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Beat the ban: Here’s how to choose between paid and free services that enable complete Web access

We explain proxy servers, VPNs, and even a free service that enables no-holds-barred access to your Internet

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The recent ban on pornographic websites by the Indian government has spawned a myriad of arguments over an individual’s right to access information: the authorities’ standpoint basically claims that porn is a cause that ‘corrupts Indian values’, while users claim the information they access online is their own prerogative. Of course, we comprise the latter.

From Section 67 of the Information Technology Act, 2000, downloading and viewing porn in one’s own privacy is legally allowed, so long as it does not involve minors. Only the production or distribution of pornography is illegal in India.

This being the case, every Internet user has the right to access legal content; any ban to doing so goes against a person’s fundamental freedom. Thankfully technology is a wonderful thing--every measure has a countermeasure. If you need unfettered access to the Web, there are services you can use that mask your location to bypass any block from your local Internet Service Provider (ISP) such as MTNL, Airtel or Hathway Broadband et al.

What are these and what is the difference between them?

The two most popular of these services are proxy servers and VPNs.

Proxy services: These are web services that re-route all of the web traffic from your computer or device to a server on the Internet located outside the country. This server then forwards your web requests to the site you want to access, gets the information and passes it back to your computer. In effect, it bypasses your local Internet Service Provider and any ban that may be imposed.

VPN services: Like a proxy service, VPN services also re-route Internet traffic from your computer to its own servers and onward to the website you wish to access, but VPNs encrypt all of this data and mask your identity so there is virtually no chance an external party can view the content of your connection.

Selecting a service really only depends on two factors: how much you want to spend (yes, these are paid services), and whether you’re interested in true anonymity when online. Note that while a Google search will throw up a ton of ‘free’ VPN and Proxy services, I highly discourage using them--many actually steal your private data (such as logins and credit card details), which defeats the purpose of using such a service in the first place!

Even paid VPN and proxy services number in the thousands, and it is easy to get lost in the offers available. Before selecting a service, here are some of the terms you’re likely to encounter--keep these in mind before deciding:

- Download cap: Some of these services have a download cap, so you’ll only be able to use that much of data each month. Opt for services that have an open-ended data plan instead.

- Number of simultaneous connections: Most of these services allow up to five simultaneous connections, so factor this in if you have multiple devices and computers that need to connect through this secure network together.

- Speed: Ensure that the service does not enforce a data speed cap, or if it does make sure it is something you can live with.

- Protocols supported: Certain web protocols such as Peer-to-Peer (aka Torrents) are unsupported on some proxy and VPN services. Consider this if your ISP bans use of such services and you require access.

See this VPN comparison guide from VPNCompare UK for information some of the best services out there. According to them, IPVanish, Vyprvpn and ExpressVPN happen to be the best you can use with multiple device support, and with prices ranging from $77.99 to $99.84 per year. Basically, if you are paying between USD 6 and 10 per month for a full-fledged VPN service, you’ll not want to pay a similar amount for a Proxy service with fewer capabilities.

Opt for a Proxy service only if you have a lower budget and aren’t very concerned about anonymity.

The free route

There is another route you can choose for unrestricted Internet access--the free and open source Tor network. This is basically a volunteer-driven distributed network of computers around the world that that bounces web traffic between nodes, encrypting traffic at each stage to deliver anonymity. If this sounds a lot like your P2P torrent network, it is--the Tor client on your computer sends information into the Tor network where it passes through at least three encrypted nodes before reaching the website you wish to access. The result: the ability to circumvent any Internet ban.

Here’s a quick video of how Tor works:

To use this service, simply set up and use the Tor Browser: a pre-configured and self-contained web browser that runs on Windows, Mac OS X and Linux. You can even launch this browser directly off a USB drive without having to install it on your system. Of course, the Tor Browser is only useful for accessing websites; it doesn’t enable blocked Torrent downloads for example. Also, being a peer-to-peer based system, the speed of this service may not be consistently high.

For Android devices, Tor has an app called Orbot that lets your smartphone or tablet access the Tor network. Install it from the Google Play store or, if you wish, download the APK and sideload it here. When the app is launched, select the Bridge Mode and all connections from your device will be anonymized.

No matter what your approach to accessing blocked content on the Internet, remember to enable the services only while accessing blocked content, or you’ll end up routing all of your online sessions through them. There’s nothing wrong with this, except it may be slow or you’ll wind up using up service data caps for websites that you can access normally.

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