Why, google, why? [solved - kind of]

deej · 2009-10-11 19:32:16

OK. All I've done is to block

http://ey-in-f138.google.com/*

in 'Tools -> Preferences -> Content -> Blocked Content'
and all looks well so far. If I come across any nasties, I'll report back.

Deej

toxygen · 2009-10-11 19:42:06

deej wrote:

OK. All I've done is to block
http://ey-in-f138.google.com/*
in 'Tools -> Preferences -> Content -> Blocked Content'
and all looks well so far. If I come across any nasties, I'll report back.
Deej

the thing about doing this is that google's server farm has different names for their safe-browsing servers (and other ad/whatever things google does. for instance, go to picasa, and see all the different ey-*-google.com servers open up as well as iw-* and iy-* (which btw stay active even when closing picasa pages and dont time out for at least 5mins, closing the browser is the only way to close them completely). it's not the TIME_WAIT delay, they stay established even if you close all tabs.
this is the main problem i have with google, it doesnt obey simple tcp rules for closing connection. so if you block one, others will open. so far having compiled without safe browsing has kept that outgoing connection from re-appearing, but visiting google/google partner pages opens up these other connections for me.
so avoid google and partners (j/k)

deej · 2009-10-11 19:49:30

Yes, I've noticed that. It's a shame one can't use http://*.google.* ... or can one...
More experimentation !

Deej

toxygen · 2009-10-11 19:50:12

deej wrote:

Yes, I've noticed that. It's a shame one can't use http://*.google.* ... or can one...
More experimentation !
Deej

you can if you plan on not using google or its partners

toxygen · 2009-10-12 15:28:49

i woke up today, opened firefox (no homepage, still no search box, my extensions are enabled). went to make coffee, came back, and guess what i saw.. yep, the i?-*-google connections are back! two of them, just sitting there open for no obvious reason.
i closed firefox, restarted, and it hasnt come back (so far). this is driving me nuts. lol
i'm starting to get tempted to just block google altogether. we'll see how it goes during the day. so far they havent come back, so maybe this time one of the extensions made a call home to google.

deej · 2009-10-12 15:33:30

It's driving me nuts too ! I did block a google server using my iptables firewall and browsing was painfully slow.
Have you noticed that these damn things run under root ?
I don't know what they do; I don't want them; it's my computer, my internet connection so they *will* die, one way
or another.

Deej

deej · 2009-10-12 16:08:15

It would seem we're not the only ones:

http://www.centernetworks.com/my-life-without-google

Deej

toxygen · 2009-10-12 19:36:17

that was a fun read (as well as links contained in comments). the general consensus from what i read was either "you're too paranoid, get a girlfriend! i use google for everything and i dont care what they track!" vs "well ya know, everyone else does too so you might as well live with it" vs "no, block google completely and use x y or z alternative".
all i want is control over what connections my computer uses. i dont want unknown connections. if i use google, i know what google does, but that's my choice. i just dont want google to be using my computer without me asking. but based on some comments, maybe living without google will be the way _I_ go. for now i just want this unknown ??-*-google.com connection to stop popping up out of nowhere!
more investigating as time permits.
[edit to add] the main thing that i liked about linux when i first started using it (back in the mid90s) was the amount of control over customization, applications, settings, etc that the system provides. i love the idea of not only being able to read the source (if you can grok it, which i can), but also choosing what and when (and where to some extent) to use programs. when companies start doing things "for my benefit" or to make "my" experience better, i have to raise an eyebrow. these are only personal opinions/choices however.

Last edited by toxygen (2009-10-12 19:39:14)

deej · 2009-10-12 20:07:59

Yes, it is a good read - I've started using ixquick.com as a search engine now !

Back to the google thing, I've tried everyway to block the bas**** things - in Opera itself, to
iptable entries, to additions in /etc/hosts. All fail quickly. I'm a green-newbie as far as iptables
and the inner-workings of the net go, purposefully so, because the whole thing looks like
a heap-of-shite when you get down-and-dirty with it, but now my distrust of google has
spurred me on to learn more. Jeez, I just came across "NXDOMAIN" [ non-existent domain ],
where the nasties can pick up on this and direct you anywhere they like ! So, instead of getting
a 404 on a mis-spelled url. you are suddenly viewing Captain Scarlett + The Mysterons Bomb Making
for Newbies site ! My, that'd take some explaining away...

