Proxy anonymity: transparent, anonymous, elite
Anonymity describes how much a proxy reveals to the destination. It's graded by inspecting the forwarding headers the proxy injects when it relays your request.
Transparent
The proxy forwards your real IP — typically in X-Forwarded-For or
X-Real-IP. The destination both knows you're using a proxy and sees who you are.
Offers no privacy.
Anonymous
The proxy announces itself (for example with a Via header) but does not leak your real
IP. The destination knows a proxy is in use, but not the origin.
Elite (high-anonymity)
No proxy-revealing headers at all — the request looks like a direct connection from the proxy's exit IP. This is what tunnels (CONNECT, SOCKS5) naturally provide.
How it's detected
The checker routes each proxy to an echo endpoint and reads exactly which headers arrived. If a forwarding header exposes an address other than the proxy's exit, it's transparent; if proxy headers are present but no foreign IP leaks, it's anonymous; if none are present, it's elite.