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OMG! "In order to access the proxy a user must be logged in to Chrome. To prevent abuse a Google run authentication server will grant access tokens to the Goog

by ilc 3y ago

OMG! "In order to access the proxy a user must be logged in to Chrome. To prevent abuse a Google run authentication server will grant access tokens to the Google run proxy based on a per-user quota." In order to prevent abuse... we have to give you a tracking token, to use the "Anonymizing" network. One that tracks down to the browser level, across IP switches! Way cool! Nice try Google... we've seen tracking tokens from you enough times. :)

lxgr 3y ago
Without knowing any details, I strongly suspect authentication work similarly to iCloud Private Relay or Google VPN, both of which use blinded tokens that the proxy operator (here Google) can't correlate directly with an account.
- ilc 3y ago
  It's Google... If they want to connect the dots, they will. "It takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it." - Warren Buffet I used to trust Google. They really didn't act that scummy, etc. Now-a-days, I 'm not so sure. Leave the VPN to the VPN providers, IMHO.
  - lxgr 3y ago
    > Leave the VPN to the VPN providers, IMHO. I'm as skeptical about Google's privacy efforts as the next person, but I think most existing commercial VPNs are even worse. They gain ISP-level insights into your traffic, and history has shown that at least some of them aren't really more trustworthy than the worst ISPs out there (in that they've also been caught selling or at least collecting customer traffic flows, despite all the promises to not keep any logs). MASQUE is a much better take on browsing privacy. I really do hope that today's VPN providers will be tomorrow's MASQUE proxy providers.
    - ilc 3y ago
      I won't disagree there. In fact if I was the NSA/CIA/etc, I'd just make a VPN provider, and let the traffic roll in, no need to goto the traffic, if they just give it to you, and you get the ability to have trusted access to their machine to boot... Yes, I know OpenVPN, etc. But 'cmon, we know people would fall for the above :).

by ilc 3y ago

lxgr 3y ago

Without knowing any details, I strongly suspect authentication work similarly to iCloud Private Relay or Google VPN, both of which use blinded tokens that the proxy operator (here Google) can't correlate directly with an account.

ilc 3y ago
It's Google... If they want to connect the dots, they will. "It takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it." - Warren Buffet I used to trust Google. They really didn't act that scummy, etc. Now-a-days, I 'm not so sure. Leave the VPN to the VPN providers, IMHO.
- lxgr 3y ago
  > Leave the VPN to the VPN providers, IMHO. I'm as skeptical about Google's privacy efforts as the next person, but I think most existing commercial VPNs are even worse. They gain ISP-level insights into your traffic, and history has shown that at least some of them aren't really more trustworthy than the worst ISPs out there (in that they've also been caught selling or at least collecting customer traffic flows, despite all the promises to not keep any logs). MASQUE is a much better take on browsing privacy. I really do hope that today's VPN providers will be tomorrow's MASQUE proxy providers.
  - ilc 3y ago
    I won't disagree there. In fact if I was the NSA/CIA/etc, I'd just make a VPN provider, and let the traffic roll in, no need to goto the traffic, if they just give it to you, and you get the ability to have trusted access to their machine to boot... Yes, I know OpenVPN, etc. But 'cmon, we know people would fall for the above :).