It might sound a little ridiculous but if you are one of the UKs many expats living across the world, you may well recognise the irony. Richard III may not have had a clue what you where talking about but any UK national who uses the internet outside the UK almost certainly will.
Jim Rjindael from Anonymous Surfing explains briefly what a UK Proxy is
“A proxy server is a computer which acts as an intermediary for another computer. It acts as a middle man forwarding and receiving requests from your computer. Typically people use proxy servers to protect their browsing or bypass restrictions based on their current location. Anyone using a UK proxy would appear to the web site they are visiting to be from the UK”
It may sound a little technical but it’s actually quite simple and in fact it’s becoming big business on the internet. Proxies are used all across the world by individuals to protect their identities – your browsing cannot be traced back as easily to your computer, but also to access sites that may be unavailable. For instance if you’re surfing the internet in a country like China, you are going to find that you simply can’t access all sorts of web sites. If you connect through a proxy first those sites can be accessed.
The internet is becoming increasingly controlled and censored by both corporations and governments. In Iran pretty much all the social networking sites are blocked unless you use a proxy. Surfers in Saudi Arabia and UAE are also restricted from accessing many sites based on the moral, religious and political stances of their governments.
But the Governments are not alone, big online companies are using the same technology to increase profits by price discrimination techniques. Connect to a site like Napster and you’ll be offered a different deal or price depending on where you are connecting from. Other media sites like Hulu and NBC have to restrict access to US surfers alone due to licensing issues.
The idealogy behind the internet was originally one of free, open communication unfortunately that ideal doesn’t suit everyone. The growing use of proxies across the globe is a reaction to the restrictions that are being placed on the internet. It’s possibly best illustrated by this quote from James Cowie, an empolyee of Renesys, an Internet Intelligence company in his article – the Proxy Fight for Iranian Democracy
“If you put 65 million people in a locked room, they’re going to find all the exits pretty quickly, and maybe make a few of their own.”
Rather well put I thought, and it perfectly illustrates the technological battle for control that is going on across the web. But to return to our title – why is a UK proxy as vital to an expat on the Costa Del Sol as a horse was to the beleaguered Richard III at the Battle of Bosworth field. Well for that there is usally one simple answer, the BBC – you see without one you can’t watch the BBC Iplayer Abroad or anywhere outside the UK!