Recent Proxy Review 10-2007

Hey guys after researching tons of paid proxies I can across this review that sold me on trying Perfect Privacy. Its just a good review that gives info on a few popular paid proxies out there.

The Review

Tales From The Darkside #2 – Cloak of the VPN
By J. Milton
Published Monday, October 15th, 2007, 3:47 am
Filed under: Science and Technology, Society/Culture
Last week I discussed how an increasingly monitored and intrusive internet has given rise to various darknets. These hidden corners of the internet are chiefly the domain of hackers, crackers, phreaks and geeks, but very recently a few companies have begun offering commercial darknet services to average computer users who are simply concerned about their online privacy. These services offer various degrees of privacy and anonymity to their customers, depending on individual needs. This week, we will look at a few of these services and analyze their value to mainstream computer users.
The first company is Secure-Tunnel located in Washington D.C. Although there are many types of privacy services, Secure-Tunnel offers only SSH Tunnel and CGI web-proxy. The SSH Tunnel is basically a poor-man’s VPN (virtual private network). It tunnels encrypted data between your machine and theirs, but each application that you use (web browser, FTP, etc) needs to be configured to work across it. The CGI web-proxy is SSL-encrypted and works from within your webbrowser (although the page rendering leaves something to be desired in the age of video and flash animation). Secure-Tunnel is cheap ($10/month), and easy to use for Windows and non-Windows users alike. They are blazingly fast (almost native speeds) and very reliable. Honestly, the only drawback is the fact that they currently have U.S.-only servers. That, plus the fact that they are located in America’s capitol city, makes the darknet community rather suspicious. But they are a skiddish lot to begin with, so I still recommend them for beginners, but exercise some caution if you’re a veteran.
I have a soft spot in my heart for this next service, although it doesn’t stack up very well next to the competition. It’s called Relakks, and it’s based out of Sweden. In fact, it’s brought to us by the same Swedes who run the infamous Pirate Bay (more on them next week).
Over the last few years they have delighted in thumbing their noses at authorities in the US who have tried to enforce American copyright law in Sweden. To that end, they have a number of online presences, all designed to drive the MPAA, RIAA, IFPI, and their cohorts stark, raving mad. There’s the Pirate Bay (their signature bittorrent website), Suprnova for more TV and movie goodies, an online streaming video site (coming soon), and finally there is Relakks. With only one core service, Relakks gets the job done quick and dirty. It’s also cheap at about $7 per month. Offering a classic VPN connection, Relakks uses the Microsoft-designed PPTP (point-to-point tunneling protocol) to pipeline and encrypt all data between your computer and theirs. (Check out issues concerning the security of pptp here.) In addition, your IP address is replaced by theirs, so your country of origin (to any website which traces your IP) appears to be Sweden. This is a HUGE benefit to users (particularly Americans) looking to take advantage of ......

Couldnt post more so click the link if you want to read the rest!
 
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