How to Vet Free Proxies Before Using Them for Sensitive Data Tasks

Picking the right tool for a task is often the culmination of a thorough evaluation process where you look at multiple tools and assess their capabilities. This also applies to picking a free proxy for web scraping, which is why this article is intended to explain how to vet free proxies before deploying them to web scraping exercises. That said, the vetted free proxies may not be suited for highly sensitive or mission-critical web scraping tasks. This is because they may still be unreliable and post slow connection speeds due to their shared nature.

Risks associated with unverified free proxies

Poor performance and instability

Free proxies are open for anyone and everyone to use. This means that traffic from multiple users passes through a single free proxy, leading to slow connection speeds. It causes requests to time out or the connection to drop outright. This poor performance makes the free proxies unstable and limits their utility to small-scale tasks and testing.

Unreliability

One of the reasons free proxies are free is that they assign IP addresses that have already been blacklisted. This means you cannot use the proxies to access certain websites right off the bat. Secondly, the fact that they shared predisposes them to blacklisting due to the high volume of traffic. Combined, these factors make free proxies unreliable.

Security vulnerabilities

Free proxies from untrusted providers do not implement security measures. In fact, the providers themselves may sometimes propagate man-in-the-middle attacks or log your data. This security risk makes these intermediaries unideal for sensitive data tasks.

Furthermore, the shared nature of free proxies appeals to bad actors who want to hide their nefarious activities. Using such tools may expose you to such activities, putting you at risk. It also condemns you to sanctions such as IP blacklisting despite your innocence.

Lack of transparency and trust

Some providers may not disclose how they handle user data. They may not also express a commitment to follow applicable rules and regulations. This lack of transparency sows a seed of distrust that repels users looking for transparent and trusty providers.

What to look for when evaluating and choosing a free proxy

You can mitigate the risks detailed above by vetting free proxies before using them for web scraping. But how do you do this? Here are six things to consider during the evaluation stage.

Provider’s reputation

You may learn a lot about a proxy provider and their free proxies by going through what users say or write about them. Such reviews and user feedback provide a glimpse of what to expect when you eventually start using a free proxy. Going with a tool with plenty of positive reviews from verified users is recommended.

24/7 support

Free proxies are not without issues. So, knowing that the provider is readily available to help whenever such issues arise is a plus. In that regard, you should choose a provider that promises 24/7 support.

Transparency

Choose a provider that values transparency. The general rule of thumb is to choose a free proxy from a provider that discloses its data policy and has an elaborate code of ethics that outlines the company’s behavior and practices.

Data security

Some proxy providers like Oxylabs are certified for Information Security Management System according to the ISO 27001 standard. This certification demonstrates the company’s commitment to safeguarding data.

Granted, not all providers have this certification. It’s, therefore, a good practice to choose a provider that demonstrates their intentions and efforts to protect all the data that routes through their proxies. Their policies and code of ethics help you confirm this commitment.

At the same time, choosing a free proxy that uses the hypertext transfer protocol secure (HTTPS) is recommended. This protocol is more secure than HTTP as it encrypts the requests and responses. Put simply, it guarantees data security.

Uptime

Uptime refers to the time a proxy server is available for use within a particular period. Expressed as a percentage, the uptime is one of the measures of a proxy server’s reliability. A good free proxy will have a high uptime all other factors held constant.

Response time

The response time refers to the time difference between a web client (browser) sending a web request and receiving a response. It’s an important parameter as it affects the user experience, page loading, and interruptions during important activities like web scraping.

Using a free proxy with a long response time will have you experiencing frequent request timeouts. The web pages you wish to visit will also take too long to load, if at all. This can lead to frustrations and a degraded user experience. The inverse is true for a free proxy with a short response time.

Conclusion

Vetting free proxies can help you create a list of the best tools for your web scraping tasks. But it’s worth keeping in mind that even the best free proxies are no match for paid proxies – they are just suited for testing and small-scale web scraping tasks. If you want to conduct large-scale scraping or collect sensitive data, go with a paid proxy server.

