PHProxy

{{ infobox software2 | name = PHProxy | developer = Abdullah Arif | genre = Proxy server | license = GNU General Public License | website = http://whitefyre.com/poxy/ }}

PHProxy is an HTTP proxy server based upon PHP scripting language. It is a PHP port of the popular CGIProxy by James Marshall.

What is PHProxy

PHProxy acts as a protective screener between the user and the internet. The server downloads the page into its memory, and then displays it to the user. From the point-of-view (in the technical sense) of the host hosting the target site, only the server visited. This means only the server's IP will be logged, and not the user's. Blocking of sites by ISPs and firewalls will not work as well, as the user is basically accessing the proxy. However, the catch here is that the server must be able to access these resources.

As of September 7th 2007, the PHProxy project was discontinued.

PHProxy vs. Conventional Proxy

Using PHProxy does not require changes to a user's browser settings. The user simply needs to visit the page where PHProxy has been set up and use the form to view the target website.

For a server administrator to set up PHProxy, he simply places the PHProxy script in a directory on his web server, and users visit that directory to use the proxy. The proxy is just a PHP script, and only requires that PHP is installed (though there are additional requirements if users need to interface with secure sites or upload files to sites; the requirements are described in the PHProxy Readme file.)

Shut down

On September 7th, 2007 the creator of PHProxy renounced the software and discontinued it. This is a quote from the software website:

Dec 10th 2007: Since my cessation of PHProxy activities back in September, I've received many emails of disappointment and sadness towards my decision. What I have to make clear here is that this decision was personal and no government has ever contacted me about PHProxy. I'm not Iranian, don't even live in Iran and have never been there. I live in the United Arab Emirates (Dubai ring a bell?).

The reason for stopping development was my feeling that the web proxy business was an inherently immoral one. Its main goal is circumventing censorship which was imposed by a legitimate authority of sorts, and disobeying this authority was therefore illegal, and by extension, immoral.

Another issue was [...]. The vast majority of web proxy users use it to browse [...] (go take a look at your log files if you run a proxy). This is another personally immoral thing to be involved in no matter what my intention is with regards to circumventing censorship. You can lie to yourself and say that it's for freedom of information, that there are legitimate uses for web proxies (which there indeed are), but the bad outweighs the good as evident, and as such it is immoral.

Everyone has their own gauge by which they defines what's good and what's bad. And this gauge is calibrated by many factors such as religion, culture, society, and circumstances. You may disagree with my decision, but I believe it was the right thing to do.

Some have contacted me with requests of “officially” taking over the PHProxy project. Some have requested to take over the SourceForge page, some requesting to buy whiteFyre (no). I officially support none. Feel free to make your own fork, there's nothing stopping you, but there's no “official” PHProxy anymore if that's possible to say.

Firefox Addon

There is an extension for Firefox that helps to use PHProxy more conveniently. This extension was built by InBasic on March 5, 2007

There are lots of useful option to help user even sense more comfortable

PhProxy - InBasic :: Firefox Addons

See also

• Proxy server
• Internet censorship
• Computer surveillance
• Great Firewall of China

External links

• PHProxy Former home of this script -- now displays only a 'disavow' declaration, severing the site and author from the PHProxy project.
• SourceForge.net: PHProxy SourceForge.net project summary.
• CGIProxy The original proxy from which PHProxy was ported.
• US-CERT Cyber Security Bulletin SB04-364 US Report on the security flaws of this proxy.