Originally Posted by
Kremmen
Transparent proxying is not referred to as TCP hijacking.
No, but that's, essentially, how it works.
Originally Posted by
Kremmen
NAT isn't to be avoided at all costs. (Almost every home network does it, for a start.)
Indeed, NAT has very little to do with transparent HTTP proxying, nor is capable of causing such problems.
Originally Posted by
Kremmen
Transparent proxying is used regularly by ISPs (esp. those with expensive overseas peering costs) with almost no downside
It saves $$$ for the ISPs, but there are no real 'upsides' in it for the user. The downsides are numerous, including the possibility of out-of-date content being served, and, as the above case demonstrates, the possibility of a buggy proxy server software frustrating a user with unnecessary and avoidable errors.