Defining Proxy Servers
Merriam-Webster Online defines the term 'proxy' as 'the authority or power to act for another'. A proxy server does precisely this — it acts as an intermediary between your computer and the network or website you are accessing to obtain certain Internet resources like other websites, FTP archives, files, photos and whatever you may require at the moment. The proxy server thus offers a means by which you can obtain these resources without revealing your IP address or exposing your identity. It allows you, therefore, to make network communication with other network services indirectly.
Why would you need to use a proxy server? Well, for a variety of reasons, some of which are:
- Security — to protect your computer by intercepting computer viruses and other hostile content that may be picked up from remote web pages
- Privacy — to shield you from the web by hiding your IP address and allowing you to surf without being monitored or tracked via cookies
- Load balancing — to make sure that data load is evenly distributed some proxies distribute the load to several webservers.
- Data caching to reduce bandwidth demands — a web proxy produces copies of frequently requested or visited resources and stores these in a cache allowing fast and immediate retrieval of requested data
- Censorship or filtering — to protect you from objectionable web page elements such as cookies, ad banners and dynamic content like Javascript.
Read on to find out more about the different classifications of proxies.