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78 >1. General Information</H1
86 >1.1. What is this new version of <SPAN
91 > Along time ago, there was the
93 HREF="http://www.junkbusters.com/ijb.html"
97 >Internet Junkbuster</SPAN
100 by Anonymous Coders and <A
101 HREF="http://www.junkbusters.com/"
105 >. This saved many users a lot of pain in the early days of
106 web advertising and user tracking.</P
108 > But the web, its protocols and standards, and with it, the techniques for
109 forcing ads on users, give up autonomy over their browsing, and
110 for tracking them, keeps evolving. Unfortunately, the <SPAN
114 > did not. Version 2.0.2, published in 1998, was
115 (and is) the last official
117 HREF="http://www.junkbusters.com/ijbdist.html#release"
122 HREF="http://www.junkbusters.com"
124 >Junkbusters Corporation</A
126 Fortunately, it had been released under the GNU
128 HREF="http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html"
131 >, which allowed further
132 development by others.</P
134 > So Stefan Waldherr started maintaining an
136 HREF="http://www.waldherr.org/junkbuster/"
138 >improved version of the
140 >, to which eventually a number of people contributed patches.
141 It could already replace banners with a transparent image, and had a first
142 version of pop-up killing, but it was still very closely based on the
143 original, with all its limitations, such as the lack of HTTP/1.1 support,
144 flexible per-site configuration, or content modification. The last release
145 from this effort was version 2.0.2-10, published in 2000.</P
149 HREF="http://www.privoxy.org/user-manual/copyright.html#AUTHORS"
153 picked up the thread, and started turning the software inside out, upside down,
154 and then reassembled it, adding many
156 HREF="http://www.privoxy.org/user-manual/introduction.html#FEATURES"
162 > The result of this is <SPAN
166 stable version, 3.0, was released August, 2002.
179 >? Why change the name from
186 HREF="http://junkbusters.com/"
188 >Junkbusters Corporation</A
190 continues to offer their original version of the <SPAN
198 >-derived software under the same name
201 > There are also potential legal complications from the continued use of the
205 > name, which is a registered trademark of
207 HREF="http://junkbusters.com/"
209 >Junkbusters Corporation</A
211 There are, however, no objections from Junkbusters Corporation to the
215 > project itself, and they, in fact, still
216 share our ideals and goals.</P
218 > The developers also believed that there are so many improvements over the original
219 code, that it was time to make a clean break from the past and make
220 a name in their own right.</P
232 >Privacy Enhancing Proxy</I
236 modification and junk suppression gives <SPAN
243 control, more freedom, and allows you to browse your personal and
278 > left off. All the old features remain.
282 > still blocks ads and banners,
283 still manages cookies, and still helps protect your privacy. But, these are
284 all greatly enhanced, and many, many new features have been added, all in the same vein.
287 > The configuration has changed significantly as well. This is something that
288 users will notice right off the bat if upgrading from
302 > and much more has been
303 combined into the <SPAN
306 > files, with a completely different
308 HREF="../user-manual/whatsnew.html"
312 page for the latest updates.</P
317 >'s new features include:</P
324 > Integrated browser based configuration and control utility at <A
325 HREF="http://config.privoxy.org/"
327 >http://config.privoxy.org/</A
334 tracing of rule and filter effects. Remote toggling.
339 > Web page content filtering (removes banners based on size,
343 >, JavaScript and HTML annoyances, pop-up windows, etc.)
348 > Modularized configuration that allows for standard settings and
349 user settings to reside in separate files, so that installing updated
350 actions files won't overwrite individual user settings.
355 > HTTP/1.1 compliant (but not all optional 1.1 features are supported).
360 > Support for Perl Compatible Regular Expressions in the configuration files, and
361 generally a more sophisticated and flexible configuration syntax over
367 > Improved cookie management features (e.g. session based cookies).
377 > Bypass many click-tracking scripts (avoids script redirection).
382 > Multi-threaded (POSIX and native threads).
387 > User-customizable HTML templates for all proxy-generated pages (e.g. "blocked" page).
392 > Auto-detection and re-reading of config file changes.
397 > Improved signal handling, and a true daemon mode (Unix).
402 > Every feature now controllable on a per-site or per-location basis, configuration
403 more powerful and versatile over-all.
408 > Many smaller new features added, limitations and bugs removed, and security holes fixed.
421 >1.4. What is a <SPAN
430 > A web proxy is a service, based on a software such as <SPAN
434 that clients (i.e. browsers) can use instead of connecting directly to the web
435 servers on the Internet. The clients then ask the proxy to fetch the objects
436 they need (web pages, images, movies etc) on their behalf, and when the proxy
437 has done so, it hands the results back to the client.
440 > There are many reasons to use web proxies, such as security (firewalling),
441 efficiency (caching) and others, and there are just as many different proxies
442 to accommodate those needs.
