There are times when you want to browse the Internet privately, access geo-restricted content or bypass any intermediate firewalls your network might be enforcing.
One option is to use a VPN, but that requires installing a client software on your machine and setting up your own VPN server or subscribing to a VPN service.
The simpler alternative is to route your local network traffic with an encrypted SOCKS proxy tunnel. This way, all your applications using the proxy will connect to the SSH server and the server will forward all the traffic to its actual destination. Your ISP (internet service provider) and other third parties will not be able to inspect your traffic and block your access to websites.
This tutorial will walk you through the process of creating an encrypted SSH tunnel and configuring Firefox and Google Chrome web browsers to use SOCKS proxy.
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