Anyone that is interested in security, privacy, or in
+ finer-grained control over their web and Internet experience.
+ Everyone is encouraged to try Privoxy?.
+
1.2. Is Privoxy the best choice for
+me?
The original Privoxy is certainly a good choice, especially for those who want more
+ control and security. Those that have the ability to fine-tune their installation
+ will benefit the most. One of Privoxy's
+ strength's is that it is highly configurable giving you the ability to
+ completely personalize your installation. Being familiar with, or at least
+ having an interest in learning about HTTP and other networking
+ protocols, HTML,
+ IP (Internet
+ Protocol), and
+ Internet
- Junkbuster™ (tm) is a copyrighted product of "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 Junkbusters CorporationWeb browser.
- Development of this effort stopped some time ago as of version 2.0.2. Stefan
- Waldherr started the ijbswa project on text editor
+ to edit configuration files.
+
1.3. What is a "proxy"? How does
+Privoxy work?
A Sourceforge 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 web proxy
+ is a service, based on a software such as
+ Privoxy.
+>, that clients (i.e. browsers) can use
+ instead of connecting directly to web servers on the Internet. The
+ clients then ask the proxy to fetch the objects they need (web pages,
+ images, movies etc) on their behalf, and when the proxy has done so, it
+ hands the results back to the client. It is a "go-between". See
+ the Wikipedia proxy
+ definition for more.
+
There are many reasons to use web proxies, such as security (firewalling),
+ efficiency (caching) and others, and there are any number of proxies
+ to accommodate those needs.
Privoxy has evolved from the
- Junkbuster 2.0.2 code base, and has advanced
- significantly at this point.
+> is a proxy that is primarily focused on privacy
+ protection, ad and junk elimination and freeing the user from restrictions placed on his
+ activities. Sitting between your browser(s) and the Internet,
+ it is in a perfect position to filter outbound personal information that your
+ browser is leaking, as well as inbound junk. It uses a variety of techniques to do
+ this, all of which are under your complete control via the various configuration
+ files and options. Being a proxy also makes it easier to share
+ configurations among multiple browsers and/or users.
1.4. Does Privoxy do anything more than ad blocking?
- Please see the History section for more
- information on the history of Junkbuster and
- Privoxy
+ can be used to sanitize and customize web browsing.
1.5. What is this new version of
+"Junkbuster"?
A long time ago, there was the
+ Internet Junkbuster,
+ by Anonymous Coders and Junkbusters
+ Corporation. This saved many users a lot of pain in the early days of
+ web advertising and user tracking.
But the web, its protocols and standards, and with it, the techniques for
+ forcing ads on users, give up autonomy over their browsing, and
+ for tracking them, keeps evolving. Unfortunately, the Internet
+ Junkbuster did not. Version 2.0.2, published in 1998, was
+ (and is) the last official
+ release
+ available from Junkbusters Corporation.
+ Fortunately, it had been released under the GNU
+ GPL, which allowed further
+ development by others.
So Stefan Waldherr started maintaining an
+ improved version of the
+ software, to which eventually a number of people contributed patches.
+ It could already 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.
1.2. Why 1.6. Why "Privoxy"? Why a name change at all?
? Why change the name from
+Junkbuster at all?
Though outdated, Junkbusters Corporation
+ continues to offer their original version of the Privoxy is the
+>Internet
+ Junkbuster, so publishing our
"Privacy Enhancing Proxy".
Junkbuster-derived software under the same name
+ led to confusion.
There are potential legal complications from the continued use of the
+> There are also potential legal complications from our use of the
Junkbuster name, which is a registered trademark of
Junkbusters Corporation.
- And thus they "own" the rights to the name.
- (There are, however, no objections from Junkbusters Corporation to the
+ There are, however, no objections from Junkbusters Corporation to the
Privoxy project itself, and they, in fact, still
- share our ideals and goals.)
The developers also believed that there are so many changes from the original
+> The developers also believed that there are so many improvements over the original
code, that it was time to make a clean break from the past and make
- a name in their own right, especially now with the pending
- release of version 3.0.
Privoxy is the
+ "Privacy Enhancing Proxy". Also, its content
+ modification and junk suppression gives you, the user, more
+ control, more freedom, and allows you to browse your personal and
+ "private edition" of the web.
Privoxy picks up where
- Junkbuster left off. All the old features remain.
- The new Privoxy still blocks ads and banners,
- still manages cookies, and still helps protect your privacy. But, these are
- all enhanced, and many new features have been added, all in the same vein.
+ still manages cookies, and still
+ helps protect your privacy. But, these are all greatly enhanced, and many,
+ many new features have been added, all in the same vein.
The configuration has changed significantly as well. This is something that
- users will notice right off the bat if you are upgrading from
- The configuration has changed significantly as well. This is something that
+ users will notice right off the bat if upgrading from
+ Junkbuster 2.0.x. The "blocklist"
- file does not exist any more. This is replaced by "cookielist", "imagelist" and much more has been
+ combined into the "actions"
- files, such as default.actions. This is where most of
- the per site configuration is now.
-
files, with a completely different
+ syntax. See the What's New
+ page for the latest updates.
Privoxy's new features include:
FIXME: complete the list of features. change the order: most important
- features to the top of the list. prefix new features with "NEW".
