? Registration?</a></h3>
+
+ <p><span class="APPLICATION">Privoxy</span> is free software and
+ licensed under the <a href=
+ "http://www.gnu.org/licenses/old-licenses/gpl-2.0.html" target=
+ "_top">GNU General Public License (GPL) version 2</a>. It is free to
+ use, copy, modify or distribute as you wish under the terms of this
+ license. Please see the <a href="copyright.html">Copyright</a> section
+ for more information on the license and copyright. Or the <tt class=
+ "FILENAME">LICENSE</tt> file that should be included.</p>
+
+ <p>There is <span class="emphasis"><i class="EMPHASIS">no
+ warranty</i></span> of any kind, expressed, implied or otherwise. That
+ is something that would cost real money ;-) There is no registration
+ either.</p>
+ </div>
+
+ <div class="SECT2">
+ <h3 class="SECT2"><a name="SPYWARE" id="SPYWARE">1.15. Can Privoxy
+ remove spyware? Adware? Viruses?</a></h3>
+
+ <p>No, at least not reliably enough to trust it. <span class=
+ "APPLICATION">Privoxy</span> is not designed to be a malware removal
+ tool and the default configuration doesn't even try to filter out any
+ malware.</p>
+
+ <p><span class="APPLICATION">Privoxy</span> 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.</p>
+ </div>
+
+ <div class="SECT2">
+ <h3 class="SECT2"><a name="OTHERADS" id="OTHERADS">1.16. Can I use
+ Privoxy with other ad-blocking software?</a></h3>
+
+ <p><span class="APPLICATION">Privoxy</span> should work fine with other
+ proxies and other software in general.</p>
+
+ <p>But it is probably not necessary to use <span class=
+ "APPLICATION">Privoxy</span> 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.</p>
+
+ <p>Note that this is an advice specific to ad blocking.</p>
+ </div>
+
+ <div class="SECT2">
+ <h3 class="SECT2"><a name="HELP-THE-DEVELOPERS" id=
+ "HELP-THE-DEVELOPERS">1.17. I would like to help you, what can I
+ do?</a></h3>
+
+ <div class="SECT3">
+ <h4 class="SECT3"><a name="PARTICIPATE" id="PARTICIPATE">1.17.1.
+ Would you like to participate?</a></h4>
+
+ <p>Well, we <span class="emphasis"><i class=
+ "EMPHASIS">always</i></span> 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 <span class="emphasis"><i class="EMPHASIS">DO
+ NOT</i></span> need to be a <span class="QUOTE">"programmer"</span>.
+ 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.</p>
+
+ <p>So first thing, subscribe to the <a href=
+ "https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/ijbswa-users" target=
+ "_top">Privoxy Users</a> or the <a href=
+ "https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/ijbswa-developers"
+ target="_top">Privoxy Developers</a> mailing list, join the
+ discussion, help out other users, provide general feedback or report
+ problems you noticed.</p>
+
+ <p>If you intend to help out with the trackers, you also might want
+ to <a href="https://sourceforge.net/user/registration" target=
+ "_top">get an account on SourceForge.net</a> so we don't confuse you
+ with the other name-less users.</p>
+
+ <p>We also have a <a href="../developer-manual/index.html" target=
+ "_top">Developer's Manual</a>. While it is partly out of date, it's
+ still worth reading.</p>
+
+ <p>Our <a href=
+ "http://ijbswa.cvs.sourceforge.net/viewvc/ijbswa/current/TODO?view=markup"
+ target="_top">TODO list</a> may be of interest to you as well. Please
+ let us know if you want to work on one of the items listed.</p>
+ </div>
+
+ <div class="SECT3">
+ <h4 class="SECT3"><a name="DONATE" id="DONATE">1.17.2. Would you like
+ to donate?</a></h4>
+
+ <p>Donations are welcome. Our <a href=
+ "http://ijbswa.cvs.sourceforge.net/viewvc/ijbswa/current/TODO"
+ target="_top">TODO list</a> 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.</p>
+
+ <p><span class="APPLICATION">Privoxy</span> is an associated project
+ of <a href="http://www.spi-inc.org/" target="_top">Software in the
+ Public Interest (SPI)</a>, which allows us to receive tax-deductible
+ donations in the United States. If you want to donate through SPI,
+ please use <a href="http://www.spi-inc.org/donations" target=
+ "_top">SPI's donation page</a> to see what the options are.</p>
+
+ <p>You can also donate to Privoxy using a bank account or a "Paypal"
+ address:</p>
+
+ <p class="LITERALLAYOUT">
+ Name on account: <a href=
+ "https://www.zwiebelfreunde.de/" target="_top">Zwiebelfreunde
+ e.V.</a><br>
+ IBAN: DE95430609671126825604<br>
+ BIC: GENODEM1GLS<br>
+ Bank: GLS Bank</p>
+
+ <p class="LITERALLAYOUT">
+ "Paypal" address: privoxy@zwiebelfreunde.de</p>
+
+ <p>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.</p>
+
+ <p>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.</p>
+
+ <p>If you have any questions regarding donations please mail to
+ either the public user mailing list or, if it's a private matter, to
+ <a href="mailto:fk@fabiankeil.de" target="_top">Fabian Keil</a>
+ (Privoxy's SPI liason) directly.</p>
+ </div>
+ </div>
+ </div>
+
+ <div class="NAVFOOTER">
+ <hr align="left" width="100%">
+
+ <table summary="Footer navigation table" width="100%" border="0"
+ cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0">
+ <tr>
+ <td width="33%" align="left" valign="top"><a href="index.html"
+ accesskey="P">Prev</a></td>
+
+ <td width="34%" align="center" valign="top"><a href="index.html"
+ accesskey="H">Home</a></td>
+
+ <td width="33%" align="right" valign="top"><a href=
+ "installation.html" accesskey="N">Next</a></td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+ <td width="33%" align="left" valign="top">Privoxy Frequently Asked
+ Questions</td>
+
+ <td width="34%" align="center" valign="top"> </td>
+
+ <td width="33%" align="right" valign="top">Installation</td>
+ </tr>
+ </table>
+ </div>
+</body>
+</html>
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