Marketers promoting Firefox in 3…2…1…
> The Google-run proxy can observe the user's IP address but not the websites being visited and the third-party proxy can see the web servers being visited but not the IP address of the visitor. By separating the user's IP address from the user's destination through Google's service, websites and intermediaries cannot (without additional information) link people's IP addresses to their browsing habits to create marketing profiles.
https://www.theregister.com/2023/11/11/google_proxy_plan_cma/
@rysiek so google is the only party in this that sees all of the data. “All your data are belong to Google”.
@rysiek @YurkshireLad No, incorrect.
Google provides entry nodes, exit nodes are elsewhere (I think Cloudflare is their main partner).
The sheer volumes involved mean this may actually provide better anonymity than Tor, and it will definitely provide better performance.
The only reason we aren't celebrating is because we don't trust the big companies.
@HerraBRE how does Google not see all data? They can observe the source IP address on the entry node, and they have access to the information on the destination, either through Chrome itself, or on the entry node itself — maybe I am missing something but I see nothing to suggest that Google's entry nodes are unaware of the destination?
This would mean that it's hiding private data from websites and from exit nodes, but Google still has full visibility. What am I missing here?
@rysiek @YurkshireLad They claim to not know the destination.
Maybe they lie, but that is the promise they are making.
@HerraBRE I'm not falling for that old chestnut from them again.
> The only reason we aren't celebrating is because we don't trust the big companies.
No, it's because here Google pinky-promises, cross their heart, they don't have access to destination data, while in Tor this is actually independenty verifiable on the code level and on "who controls how much of the network" level.
We don't have to trust Tor Project as much as we would have to trust Google here.
@rysiek @YurkshireLad C'mon, take off the tinfoil hat for a moment.
The how is well understood - onioning. The tech is open source enough for the community to verify the default implementation. Assuming they trojan their binaries... well, I think they would get caught.
The more interesting takeaway, is Google don't feel the IP address info is all that valuable anymore. They are comfortable giving it up, they trust it will hurt their competitors more than it hurts them.
@HerraBRE I am so tired of the "tinfoil hat" ad hominem, honestly can we please put that one to rest already? Almost every time I had been called a "tinfoil hatter" in such a context, in the end I was proven right.
Google controls Chrome, and controls the entry node. They have a long, long history of slurping up all the possible data. They have a long history of anti-competitive behavior. They have a long history of privacy-hostile behavior.
I ain't buying it.
@rysiek @YurkshireLad They also have a long history of driving most of the major web security improvements (that I love to complain about).
Sorry about the ad-hominem. I disagree with your analysis here, but I've made my points and am happy to drop it now.
@HerraBRE Google Analytics is on 95% of the places you'd go from that exit node.
That's intended as hyperbole, but I wouldn't be surprised if I'm accidentally correct.