Proxies

A proxy is sort of a poor-man's VPN. Instead of connecting straight to a website, your traffic goes through an intermediary server first, which can make it look like you're browsing from a different location.

The big practical advantage over a VPN or TOR: there's nothing to install. A web-based proxy runs right in your browser, so it works on a locked-down library or work computer where you can't install software, or any time you just need a quick one-off check without setting anything up first.

Why people use one:

• To get around a site that's blocked or misbehaving from your actual location
• To bypass a temporary DNS or network problem between your ISP and a particular site, by taking a different path. This one has real practical value beyond privacy: if a customer tells me their own website "is down," having them load it through a proxy is a quick way to tell whether the site is actually down, or whether it's just their own ISP having a local DNS hiccup - if it loads fine through the proxy, the site's up and the problem is on their end, not mine.
• As an extra "hop" layered with a VPN for additional separation between you and your destination

A proxy is not the same as a VPN and shouldn't be treated as a reliable way to mask your activity on its own. Most free public proxies don't encrypt your traffic, and there's no guarantee the proxy operator isn't logging everything that passes through it - in some cases a shady free proxy can see and record more about you than your own ISP would. Free proxy services also tend to come and go quickly, so lists of them go stale fast.

Some proxies are legitimately safe and reliable to use, but they still make you pay for it - just not with money. A number of the more trustworthy free ones fund themselves by injecting ads into every page you load through them, sometimes plastering their own banners over the site itself. Safe isn't the same as free of cost - you're just paying in eyeballs instead of dollars.

If you need reliable anonymity or privacy, use a reputable paid VPN, TOR, or both together (see our VPN/TOR article) rather than an unvetted free proxy.