The use of proxies has been spiking in popularity in recent years because of the vast number of benefits they offer. From online privacy and anonymity to web scraping, price monitoring, or accessing restricted content, proxies cover it all.
That said, the legality and ethics of proxies are often questioned. If you too have your doubts, follow along and let us clear it all up.
What is a proxy server?
A proxy server acts as a middleman between the user and the internet. When using proxies, your traffic is routed through the proxy server before reaching the web. As a result, websites and apps see the IP address and location of the proxy server, not your actual whereabouts.
When you receive data from the web, it is also routed through the proxy server before reaching you. This means that there is no direct connection from the web to your device at any point.
Is it illegal to use proxies?
Yes, using proxies is legal in a majority of countries worldwide. It’s what you do while using the proxy that matters. As long as you stick to activities that don’t break the law or any ToS (Terms of Service) agreements, you should be able to use proxies without any legal concerns.
Of course, there are some exceptions. Countries with oppressive internet censorship, such as China, North Korea, or Iran, may ban or heavily restrict proxy use. That’s because proxies provide anonymity and privacy online while allowing users to access some geo-restricted content.
This means that users can access popular social media platforms or read the news without them being filtered by a propaganda machine. That’s something most of us take for granted, but some countries don’t like their people to have such freedom, which is why they may ban proxy use.
Countries where proxies are illegal
The list of countries that ban or heavily restrict proxy use includes, but isn’t limited to the following:
- China
- North Korea
- Iran
- Belarus
- Russia
- UAE
- Turkey
- Turkmenistan
- Oman
- Iraq
- Egypt
These are all countries that tend to restrict the internet freedom of their citizens. And while the law isn’t always enforced, they typically don’t like it when people can freely access news and social media without restrictions.
Legal proxy use cases
Now that we’ve established the legality of proxies in a general sense, let’s take a look at some of the most common legal use cases for proxy servers:
- Web scraping — using proxies for web scraping allows businesses or users to collect large amounts of data in a short amount of time. It can then be used to make data-driven decisions, analyze competitors, market research, and more.
- Social media management — social media platforms don’t like it when multiple accounts are associated with a single IP address. If you need to manage several different accounts, proxies allow you to do so without the hassle of trying to overcome blocks or restrictions from social media platforms.
- Accessing geo-restricted content — whether you’re living in a country that restricts your access to the internet, or simply traveling the world and want to access the web as if you were at home — proxy servers allow you to enjoy the best that the World Wide Web has to offer.
- Online privacy — using proxies hides your real IP address and replaces it with that of the proxy server. This makes it much harder for intrusive third parties to figure out who you are or where you’re connecting from. Proxies are not as secure as VPNs with no logs policies but still offer a sizeable boost to your privacy.
- Ad verification — the ad verification process is a useful tool for any business that invests in advertising. Proxies can help you check if your ads are displayed properly and are placed on reputable websites in multiple locations worldwide.
- Remote work — proxies are often used by companies that have people working remotely. They allow companies to share access to company resources and security measures with everyone on the network.
Illegal proxy use cases
The use of proxies is legal in most countries, but that doesn’t mean that you can do whatever you want if you have a proxy. Unfortunately, cybercriminals sometimes use proxies for illegal activities, which can hurt the image of an otherwise perfectly legal tool. Here are some examples:
- Phishing — bad actors may use proxies to hide their identity and location when engaging in phishing or other online scam tactics.
- Copyright infringement — cybercriminals steal and distribute copyrighted content without having the permissions required to do so. By using proxies, they make themselves harder to track.
- Circumventing security measures — some websites and services state that any attempts to circumvent their security measures are considered a breach of their ToS agreement. Since proxies hide your IP and location, their use can be seen as breaking the agreement.
- Harassment/spam — unfortunately, cyberbullies feel a lot more comfortable online if their location and identity are hidden. That’s why some use proxies to hide themselves while taking part in despicable behavior online.
These are just a few examples of illegal behaviour, but all illegal activities related to proxies have one thing in common — people are doing illegal things, and hiding their identities behind proxies. But as long as you stick to the law while using proxies, there’s nothing inherently illegal about them.
Ethically vs. unethically sourced proxies
Proxies are often split into two categories — ethically sourced and unethically sourced proxies.
Ethically sourced proxies always have the consent of the users or ISPs providing their IP and the server and often compensate them for participating in the proxy network, whether through financial reward or giving access to service for free. Unethically sourced proxies trick people into taking part in their network or even use malware to connect devices to proxy networks without the users’ consent.
Ethically sourced proxies are typically capable of providing a quality service and maintaining good speeds. Any data gathered by ethical proxies is only ever used to benefit the customer by providing tools such as performance information or analytics dashboards.
On the other hand, unethically sourced proxies may sell your data to third parties, offer an unstable and unreliable service, and may land you in legal trouble. On top of that, they might even spread malware to your device, making you a part of the proxy network without you even knowing.
Conclusion
As long as you keep your activities legal and use ethically sourced proxies, they offer a perfectly legal way to use web scraping tools, facilitate remote work, gather information for data-driven decisions, and many other things. And they’re legal nearly everywhere in the world. But that doesn’t mean that you don’t have to comply with the law when using proxies.
