“Proxy” servers are an everyday part of Internet surfing. But using one in a crime could soon lead to more time in the clink.
A key vote Wednesday on new federal sentencing guidelines would classify the use of proxies as evidence of “sophistication,” increasing sentences by about 25 percent — which could mean years or even decades longer behind bars, depending on the crime. It’s akin to judges handing down stiffer sentences when a gun is used in a robbery.
Yet digital-rights advocates are worried. Although they aren’t absolving criminals, they complain that the proposal is so broad, it could lead to unnecessarily harsh sentences for tech neophytes who didn’t know they were using proxies in the first place or who were simply engaging in a practice often encouraged as a safer way of using the Internet.
“It sends a bad message about protecting your own privacy,” said John Morris, general counsel for the Center for Democracy and Technology. “This is the government saying, ‘If you take normal steps to protect your privacy, we’re going to view you as a more sophisticated criminal.'”
Proxies are computers that sit between a user and the Internet at large. They can be used to disguise that person’s numeric Internet Protocol address, which is akin to a street address for a computer. Proxies are scattered around the Internet and are routinely used to relay Internet traffic, often unbeknownst to Internet users.
Corporations routinely use proxies to let their employees work from home; virtual private networks, or VPNs, make traffic look like it’s coming from within the company’s internal network, thus bypassing its security firewalls.
Cell phone providers use proxies to connect devices to the Internet, while people in repressive countries use them to circumvent Internet censors. Internet service providers also use proxies to speed traffic, by storing copies of frequently…