Are some proxies illegal to use? Ringo seems to think ALL are safe to use and you can't get your ISP Banned or disabled or anything.

Please post your ideas on this..

Edit: Incase your wondering, Ringo is aka Pro_Tech @ Europe (The winbot maker :P)

This seems to be a very famous myth on the internet, I have used proxies for along time for almost everything and I never ran into "illegal proxies", but I noticed the mythbusters are on all day and this gave me a great idea we do a bit of mythbusting are selfs.

But your ISP may not like you using proxies, and could stop you. And lets say your using them for winbotting, (Looks at ringo.. #2000) and blizzard report you to your ISP (for using proxies + winbotting), could your isp stop you or blizzard ban you?

I think Blizzard will just reset your record.

Comcast caught me scanning and using proxies a while back.

Here's the issue. A lot of proxies are run by stupid-as-shit administrators who keep them open to the public because they can't be bothered by securing them. At the same time, they run IDS's to watch for port scans. I scanned the whole northeast Comcast subnet a few years ago and used some of those proxies. They called my house a few weeks later while I was in Florida and complained that I had been illegally accessing government and private commercial proxies. They were private-access but not secured, and had figured out my IP address because their IDS had detected a portscan. I think its more of a violation of TOS of the ISP, but it might actually be illegal. I am not sure. They gave me a C&D, and I complied.

[quote author=Banana fanna fo fanna link=topic=13343.msg135301#msg135301 date=1132939098]
Comcast caught me scanning and using proxies a while back.

Here's the issue. A lot of proxies are run by stupid-as-shit administrators who keep them open to the public because they can't be bothered by securing them. At the same time, they run IDS's to watch for port scans. I scanned the whole northeast Comcast subnet a few years ago and used some of those proxies. They called my house a few weeks later while I was in Florida and complained that I had been illegally accessing government and private commercial proxies. They were private-access but not secured, and had figured out my IP address because their IDS had detected a portscan. I think its more of a violation of TOS of the ISP, but it might actually be illegal. I am not sure. They gave me a C&D, and I complied.
[/quote]

It is a grey area, but I think you're right.  Using proxies that aren't secure right is like using your neighbour's toaster because he doesn't lock his door :P

[quote author=QwertyMonster link=topic=13343.msg135297#msg135297 date=1132937538]
But your ISP may not like you using proxies, and could stop you. And lets say your using them for winbotting, (Looks at ringo.. #2000) and blizzard report you to your ISP (for using proxies + winbotting), could your isp stop you or blizzard ban you?[/quote]

They could, but unless you're affecting the servers' ability to serve other customers (e.g. DDoS attack), they probably won't bother with finding your ISP and cutting you off.  Although, banning the cdkeys involved seems to be very cheap, so they might do that. :)

Thanks, i just needed to clarify it.

It's probably worth noting that a good number of proxies aren't even intended to exist.  For instance, when people with botnets want to hide their hosts for say IRC, they tell their infected computers to start proxy servers.

But in general, proxies can be looked at as wireless access points that don't use WEP/WAP.  Port scanning to see that they exist should still be considered a grey area, but connecting to them (without explicit permission) is probably tantamount to theft.  This would be likened to connecting to the access point and using the internet through it without permission.  Just a thought.

Thanks for that TehUser, my brother was talking about what you said to me also. I think i got it all sorted now, thanks all!