Millions of people out there use Facebook as a social networking site. Facebook is a great way to meet new people with similar interests and to keep in touch with people that you might not usually see or speak with. It can be nice to get a little note from a family member or old friend occasionally. It is easy to see how people are doing by simply looking at their Facebook profiles. When you would normally not be able to call someone because you do not know their number or because you don’t know them well, you can simply take a second to glance at their page. Facebook is a great social networking device and something that can make a real difference in people’s lives. But have you ever tried to get onto Facebook and found it impossible because of a firewall?
A firewall is a program that certain Internet servers use to block users from accessing certain websites. This is mostly because the owner of the server wants to prevent certain content from appearing on their connection. There are various reasons for having a firewall. Some people do it because they don’t want people looking at pornography or because they don’t want employees wasting time at certain Internet sites while using the company connection. Many schools have firewalls to prevent their students from looking at certain sites. So if you want to look at Facebook and run into one of these firewalls, what can you do? Technology has come up with a way to get past its own inventions. A firewall can be bypassed through something called a proxy server. Proxy servers allow you to access forbidden sites by using their server as a surrogate. You simply connect with the outside server and allow it to look up Facebook for you. The proxy hides your IP address from the firewall on the network.
While this can be a great and quick solution to your firewall problem, there are some potential problems with proxy servers, and with Facebook proxy servers that you should know about. The first and most serious problem is that proxy servers are not always safe. The information passing from Facebook to your computer and from your computer to Facebook has to pass through an outside proxy server. This means that someone could record this information or look at it while it is being transferred. It might even be possible to gain information about passowords or login identification in this way. Naturally most proxies are probably harmless, but there are some out there that could try to use your information for malicious purposes. The best way to try to get around this problem is to research the proxy server you plan to use. See if it is commonly used by many people or if there are any reviews of it. Do not use a little known proxy.
Although certainly not as serious a problem as what was just mentioned, another concern is that certain websites block proxy servers. This might be because the proxy was used to pass on spam or any number of other undesirable things. In this case you simply would have to find another proxy to contact Facebook with.
Because there are some potentially serious problems with proxy servers, make sure to research them carefully before using. Hopefully a proxy will allow you to reach Facebook and to do the valuable connecting that this social networking site has allowed millions to do. Good luck with all of your proxy use and happy times using Facebook!