Amazon Mechanical Turk, also known as Amazon Mturk, is a crowdsourcing platform where users can find and hire remote “crowdworkers” to perform and complete tasks. It is basically a huge marketplace where requesters/providers can find and employ workers/respondents. All work that can be done digitally can be done via crowdsourcing through using Amazon Mturk. It is owned by Amazon and is operated under Amazon Web Services (AWS).
To effectively use Mturk though, you need to reside in the United States. The Amazon Mturk website can still be used outside the US but requesters will most likely not accept you if you live outside the US. The main demographic of Amazon Mturk workers are US-based and non-US workers have an extremely low hit approval rate. Even if you live in the US but are currently outside of it, you’ll get an error if you try to accept a US-only task.
The best way to get through this restriction is to change your location to the US. Through an Amazon Mturk proxy, you can easily change your real IP address into a US IP address. This is possible because an Amazon Mturk proxy will hide your IP address and handle all of your requests for you. This means that any website you visit will only be able to see the IP address of the proxy server and you have the option to choose which IP address you want to use similar to a VPN.
Residential proxies are the best and most reliable types of Amazon Mturk proxies to use. Residential proxies use real residential IPs from actual devices making it near impossible for websites to recognize the fact that you’re using a proxy. To websites, you would seem like a genuine user from the location you chose.
Let’s set up an Amazon Mturk proxy server.
Note: Make sure that the web browser you’re using for Amazon Mturk is set to automatically copy your computer’s proxy settings. Google Chrome automatically does this, so it’s recommended to use it.
For Windows:
To set up proxies in Windows, simply search for “Proxy Settings” in your windows search bar and open the search result.
You are then given two options to choose from: Automatic proxy setup or Manual proxy setup. If you want windows to automatically detect your proxy settings, choose the first option. Choose the second option if you want to utilize a specific ip address and port number.
If you chose the first option, then:
- Turn on Automatically detect Settings
- Turn on Use setup script
- Enter the script address
- Click Save
If you chose the second option, then:
- Turn on Use a proxy server
- Input both server address and port number
- If you have any addresses you would like to visit without a proxy, enter them here
- Turn on Don’t use the proxy server for local addresses check box if you want to access a local server without a proxy
- Click Save
For Mac.
To start configuring your proxy settings in MacOS, simply:
Step 1. Click on the Apple Icon.
Step 2. On the drop down menu, click on “System Preferences”.
Step 3. Click on “Network”
Step 4. Click on “Advanced”
Note: Make sure to connect to your wi-fi first.
Step 5. Click on “Proxies”
This should then redirect you to MacOS proxy settings. MacOS is more straightforward compared to windows. You only have one option which is to manually configure your proxy server.
Here are the steps to follow:
- Select which proxy IP protocol you want to configure. This depends on which protocols your proxy service provider offers.
- Turn on Secure Web Proxy
- Input the Proxy Server Address and Port Number
- Click OK to save the configurations
Note: You may be prompted for your Mac user password to save your settings.
Image Alt Text: Configuring MacOS Proxy Settings
For Mobile:
To set up an Amazon Mturk proxy server for your mobile device, simply change your phone’s proxy settings. The web browser you’re using for Amazon Mturk will automatically copy your phone’s proxy settings whenever you use it. This is applicable for both Android and IOS.
Here’s a thorough guide for Android and another one for iPhone.
Congratulations! You have now finished configuring an Amazon Mturk proxy server. Note that the first time you visit it, there will be a pop up asking for your login credentials.
