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 managed by - Zwiebelfreunde - e.V.:
- -
- Name on Account: Zwiebelfreunde e.V.
- IBAN: DE95430609671126825604
- BIC: GENODEM1GLS
- Bank: GLS Bank
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.
- -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 liason) directly.
-| Prev | - -Home | - -Next | -
| Privoxy Frequently Asked - Questions | - -- - | Installation | -
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. + You can donate via Paypal + and Click & Pledge. + For details, please have a look at + SPI's general donation page.
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.
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.