So, maybe some good will come of it, thanks google !

P.S.

Have you seen this:

In August 2006, the online world was jarred by the AOL privacy scandal:
AOL released three months' worth of aggregated search data from 650,000 of its users, publishing all the details in an online database. This database is still searchable. It is an absolute eye-opener to see the potential for privacy nightmares.

http://eu.ixquick.com/eng/protect-privacy.html

Good old AOL. A certain amount of vicarious fun can be had following peoples search history [ what a hypocrite 1 ].

Deej

toxygen · 2009-10-13 03:04:56

yeah, the aohell scandal was fun to watch. and that's partially the reason i mistrust google and their collection activities, it doesnt have to be a malicious intent by google, but accidents (and hacks) do happen, and someone else with malicious intent can infiltrate and/or otherwise abuse the data stored by google.
ixquick is a good search engine, better than scroogle for me. I'll also be reading up on this page later when i get home http://www.philb.com/searchwithoutgoogle.htm.
i freaked myself out when i noticed a bunch of the *-*-google addresses out of nowhere until i realized i had scrolled up on my netstat log and was looking at yesterdays data. so far it's been pretty clean though, other than that random thing when i woke up.

toxygen · 2009-10-14 16:05:02

found this while doing a search for "block google" (on scroogle):
http://kb.mozillazine.org/Connections_e … _-_Firefox

(found it from this link: http://forums.mozillazine.org/viewtopic … cde6a17d3b ). I'm gonna try this in a bit, i think we got it!

weird how i search mozillazine/firefox pages before and nothing had come up.. thanks scroogle!

Last edited by toxygen (2009-10-14 16:08:09)

deej · 2009-10-14 17:08:39

You'll have to let me know how you get on; I've disabled 'Enable Fraud Protection' in Opera, to no avail.
I'm beginning to think google owns the 'net !

Deej

toxygen · 2009-11-11 20:58:16

resurrecting my thread briefly to say so far (with all the changes described in this thread) all's well, no obscure google connections in the last few weeks unless initiated by me.

also i found this excellent add-on for firefox:
Request policy which blocks even cross-site requests! even though i predict it being a pain in the ass for the first few times i browse around, once the main pages i visit are added to allow sites, it should be smooth sailing. FF is loading pages a lot quicker too since no extra (external) requests are being made.
might be useful to others too..

deej · 2009-11-11 21:13:31

Glad to hear of your success
I was almost there with Opera, then I was side-tracked.
I shall try and resume this weekend - and report back !

This is WAR

Deej

Arch Linux

#26 2009-10-11 19:32:16

Re: Why, google, why? [solved - kind of]

#27 2009-10-11 19:42:06

Re: Why, google, why? [solved - kind of]

#28 2009-10-11 19:49:30

Re: Why, google, why? [solved - kind of]

#29 2009-10-11 19:50:12

Re: Why, google, why? [solved - kind of]

#30 2009-10-12 15:28:49

Re: Why, google, why? [solved - kind of]

#31 2009-10-12 15:33:30

Re: Why, google, why? [solved - kind of]

#32 2009-10-12 16:08:15

Re: Why, google, why? [solved - kind of]

#33 2009-10-12 19:36:17

Re: Why, google, why? [solved - kind of]

#34 2009-10-12 20:07:59

Re: Why, google, why? [solved - kind of]

#35 2009-10-13 03:04:56

Re: Why, google, why? [solved - kind of]

#36 2009-10-14 16:05:02

Re: Why, google, why? [solved - kind of]

#37 2009-10-14 17:08:39

Re: Why, google, why? [solved - kind of]

#38 2009-11-11 20:58:16

Re: Why, google, why? [solved - kind of]

#39 2009-11-11 21:13:31

Re: Why, google, why? [solved - kind of]

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