Releasing Middleman Alerter, a Chromium Extension to Warn About Third-Party Reverse Proxies

Published on Jun 4, 2026, filed under tools, misc. (Share this post, e.g., on Mastodon or on Bluesky.)

Another member of the IA Defensa family, Middleman Alerter Chromium is a browser extension that informs when a website is routing their traffic through third-party reverse proxies, that is, networks that can read all page content and credentials (like Akamai, Cloudflare, Fastly, Imperva, and others):

Screenshot of Middleman Alerter in action. — Middleman Alerter with a toast that a website sends all traffic through Fastly. (This complements the browser icon indicating use of a proxy, too.)

The extension does not collect or share any data with me or third parties. It’s free for personal use, at your own discretion and responsibility. Please report issues and leave suggestions in the IA Defensa forum.

The official release date of the tool is May 28—when Google approved the extension on the Chrome Web Store—, but I’m deliberately spreading out announcements a bit.

About Me

I’m Jens (long: Jens Oliver Meiert), and I’m an engineering lead, guerrilla philosopher, and indie publisher. I’ve worked as a technical lead and engineering manager at various companies, including Google; I’m an open-source developer and a contributor to web standards (like HTML, CSS, WCAG); and I write and review books for O’Reilly and Frontend Dogma.

I love trying things, not only in web development and engineering management, but also with respect to politics and philosophy. Here on meiert.com I talk about some of my experiences and perspectives. (Please share feedback—interpret charitably, keep it friendly, but do be critical.)