It sure makes sense that the money is in collecting data, but as you say yourself there's no money in being the best search engine. So why would Google ever want to track down blackhatters through DNS, search queries, chrome, and other google products? It seems like an awful lot of trouble and man hours just to track some people down that doesn't improve nor hurt their income. Surely they'd rather want to focus on serving personalized ads?
Google CAN track every site you visit!
- Thread starter tony_d
- Start date
thisismymp3
Power Member
- Jan 6, 2010
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my windows open for you
DamageX
Elite Member
- Sep 17, 2008
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Because if they offer shit for search results then no one will use their search function anymore. No searches = no traffic = no ad revenue. Hope this helped.
- May 18, 2012
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I don't use google's DNS servers, my ISP works fine for me and so I never bothered to change it. Google is something you can never trust, remember one thing - In the end it's all business, nothing personal ; so it's upto you how you protect yourself and your business from everyone else. If you don't want Google to track your activities, use Mozilla instead of chrome. And whoever says Google doesn't track your activity, have you ever tried searching something in the search bar and then when you type similar words your last search query comes in bold. It's what we can see, and we can't see everything. Who knows what else they are saving.
If you don't want Google to track your activities, use Mozilla instead of chrome. And whoever says Google doesn't track your activity, have you ever tried searching something in the search bar and then when you type similar words your last search query comes in bold. It's what we can see, and we can't see everything. Who knows what else they are saving.
Wilson Grant Fisk
Elite Member
- Nov 10, 2012
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Nearly all Google consumer products are free to the end user.
Google didn't start Gmail as a free mail service, it started it to collect data and use it as an Ad serving platform.
As DamageX pointed out they still need to be the top search engine in order to keep the user base and collect that data.
They don't need people to monitor these things, they have immense computing power and advanced software that tracks/collects these things automatically.
I know some people think these things are all paranoia but we are reaching the stage where 5-10 companies are controlling the Internet.
Google is amongst the largest of these companies, the amount of data it has collected and the amount of resources it has, means it does not need to be afraid of any government. It already does not care about the law.
Google, don't be evil? Yeah right.
The Scarlet Pimp
Supreme Member
- Apr 2, 2008
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Captain_Crunch
Registered Member
- Jul 10, 2013
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tb303
Supreme Member
- Dec 18, 2011
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I'll say it again then...
Google can not track every site you visit via DNS for the following reasons...
1. A DNS request doesnt ever contain the full url. It just contains the domain name. Fire up wireshark if you are in doubt and look at the packets yourself. The OS strips this at a lower level than the browser. Maybe that does create 'an overhead' as mentioned by the OP but its on the client machine and nowhere near as big as the 'overhead' that sending globally maybe billions of full URL DNS requests would cause.
2. The only identifying information in the packet sent is IP address and the MAC address would be in the Ethernet layer. However mac addresses are only visible on the local LAN* so the server cant see your own PC's. Also worth noting that changing your proxy will not affect a DNS lookup.
3. DNS lookups are cached locally on your PC. The first time you visit www.yoursite.com it caches the IP so when you then visit www.yoursite.com/wp-admin it doesnt even contact the DNS server. I'd have thought enough people on here have had to do an "ipconfig /flushdns" when moving a site before to realize this.
4. They dont need to. Google has a lot more accurate data on all of us with just adsense & analytics on sites we visit & what we stick into google.com
In short, the DNS server has no way of seeing if you are just visiting or logging into a site (unless the login is on a different domain obviously).
heres a good explanation of a dns packet...
http://www.firewall.cx/networking-t...-name-system-dns/160-protocols-dns-query.html
now dont go thinking im saying google aint tracking the shit out of us cause they are. Im not defending them in any way (but I am very sceptical on the whole chrome phoning home thing). I just wanted to make it clear that saying they are tracking us with a DNS server is just plain ridiculous.
* yes i know thats "local local"
Google can not track every site you visit via DNS for the following reasons...
1. A DNS request doesnt ever contain the full url. It just contains the domain name. Fire up wireshark if you are in doubt and look at the packets yourself. The OS strips this at a lower level than the browser. Maybe that does create 'an overhead' as mentioned by the OP but its on the client machine and nowhere near as big as the 'overhead' that sending globally maybe billions of full URL DNS requests would cause.
2. The only identifying information in the packet sent is IP address and the MAC address would be in the Ethernet layer. However mac addresses are only visible on the local LAN* so the server cant see your own PC's. Also worth noting that changing your proxy will not affect a DNS lookup.
3. DNS lookups are cached locally on your PC. The first time you visit www.yoursite.com it caches the IP so when you then visit www.yoursite.com/wp-admin it doesnt even contact the DNS server. I'd have thought enough people on here have had to do an "ipconfig /flushdns" when moving a site before to realize this.
4. They dont need to. Google has a lot more accurate data on all of us with just adsense & analytics on sites we visit & what we stick into google.com
In short, the DNS server has no way of seeing if you are just visiting or logging into a site (unless the login is on a different domain obviously).
heres a good explanation of a dns packet...
http://www.firewall.cx/networking-t...-name-system-dns/160-protocols-dns-query.html
now dont go thinking im saying google aint tracking the shit out of us cause they are. Im not defending them in any way (but I am very sceptical on the whole chrome phoning home thing). I just wanted to make it clear that saying they are tracking us with a DNS server is just plain ridiculous.
* yes i know thats "local local"
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IMCapitalist
Senior Member
- Jan 21, 2014
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Such watch-dog policy has been evolve after the cold war to support the weak capitalism.Capitalism speaks of freedom but don't have faith on it.
BenWalters
Junior Member
- May 21, 2014
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Unless you're doing something super sketchy, I don't think the gov is going to hunt you down
tony_d
Elite Member
- Jun 22, 2013
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This was indeed the missing piece of my knowledge - my assumptions were, as stated, that the entire URL was handled by the DNS server.
Given what you've said, I'm somewhat more comfortable with G DNS, but, as a matter of principle will continue to avoid using it.
tony_d
Elite Member
- Jun 22, 2013
- 2,673
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Unless you're doing something super sketchy, I don't think the gov is going to hunt you down
You miss the point entirely if you think it's about 'the government hunting you down'. It's not.
prab1996
Elite Member
- Jan 8, 2013
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Wilson Grant Fisk
Elite Member
- Nov 10, 2012
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Knowing my luck, he will be living on the 15th floor of a block of flats and I would have to do it Mission Impossible style.
FatPenguin
BANNED
- Jan 29, 2014
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I came to loathe Chrome. I like Firefox, even though their new update has a bug in it.