Returning Home From a Proxy Server
I use proxies a lot at work, but not because I have anything to hide. A proxy is a website that lets you browse the Internet under a different IP address. Sometimes, I need to test region-specific code outside of our internal network. Other people might use a proxy to bypass measures their school has used to block Facebook… or measures their government has used to block Facebook, among other things. Sound familiar? Well, that would be China.
It’s no surprise that using the Internet in China can be a pain. Desperate expats will pay for a VPN service, but cheapskates like myself either do without our favorite websites or hunt for free proxies to use. The problem with proxy hunting is that, as soon as you find a good one, the Chinese government blocks it the next week. In all my months of living in China, the only proxy I could consistently rely on was called hidefap.com.
I know, I know. It’s not a very respectable name. At expat parties, it was always embarrassing when we would discuss what new proxies we were using, and I had to admit, “Yeah, I’m using this site called… um… hide… fap…” For some reason, though, it never got blocked, so I always used it.
Back in the US, the first time I needed to test a script from a different IP address at work, my instinct was to go to hidefap.com. But then I realized it probably wouldn’t look good if an employee was frequently visiting a site called hidefap. At first, I thought finding a new proxy would be a hassle, but when every other site you visit isn’t blocked, it’s actually quite easy. Man, I love having full Internet access again.
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