FAQ -- IDzap anonymous browsing service
- Why use IDzap to surf the web?
- Specifically, what can a web site find out about me?
- Is there a solution to this problem?
- How does IDzap solve my problem?
- What is the difference between the free service and the paid IDsecure service?
- What about cookies and Javascript?
- If I do all my web surfing
through IDzap, then IDzap will know everything about me.
What is the difference?
- What are the computing requirements
in order to use the IDzap service?
- How do I login to the IDzap anonymous brwosing service?
- I cannot login to the free service. Why?
- I cannot login to the IDsecure service. Why?
- How do I use the IDzap anonymous brwosing service to surf the web?
- Can I use Bookmarks (Netscape) or Favorites (IE) with the IDzap services?
- Can I use web based email with the IDzap services?
- What is the subscription policy of the IDsecure service?
Why use IDzap to surf the web?
Internet privacy has been a hot button issue lately.
There has recently been a large number of articles in the main stream media
(e.g., Newsweek, BusinessWeek, New York Times, Wall Street Journal,
internet News sites such as Yahoo and Lyco, ZDnet, ..., etc.)
discussing this issue.
You might want to ask
- Why is this an issue?
- Why do I care?
It turns out that when a user visits a web site,
all the activities of the user are recorded.
This includes, for example, the user activities at the current site
as well as information on which site the user visited last.
Over time, a web site can build a statistical profile
of a user based on these activities.
This includes information such as the type of pages (i.e. the content)
that the user is interested in,
how much time a user spends on each specific pages visited, ... etc.
In addition to using the user specific information in-house,
some companies also sell the information to third party marketers.
Specifically, what can a web site find out about me?
This page
shows the information that is passed from your computer
to a web site.
Is there a solution to this problem?
IDzap provides two anonymous web browsing services:
- free anonymous web browsing service, and
- subscription based IDsecure browsing service.
Both services are very easy to use for any web user.
For example, if a user wants to visit the web site
http://www.companyA.com anonymously,
the user can:
- Go to http://www.idzap.com
- Click to enter either free anonymous browsing,
or IDsecure browsing service.
- In the "Surf anonymously" text box on top of the IDzap.com page,
type in http://www.companyA.com and hit the "Go" button.
The user will obtain the page anonymously from companyA on the browser.
Furthermore, if the user clicks on any link within the requested page,
the subsequent request is automatically routed through IDzap and
hence the subsequent requests are also made anonymously.
How does IDzap solve my problem?
What happens in the background is that
the request is first sent to www.idzap.com.
The IDzap server makes a request using the identity of IDzap
to obtain the page from companyA.
When IDzap receives the page, the IDzap server
adjusts the hyperlinks to make sure
that subsequent requests through clicking the hyperlinks
will also be made anonymously.
The page content is then sent to the browser of the web user.
In this way, companyA will never obtain any user specific information
from the web visitor.
What is the difference between the free service
and the paid IDsecure service?
The IDzap free anonymous browsing service
protects you from being known to the destination web site.
However, the free service does not protect you
from your ISP and your firewall admin person.
In other words, the link between the user and IDzap
is not protected when using the free service.
With the IDsecure service, we use encryption technology
to hide the URL, and use SSL to protect the communication link.
As a result, the entire communication link is protected.
Furthermore we provide in the IDsecure service
a user configurable mechanism
to encrypt the history in your browser.
We also support password protected sites in the IDsecure service.
Here is a diagram showing the
advantages of IDsecure browsing.
We have a tabular presentation
of the difference between the feature sets of the two services.
What about Cookies and Javascript?
Cookies and Javascript can cause significant privacy risks.
For more details, please visit our
FAQ on Cookies
and FAQ on Javascript.
Because of the security risk,
we turned off both cookies and Javascript by default
when you use IDzap.com to surf the web.
In the free service, the user can choose to turn on Javascript and cookies
using our "Setting" page.
In the IDsecure service, the user can configure cookies, Javascript,
and a set of other security parameters by clicking
the "User Preference" on the top of an IDsecure delivered page.
If I do all my web surfing through IDzap,
then IDzap will know everything about me.
What is the difference?
In fact, IDzap is committed to protect the privacy of web users.
It is absolutely safe to use IDzap as far as privacy is concerned.
Please read IDzap's
Privacy Policy Statement for more information
on how we run this web site.
What are the computing requirements
in order to use the IDzap service?
To use the IDzap anonymous browsing services, you need
- a standard internet connection -- dial-up modem, DSL, cable modem,
corporate network, or local area network with a gateway to the internet
- an installed web browser -- Microsoft, Netscape, or Opera browser.
- operating system -- no restriction (Windows, Mac, unix, linux, ...)
The service works for computers with a direct internet connection,
and for computers behind firewalls.
Specifically for the IDsecure service, we have designed
several features to provide maximum privacy protection
for those users who need to go through a corporate firewall.
The service is designed with maximum flexibility in mind,
so that you do not need to install any additional software
on your computer.
How do I login to the IDzap anonymous brwosing service?
The first step in using the IDzap service is to
login to one of the IDzap servers.
The login URL for the IDzap anonymous browsing service as as follows:
- Free service: http://fr0.idzap.com/
- IDsecure (paid) service: https://member.idzap.com/
Note that the URL begins with "http" for the free service
and with "https" for the IDsecure service.
When you go to the free service at http://fr0.idzap.com/,
you will see a pop-up dialog box asking for your username and password.