448 > is a proxy that is primarily focused on privacy
449 protection, junk elimination and freeing the user from restrictions placed on his
450 activities. Sitting between your browser(s) and the Internet,
451 it is in a perfect position to filter outbound personal information that your
452 browser is leaking, as well as inbound junk. It uses a variety of techniques to do
453 this, all of which are under your control via the various configuration
468 an ad, and what is not?</H3
473 >'s approach to blocking ads is twofold:</P
475 > First, there are certain patterns in the <SPAN
482 of banner images. This applies to both the path (you wouldn't guess how many
483 web sites serve their banners from a directory called <SPAN
487 and the host (blocking the big banner hosting services like doublecklick.net
488 already helps a lot). <SPAN
491 > takes advantage of this
493 HREF="../user-manual/actions-file.html#AF-PATTERNS"
497 > to sort out and block the requests for banners.</P
499 > Second, banners tend to come in certain <SPAN
506 can't tell the size of an image by its URL without downloading it, and if you
507 do, it's too late to save bandwidth. Therefore, <SPAN
511 also inspects the HTML sources of web pages while they are loaded, and replaces
512 references to images with standard banner sizes by dummy references, so that
513 your browser doesn't request them anymore in the first place.</P
515 > Both of this involves a certain amount of guesswork and is, of course, freely
529 This does not sound very scientific.</H3
531 > Actually, it's a black art ;-) And yes, it is always possible to have a broad
532 rule accidentally block or change something by mistake. You will almost surely
533 run into such situations at some point. It is tricky writing rules to
534 cover every conceivable possibility, and not occasionally get false positives.</P
536 > But this should not be a big concern since the
540 > configuration is very flexible, and
541 includes tools to help identify these types of situations so they can be
542 addressed as needed, allowing you to customize your installation.
544 HREF="trouble.html#BADSITE"
545 >See the Troubleshooting section below</A
555 >1.7. Will I have to configure <SPAN
559 before I can use it?</H3
561 > No, not really. The default installation should give you a good starting
562 point, and block <SPAN
568 > unwanted content.</P
570 > But you will certainly run into situations where there are false positives,
571 or ads not being blocked that you may not want to see. In these cases, you
572 would certainly benefit by customizing <SPAN
576 configuration to more closely match your individual situation. And we would
577 encourage you to do this. This is where the real power of
590 >1.8. My browser does the same things as
600 > Modern browsers do indeed have <SPAN
607 functionality as <SPAN
611 adequate for you. But <SPAN
615 versatile and powerful, and can do a number of things that browsers just can't.
618 > In addition, a proxy is good choice if you use multiple browsers, or
619 have a LAN with multiple computers. This way all the configuration
620 is in one place, and you don't have to maintain a similar configuration
621 for possibly many browsers.
631 >1.9. Is there is a license or fee? What about a
632 warranty? Registration?</H3
637 > is licensed under the <A
638 HREF="http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/gpl.html"
640 >GNU General Public License (GPL)</A
642 It is free to use, copy, modify or distribute as you wish under the terms of this
643 license. Please see the <A
644 HREF="copyright.html"
647 information on the license and copyright. Or the <TT
651 that should be included.
660 > of any kind, expressed, implied or otherwise.
661 That is something that would cost real money ;-) There is no registration either.
682 >1.10. I would like to help you, what do I do?</H3
688 NAME="JOINTEAM-MONEY"
690 >1.10.1. Contribute!</H4
692 > We, of course, welcome donations and could use money for domain registering,
693 buying software to test <SPAN
696 > with, and, of course,
697 for regular world-wide get-togethers (hahaha). If you enjoy the software and feel
698 like helping us with a donation, just <A
699 HREF="mailto: ijbswa-developers@lists.sourceforge.net"
709 NAME="JOINTEAM-SOFTWARE"
711 >1.10.2. Software</H4
713 > If you are a vendor of a web-related software like a browser, web server
714 or proxy, and would like us to ensure that <SPAN
718 runs smoothly with your product, you might consider supplying us with a
719 copy or license. We can't, however, guarantee that we will fix all potential
720 compatibility issues as a result.</P
729 >1.10.3. Would you like to participate?</H4
731 > Well, helping the team is always a good idea. We welcome new developers,
732 packagers, testers, documentation writers or really anyone with a desire to help in
744 are many other tasks available. In fact, the programmers often can't spend
745 as much time programming because of some of the other, more mundane things
746 that need to be done, like checking the Tracker feedback sections.
750 HREF="https://sourceforge.net/account/register.php"
752 >get an account on SourceForge.net</A
754 and mail your id to the <A
755 HREF="mailto:ijbswa-developers@lists.sourceforge.net"
759 >. Then, please read the <A
760 HREF="../developer-manual/index.html"
762 >Developer's Manual</A
764 the pertinent sections.</P
766 > Once we have added you to the team, you'll have access to the <A
767 HREF="http://sourceforge.net/cvs/?group_id=11118"
771 together we'll find a suitable task for you.</P
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