How to Access Blocked Sites From College

I have recently been observing a lot of students at college trying very hard to access blocked sites from college labs. Quite a few colleges block sites like Orkut, Facebook and other sites. College authorities feel that such sites waste student time, but students waste more time trying to pass through the firewall blocking these sites. They keep trying different proxy servers, but these are most of the times very slow or unstable. Also, there are a host of anonymous proxy software or anonymizer which are paid software.

Instead of all the pain and waste of time, a simpler method to access blocked sites is by the use of the Tor or Onion Network. It allows anonymous access to the internet and helps bypass those firewalls that are blocking the internet. Simple to install and easy to use, you don't have to do much to bypass the college firewall. There are also security advantages of using Tor as it prevents tracking through cookies and when used with privoxy also helps block ads by default. The official website lists these advantages and who uses it.

The nice step-by-step tutorial with screenshots for different platforms can be found here, but below I've listed a 3 step guide to be anonymous and access blocked websites.

1.) Download and install Vidalia Bundle which contains Tor, Privoxy and TorButton. (I have linked the latest nightly builds, you can also try the stable build)

2.) Start Firefox and go to addons. Get Extensions and install the TorButton Extension, if it isn't showing the bottom-right corner of the browser window.

3.) Toggle the Torbutton to enable and enjoy surfing the web anonymously and bypassing the blocking firewall.

 

Note: Don't blame me if you get banned from college for accessing adult websites through Tor. Technology, like everything else has good and bad sides. The CHOICE is always yours!!