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What's a MySpace proxy server and how does it work?

I've been trying various proxy servers to get to MySpace from school and sometimes they work for a while but other times they don't work at all because they're banned or blocked. What is a MySpace proxy server, how does it work and why would they work for a while and then stop?

Dave's Answer:

I forwarded your question along to Mubin Ahmed, who runs an overseas proxy server that should let you access MySpace and other commonly blocked sites, and here's his informative and amusing answer:

So you want to waste your parents tax money talking with your friends on Myspace eh? No problem. Oh, your school has somehow blocked Myspace from being accessed? Again not a problem you simply use a Myspace proxy.

First off, a definition: a proxy server is a website that lets you "cloak" or hide your Internet activity. In this case you are hiding the fact that you are going to Myspace by using a proxy server. Generally, proxy servers are third party websites that offers you the service of acting as a go between so you can circumvent any site block or ban from a monitoring package, firewall or other privacy or security system. You go to the proxy's homepage, and from there you enter the site you want to visit, whether it be Myspace, Facebook, YouTube, or an Arcade site, and that website actually retrieves the page you want to visit on your behalf.

There are two basic types of proxies: a CGI-based proxy, and a PHP-based proxy. The difference between the two is that a CGI-based proxy will let you visit sites that requre you to sign in -- for example, MySpace, Hotmail, and Google's Gmail -- while a PHP-based proxy usually only works with sites that don't require you to sign in (unless they're heavily modified). Much like a translator listens to a speaker and than repeats it to someone else, a proxy listens to your request, rebroadcasts it to the Internet at large, captures the result, then sends you the information you desire.

That's how you get around the pesky MySpace filter at school!

Schools can be particularly annoying in this regard because sometimes they do a mass block for all types of terms. It might seem reasonable to filter out all "naughty" words, but what if you're in high school and are doing research on breast cancer for a health class? Right, probably it'll be blocked as inappropriate content.

Now comes the question of why a proxy server works for a while, and then abruptly stops working and goes into the banned or blocked list. Well, it turns out that while your network admin might not look like the smartest guy in the world, but he CAN see a list of every site every student visits. It is very simple for him to check the list and find popular sites that he's never heard of or seen!

Further, us kids are a talkative bunch, and once one finds out how to get to MySpace, YouTube or Hotmail he tells his friends and it snowballs like crazy and suddenly gets a huge spike in traffic. As you might suspect, that's the best thing in the world for a proxy owner because he is getting Word of Mouth traffic. The problem is, your admin will also see a large amount of activity going to one site, and once he figures out that its a proxy he will most likely ban it immediately.

If your school or company is running Websense, there's no human intervention needed: they send out their spider bots checking for proxies, and once they find one they automatically ban it, if your school is behind a websense filter that might be another reason why a popular proxy suddenly gets banned or blocked.

One more thing: Before you start thinking that a proxy guarantees complete anonymity and means you can safely hack into NASA you should know that the proxy owner is logging your IP address and if you do anything illegal he would be obliged by law to hand over server logs to the relevant authorities. Be safe, keep on chilling at MySpace and don't do anything stupid, okay?

Thanks to Mubin Ahmed, who runs the eHide proxy server (which you can find on Google by searching for unblock myspace), for his insight and coherent explanation of proxy servers and blocked/banned site mechanisms.

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Comments

At our site at http://www.peacefire.org/ , all of our proxies have a form where you can enter your e-mail address to be notified if new ones. We send out new ones every 3-4 days, so that by the time they block the last one that we've mailed out, we've usually mailed out a new one. That helps avoid the problem that users encountered with proxies being blocked too quickly.

It's worth nothing that many schools, workplaces, etc. have their filtering set up incorrectly so that https:// sites are NOT blocked at all! If that's the case then you can just use an https:// one, like ours at http://www.StupidCensorship.com/

Posted by: Bennett Haselton at March 8, 2007 3:07 PM

i need some new sites to get on myspace please help my only way to get on myspace

Posted by: mike t at March 9, 2007 8:50 AM

all of the proxy websites that you have posted are blocked at my school is there any way to get the security code or some other website that will het me on

Posted by: diana at March 9, 2007 12:22 PM

Many proxies unblock myspace, but I've got really hard time finding one that unblocks orkut. any suggestions?

Posted by: Luke at March 10, 2007 12:13 AM

try a https proxy

Posted by: ricky at March 21, 2007 10:19 AM

Is there a way for me to get on youtube.com from school computer. Just like myspace? If there is any please let me know. Thanks.

Posted by: josh at March 27, 2007 12:21 PM

thanks alot

Posted by: nene at March 29, 2007 9:57 AM

most php proxies don't allow posting of messages at Myspace. This one does -> www.proxycarbon.com

enjoy!

Posted by: haxen at April 3, 2007 2:26 PM

How do I put total security on my proxy server

thanks.

Posted by: Lawal at April 24, 2007 2:43 AM

can u make new proxy site for myspace.com so i can get on at skool pleaSE

Posted by: korina at April 25, 2007 11:39 AM

i absolutly NEED a proxy that isn't blocked at my school. all the ones from hidebrowse.com to offcampuslunch.com are all blocked on average one proxy lasts a week and i cant seem to find any please help!!

