idcloak launches a free Bypass Proxy Server, which allows internet users to circumvent all forms of blocks on sites or pages they wish to visit.
These blocks occur for three main reasons. The first is due to content filtering on a local network such as in offices or institutions. The second is government web censorship, which used to occur only in countries such as Vietnam and China but is now being sanctioned in the UK and other European nations. Lastly, there is geoblocking: websites themselves disallowing visitors from certain parts of the world. Many individual YouTube videos are blocked in this way. idcloak’s high-anonymity proxy server, with servers in the UK, US and Japan, is equally effective at circumventing all three of censorship types.
As a website-based tool, the proxy may be deployed on smartphones and tablets as well as computers – the user only needs to access the site through a standard web browser. Encryption options are available in the proxy’s menu to allow users to conceal the fact they are unblocking restricted content.
“We have put together a fast, discrete and effective unblocking service that works in nearly all censorship situations,” says Robin Welles, idcloak’s Senior Web Researcher. “Few people realize such technologies exist, but by marketing a free, simple-to-use unblocking service, we are hoping to change that.”
As reflected by their services, idcloak is a long-time advocate of internet freedom, “Censorship is something that should only be imposed in the most extreme cases, and arguably even then just by parents for their children; not by governments or institutions for the public. There is just too much potential for abuse. And yet restricted internet access has become ubiquitous.”
Early reports following the release of the Bypass Proxy Server have shown that a minority of proxy filters have blocked the idcloak.com site, effectively cutting off access to the service. Welles is nonplussed, “This occurred because of the frequent use of the word ‘proxy’ in our site. Censorship filters are designed to detect and shut off sites that use such terms. This is why we also offer an easily distributed IP proxy list – censored users can distribute the list among peers by email, giving access to unblockers independently of our site.”
An article on the idcloak site, explains how users of Android devices may use IP proxies to bypass blocks.
The firm is also just weeks away from releasing a VPN proxy unblocker, which is tipped to circumvent any type of block with the utmost discretion. “VPNs challenge the way the internet works, if they become widely used, control mechanisms like surveillance and censorship will have no choice but to submit to user privacy and independence. That’s how the internet was meant to be, but not how it has become.”
To learn more about idcloak’s work in internet freedom and privacy, see idcloak.com.