Type your username and password into the appropriate boxes,
then click "OK".
When the username and password are authenticated, a page
will be presented and you will start your surfing from there.
Please read the question
How do I use the IDzap
anonymous brwosing service to surf the web?
for more details.
When you go to the IDsecure service at https://member.idzap.com/,
you will see the web page loaded with two text boxes
on the top of the page where you can type your username and password.
Type your username and password into the appropriate boxes
and click "Login".
When the username and password are authenticated,
a page will be presented showing your IDsecure User Preferences.
You can start surfing from there.
Please read the question
How do I use the IDzap
anonymous brwosing service to surf the web?
for more details.
I cannot login to the free service. Why?
Here are some things to check:
- If you are a new user who just signed up for the free service,
please make sure that you set up your password.
The registration code that you receive in your email
is not your password.
Please follow the instructions in the email to set up your password.
- Verify that the username and password are correct.
Note that both the username and password are case sensitive.
- Make sure that you use the URL http://fr0.idzap.com/ to login.
Your username and password for the free service works only
for the free servers. They do not work on the IDsecure servers.
- You should see a pop-up dialog box asking for your username
and password when you go to http://fr0.idzap.com/.
If you did not see the pop-up dialog box but instead see a page
saying that your username and password are correct,
and you are using Internet Explorer,
you will want to check your browser setting.
In Internet Explorer, go to
Tools --> Internet Options --> Security
Click on the Internet icon, then click "Custom Level".
Scroll down to User authentication.
Check "Prompt for username and password",
then click "ok" and click "ok".
I cannot login to the IDsecure service. Why?
Here are some things to check:
- If you are a new user who just signed up for the IDsecure service,
please make sure that you set up your username and password.
The registration code that you receive in your email
is not your password.
Please follow the instructions in the email to set up your password.
- Verify that the username and password are correct.
Note that both the username and password are case sensitive.
- Make sure that you use the URL https://member.idzap.com/ to login.
Your username and password for the IDsecure service works only
for the IDsecure servers. They do not work on the free servers.
Similarly, username and password for the free service
also do not work on the IDsecure servers.
- Check that your subscription is not already expired.
If your account is already expired, you can send a renewal order at
https://www.idzap.com/subscribe/index.php.
In your renewal order, please specify your existing username
(the IDsecure username, not the username for the free service)
so that we can locate your account.
How do I use the IDzap anonymous brwosing service to surf the web?
After you are logged in,
you will see a text box on the top of the web page
for you to type the URL of the destination web site
that you want to visit anonymously.
Type in the URL of the destination web site
in this textbox and then click the "go" button.
The request to retrieve the web page
will then be routed through the IDzap servers.
The IDzap servers retrieve the web page,
do some processing on it, and then deliver the web page
to the user's browser.
One of the differences between the free service
and the IDsecure service is that the URL is encrypted
in the IDsecure service.
The free service does not have the URL encryption feature.
For the IDsecure service,
if you look at the "address" or "location" box on the
top of the browser, you will see a URL of the form
https://member.idzap.com/dsahkllkjdsafjlkads
where the garbage-like part is the encrypted URL
of the destination site.
This is what your ISP will see and hence your ISP
will not know which web site you actually visited.
Another difference between the two services is in
the support of password protected sites.
The IDsecure service supports password protected sites,
whereas the free service does not have this feature.
In both services, you can use hyperlinks as usual.
That is, if you click on
a link in a page retrieved through IDzap, your subsequent
request will also be routed through IDzap and hence you
are protected.
You can also use bookmarks/favorites. Please read
the next question on this.
Can I use Bookmarks (Netscape) or Favorites (IE) with the IDzap services?
Absolutely, one can use Bookmarks/Favorites for both the IDzap free service
and the IDsecure service.
To do that, we first go to a page through the IDzap service.
Then we create a new Bookmark/Favorite item.
Then next time we go to that item, we will get the page
through the IDzap service.
The original Bookmarks/Favorites can still be used. However,
we will not be routed through IDzap when using those items.
Can I use web based email with the IDzap services?
Sure, the IDzap services support web based email such as yahoo mail, hotmail,
netscape mail, ...etc.
In order to use web based email, you will need to
set your browser so that it accepts cookies and javascript.
You will also need to configure the IDzap service
to accept cookies and javascript.
Please read our Cookies FAQ
and our javascript FAQ on
how to enable cookies and javascript for the IDzap service.
Please note that hotmail uses secure socket layer (SSL)
to do authentication (user login).
Our free service does not support the retrieval of SSL pages and hence
you will not be able to use hotmail with the free service.
However, our IDsecure service supports retrieval of SSL pages
and hence hotmail can be used with the IDsecure service.
For more information on the IDsecure service,
please read IDsecure advantage.
Here is a summary of the IDsecure User Preference for yahoo mail and hotmail:
- Yahoo mail -- enable cookies, enable javascript, enable pop-up window.
- Hotmail -- enable cookies, enable javascript, send browser type as is.
What is the subscription policy of the IDsecure service?
For a new IDsecure subscription,
we will send you a confirmation email with your registration code.
Your subscription period starts when we send the confirmation email.
When you renew IDsecure service and your existing subscription is already
expired, your subscription period starts
when we send the confirmation email.
When you renew IDsecure service and your existing subscription
is not yet expired, we extend your subscription from the
expiration date of your existing subscription.
In other words, you will not "lose days" when you renew early.
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