-
Integrated browser based configuration and control utility at
Blocking of annoying pop-up browser windows.
+> Web page filtering (text replacements, removes banners based on size,
+ invisible "web-bugs", JavaScript and HTML annoyances,
+ pop-up windows, header manipulation, etc.)
+
Modularized configuration that allows for standard settings and
+ user settings to reside in separate files, so that installing updated
+ actions files won't overwrite individual user settings.
Support for Perl Compatible Regular Expressions in the configuration files, and
generally a more sophisticated and flexible configuration syntax over
- previous versions.
+ previous versions.
GIF de-animation.
+> Improved cookie management features (e.g. session based cookies).
Web page content filtering (removes banners based on size,
- invisible "web-bugs", JavaScript and HTML annoyances, pop-ups, etc.)
+> GIF de-animation.
Auto-detection and re-reading of config file changes.
-
User-customizable HTML templates (e.g. 404 error page).
+> User-customizable HTML templates for all proxy-generated pages (e.g. "blocked" page).
Improved cookie management features (e.g. session based cookies).
+> Auto-detection and re-reading of config file changes.
1.8. How does Privoxy know what is
+an ad, and what is not?
When you connect to a web site with Privoxy,
- you are really connecting to your locally running version of
- Privoxy. Privoxy
- intercepts your requests for the web page, and relays that to the
- '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 "real" web site. The web site sends the HTTP data stream
- back to "banners"!)
+ and the host (blocking the big banner hosting services like doublecklick.net
+ already helps a lot). Privoxy, where
- Privoxy can work its magic before it
- relays this data back to your web browser.
-
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.
Since Privoxy 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.
- 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 uses various programming methods to do
- this, all of which is under your control via the various configuration
- files and options.
-
+ 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.
There are many kinds of proxies. Privoxy best
- fits the "filtering proxy" category.
-
Both of this involves a certain amount of guesswork and is, of course, freely
+ and readily configurable.
1.9. Can Privoxy make mistakes?
+This does not sound very scientific.
Privoxy 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. 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 makes heavy use of
+> 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.)
1.10. Will I have to configure Privoxy
+ before I can use it?
No, not really. The default installation should give you a good starting
+ point, and block most ads and unwanted content. Many of
+ the more advanced features are off by default, and would require you to
+ activate them.
You do have to set up your browser to use
"regular expressions". (If you are not familiar with regular
- expressions, it is explained briefly in the user manual.) Regular
- expressions facilitate matching of one text string against another, using
- wildcards to build complex patterns. So Privoxy
- 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 "/banners", has a high probability of containing
- ad banners, and thus would be a prime candidate to have a matching rule.
So And you will certainly run into situations where there are false positives,
+ or ads not being blocked that you may not want to see. In these cases, you
+ would certainly benefit by customizing Privoxy's
+ configuration to more closely match your individual situation. And we would
+ encourage you to do this. This is where the real power of
+ Privoxy 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.
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.
1.11. Can Privoxy run as a server on a network?
But this should not be a big concern since the
-
+ Yes, 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.)
Modern browsers do indeed have Modern browsers do indeed have some of the same
functionality as
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.
-
+ 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.
+
1.13. Why should I trust Privoxy?
The most important reason is because you have access to
+ everything, and you can control everything. You can
+ check every line of every configuration file yourself. You can check every
+ last bit of source code should you desire. And even if you can't read code,
+ there should be some comfort in knowing that thousands of other people can,
+ and do read it. You can build the software from scratch, if you want, so
+ that you know the executable is clean, and that it is
+ yours. In fact, we encourage this level of scrutiny. It
+ is one reason we use Privoxy ourselves.
Privoxy is licensed under the GNU General Public
- License (GPL). It is free to use, copy, modify or distribute as you wish
- under the terms of this license. Please see the Copyright section for more
- information on the license and copyright.
-
-
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. 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.
+> There is no warranty of any kind, expressed, implied or otherwise.
+ That is something that would cost real money ;-) There is no registration either.
Privoxy really is really is free
in every respect!
-
1.15. Can Privoxy remove spyware? Adware? Viruses?
No. Privoxy cannot remove anything. It is not a removal tool. It is a
+ preventative. Privoxy can help prevent contact from sites that use such
+ tactics with appropriate configuration rules, and thus could conceivably
+ prevent contamination from such sites.
1.16. Can I use Privoxy with other ad-blocking software?
Privoxy should work fine with other proxies and other software in general.
But it is probably not necessary to use Privoxy in conjunction with other
+ ad-blocking products, and this could conceivably cause undesirable results.
+ It would be better to choose one software or the other and work a little to
+ tweak its configuration to your liking.
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.
+
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.
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 1.17.2. Contribute!
We, of course, welcome donations and could use money for domain registering,
+ buying software to test Privoxy with, and, of course,
+ for regular world-wide get-togethers (hahaha). If you enjoy the software and feel
+ like helping us with a donation, just Developer's Manualdrop us a note.
1.17.3. Software
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.
If you are a vendor of a web-related software like a browser, web server
+ or proxy, and would like us to ensure that Privoxy
+ runs smoothly with your product, you might consider supplying us with a
+ copy or license. We can't, however, guarantee that we will fix all potential
+ compatibility issues as a result.