Why are websites are blocked and how do you get around viewing a site that is blocked? In many instances, individuals may be denied access to websites in government institutions, schools, or office spaces that may restrict browsing. In some situations, countries have some of the most popular websites blocked by special software preventing communication among their own citizens and other countries. There are a handful of ways to open a blocked website using a proxy to view restricted content and blocked websites.

Internet Archives and Wayback machines in desperate times

One of the most overlooked tools for circumventing blocked content is with the use of an internet archive. Every piece of content and every website published on the world wide web is catalogued in some way. Wayback machines are special archives that take continuous snapshots of every website, graphic, song, photo, anything that can be digitized. This way of cracking into restricted content can be useful if there is no other way and you have explored every option possible. By navigating to an archive website, a user can view captured video, content, and so much more.

This is not necessarily the most guaranteed way to view websites as some content may not be fully displayed; for example a blog post on the front page of a website may not have the complete snapshot of the linked content behind it. The two most popular tools for this method are archive.org and wayback machine. The downside to this method is that not all content may be easily viewable as some websites can disable crawls which inhibits the preservation of data.

TOR or The Onion Router

The most popular way to navigate the many layers of the web has become the TOR or the onion router. With knowledge of many organizations building programs to track and observe everything from click patterns to web traffic, even a person's purchasing patterns, internet users need a sense of security. Created by a group of developers, this open source software is built with several advantages including a built in firefox style browser focused on pushing web traffic directly through its own network and is viewed as the safest way to transmit information with a triple layer of encryption.

The more important and fascinating things about this program is the way traffic set to originate. Traffic originating from a user’s IP is bounced around secure volunteered servers. Each server bounces info to another point of acceptance and so on. Many avid TOR users will build their own primary server to deploy environments giving them the power to create their own internets. Many are against TOR because of its anononominity but with hackers discover new ways to break into servers everyday, the onion network can provide a level of security no other program can provide.

By leaving no trail and with the software constantly running in the operating systems background, a continuous proxy connection is linked to the TOR network.

USB drive and Firefox

Some people want the ultimate in privacy when using the internet. One of the most creative ways to surf the internet securely is with the use of a USB stick. Installing firefox on this little device is simple and effective; this method leaves no trace at all on any computer being used including cookies and cache. Ultimately, using these tools together in any location will keep your computer safe and mask tracking. This is useful for someone that may be traveling in a foreign country with heavily blocked websites and restrictive monitoring and those who frequently travel.

When it is almost impossible to connect to any network, dropping a portable browser on a USB stick is only the first step. You also need a quality proxy server that can filter and redirect traffic proficiently and anonymously. Once you have a proxy established, firefox installed in your portable drive you can then download your temporary web portal by adjusting proxy settings to disguise yourself. When options are limited and protecting your content and data are significantly important, this can be a quick and efficient method for getting ahold of content.