A proxy filter is a server that acts as an intermediary between a client and a server, protecting the client from being identified. It is used by network administrators to restrict access to certain sites and by users to bypass network restrictions. Governments also use proxy filtering to block citizens from accessing certain parts of the internet.
A proxy filter, also known as a proxy server, is a machine or application that acts as an intermediary between a client and a server. When a user accesses a server through a proxy, the server believes it is completing the proxy’s requests, not the actual user, so it protects the client from being identified. Computer administrators who wish to restrict access to certain sites within their computer networks often make extensive use of a proxy filter, but users who wish to bypass network restrictions also make use of them. Other users of proxy filters include people who have limited access to the internet or those who want to access content from other regions.
Network administrators are often forced to restrict certain sites, such as social networking sites and other online services that reduce productivity in the workplace. They often do this by using a proxy filter as a gateway between users of the corporate computer network and the outside world. The proxy server will have a list of disallowed keywords, domains and Internet Protocol (IP) addresses so that any user who tries to access them will be redirected to a warning page instead of the requested site. Some proxy servers have advanced filtering options that allow network administrators to block similar file types and keywords as well.
Proxies act outside the jurisdiction of the web filtering software; users can use proxies to access websites that would otherwise be restricted on the network. Many filtering solutions exclude proxy filter sites from the centralized list of restricted domains. Those that include websites that act as a proxy filter must constantly update their list of restricted sites to include the hundreds of proxy sites that are created on the Internet every day.
Corporate network administrators aren’t the only ones using proxy filters to block users from accessing parts of the Internet. Some governments have been using the concept of proxy filtering for years to prevent their citizens from accessing parts of the internet that they deem unpatriotic or contrary to official government ideology. Governments that use content blocking often use web filtering methods that are far more sophisticated than those used in commercial applications. There are equally sophisticated proxy filtering solutions that can be used to allow citizens of those countries to access the Internet in its entirety.
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