Posted by: Dez-a-ray at April 26, 2007 12:17 PM

One can also try using any VPN service to bypass Websense and other proxy filters and sign into MySpace or any other blocked websites. I could find mention of only one such Free PPTP VPN service called SecureIX

http://thinkabdul.com/2007/02/09/free-pptp-vpn-service-to-bypass-proxiesfilters-download-p2pbittorrent-files-browse-blockedcensored-websites/

Posted by: Derrick at April 26, 2007 5:28 PM

http://www.bamozi.com has worked on orkut for me

Posted by: Colin at April 27, 2007 1:25 PM

how do I get into myspace from school

Posted by: Elizabeth at April 27, 2007 2:51 PM

Sorry the URL didn't work. This will work for myspace, gmail and hotmail. follow the link.

http://www.tooawesome.com

Posted by: Rtc at April 29, 2007 5:32 AM

I use this proxy at school to access myspace and youtube http://www.usbrowser.com

Posted by: janice at May 13, 2007 11:31 AM

I need to find a way to bypass surfcontrol. Please if anyone has any info, can you please post it. Everything that I have been trying to use has been a failure. It's like a steel wall.

Posted by: Terrshawn at May 14, 2007 8:09 AM

the proxie https://www.vtunnel.com works but you need to type it exactly like in did

Posted by: Molly Moll at May 17, 2007 8:38 AM

i need a proxy so i can get into vampirefreaks.com in mi skool plz help mi

Posted by: shanny at May 25, 2007 8:48 AM

please help me ,,,,,and send some suitable proxies for orkut and www.meebo.com please send the proxies to my mails thanxxxxx

Posted by: ashish at May 28, 2007 5:19 AM

try this then

http://freedom2view.com or .co.uk

http://myspaceatschool

good luck and remember keep smilin :-)

Posted by: rees at June 28, 2007 6:16 AM

i can't look at my comments on myspace at school!! is there any sites that will allow me to do this??

Posted by: Helen at July 9, 2007 3:22 AM

i cant see my yahoo mail if u know something help me

Posted by: frankie at July 12, 2007 9:30 AM

none of those proxies work but these 2 sort of work...
www.irasp.ir/amin/index.php
www.gmailproxy.com

Posted by: dingo at July 28, 2007 11:48 PM

Thanks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! wow it worked, im so happy!!

Posted by: ashleigh at July 30, 2007 6:54 PM

Try this, its fast and works for every website. not just a forwarding server like most of them. see how the speed is for you, you can try it out at home...

schoolproxy.googlepages.com

Posted by: Brendan09 at August 19, 2007 2:48 PM

websense sucks..

Get rid of this using the following URL

"the proxie https://www.vtunnel.com works but you need to type it exactly like in did"

Really it works for me..Thanks

Posted by: khan at August 23, 2007 7:08 AM

http://www.pagemod.com/?comment

goto the site:
Click on the desired Images OR
Enter URL in the box and
BROWSE!! and FAST too.They have got multiple Dedicated Servers Running
This website 100% not blocked

Also they have a secure server mode https://www.pagemod.com
Even Email and group Subscription to get updates on new domains
so to be sure you can access.. even if their primary domain gets blocked
No restrictions!!

If any thing goes wrong and you cannot access the site.send email to report@pagemod.com to settle the issue.
Everything is done to bypass most filters and firewalls..like deleting words like myspace,orkut,proxy etc
from the content of the page.

Posted by: Ajay at September 9, 2007 3:15 AM

Nothing is working, need more, something hidden would be nice.

Posted by: Tony at September 12, 2007 12:34 PM

do u guys know anymore proxies? all these let me sign in but i can't reply to ny of my messages or approve any comments!

Posted by: Bailey at October 10, 2007 8:27 AM

hey that gmailproxy.com does work . thanks

Posted by: ELisha at October 23, 2007 8:41 AM

hello i have this article that will give you enough knowledge on proxy and proxy sites that can give you access to some block sites.

http://urlwhiz.com/xjni

i also found this new website proxy network
http://proxynetwork.i.ph/

Posted by: allan at November 3, 2007 2:24 PM

you can try this proxy http://rhtway.com/

Posted by: Jerry at December 26, 2007 1:49 PM

hello, i have this new and fastest myspace proxy, it can also watch youtube videos

http://iproxx.com

hope you enjoy

Posted by: iproxx at January 5, 2008 7:48 AM

hey
usually the proxy's dont allow flash, it just wont work, or the javascript is disabled (either way, youtube won't work) so i set up this website (all written by me), and it works perfect! you can search, watch etc, the only thing you can't do is upload, login, post comments and read comments.. I created it purely with the purpose of proxying it, so there should be nothing that is been linked to youtube.com except the link to the official website!

the website is http://ytexp.zeryl.net/

Posted by: superaktieboy at March 15, 2008 2:51 PM

https://www.vtunnel.com has been blocked at my school. I need another web proxy that will let me get on 2 myspace.

Posted by: Amber at March 25, 2008 1:04 PM

I have a lot to say, but ...

I have a lot to say, and questions of my own for that matter, but most of all I'd like to say thank you for all your efforts on this Web site by buying you a chai!

I do have a comment, now that you mention it!