Picking the right tool for a task is often the culmination of a thorough evaluation process where you look at multiple tools and assess their capabilities. This also applies to picking a free proxy for web scraping, which is why this article is intended to explain how to vet free proxies before deploying them to web scraping exercises. That said, the vetted free proxies may not be suited for highly sensitive or mission-critical web scraping tasks. This is because they may still be unreliable and post slow connection speeds due to their shared nature.

Risks associated with unverified free proxies

Poor performance and instability

Free proxies are open for anyone and everyone to use. This means that traffic from multiple users passes through a single free proxy, leading to slow connection speeds. It causes requests to time out or the connection to drop outright. This poor performance makes the free proxies unstable and limits their utility to small-scale tasks and testing.

Unreliability

One of the reasons free proxies are free is that they assign IP addresses that have already been blacklisted. This means you cannot use the proxies to access certain websites right off the bat. Secondly, the fact that they shared predisposes them to blacklisting due to the high volume of traffic. Combined, these factors make free proxies unreliable.

Security vulnerabilities

Free proxies from untrusted providers do not implement security measures. In fact, the providers themselves may sometimes propagate man-in-the-middle attacks or log your data. This security risk makes these intermediaries unideal for sensitive data tasks.

Furthermore, the shared nature of free proxies appeals to bad actors who want to hide their nefarious activities. Using such tools may expose you to such activities, putting you at risk. It also condemns you to sanctions such as IP blacklisting despite your innocence.

Lack of transparency and trust

Some providers may not disclose how they handle user data. They may not also express a commitment to follow applicable rules and regulations. This lack of transparency sows a seed of distrust that repels users looking for transparent and trusty providers.

What to look for when evaluating and choosing a free proxy

You can mitigate the risks detailed above by vetting free proxies before using them for web scraping. But how do you do this? Here are six things to consider during the evaluation stage.

Provider’s reputation

You may learn a lot about a proxy provider and their free proxies by going through what users say or write about them. Such reviews and user feedback provide a glimpse of what to expect when you eventually start using a free proxy. Going with a tool with plenty of positive reviews from verified users is recommended.

24/7 support

Free proxies are not without issues. So, knowing that the provider is readily available to help whenever such issues arise is a plus. In that regard, you should choose a provider that promises 24/7 support.

Transparency

Choose a provider that values transparency. The general rule of thumb is to choose a free proxy from a provider that discloses its data policy and has an elaborate code of ethics that outlines the company’s behavior and practices.

Data security

Some proxy providers like Oxylabs are certified for Information Security Management System according to the ISO 27001 standard. This certification demonstrates the company’s commitment to safeguarding data.

Granted, not all providers have this certification. It’s, therefore, a good practice to choose a provider that demonstrates their intentions and efforts to protect all the data that routes through their proxies. Their policies and code of ethics help you confirm this commitment.

At the same time, choosing a free proxy that uses the hypertext transfer protocol secure (HTTPS) is recommended. This protocol is more secure than HTTP as it encrypts the requests and responses. Put simply, it guarantees data security.

Uptime

Uptime refers to the time a proxy server is available for use within a particular period. Expressed as a percentage, the uptime is one of the measures of a proxy server’s reliability. A good free proxy will have a high uptime all other factors held constant.

Response time

The response time refers to the time difference between a web client (browser) sending a web request and receiving a response. It’s an important parameter as it affects the user experience, page loading, and interruptions during important activities like web scraping.

Using a free proxy with a long response time will have you experiencing frequent request timeouts. The web pages you wish to visit will also take too long to load, if at all. This can lead to frustrations and a degraded user experience. The inverse is true for a free proxy with a short response time.

Conclusion

Vetting free proxies can help you create a list of the best tools for your web scraping tasks. But it’s worth keeping in mind that even the best free proxies are no match for paid proxies – they are just suited for testing and small-scale web scraping tasks. If you want to conduct large-scale scraping or collect sensitive data, go with a paid proxy server.