Google's SafeBrowsing API is generally a good thing. The Transparency
Report for it might ease your mind a bit, Chris. It is not "added by
Google" as much as it is "chosen by application developers". See info on
the API here: https://developers.google.com/safe-browsing/
Judging by a brief reading of the Wikipedia article about it, version 2 and
above haven't got significant immediate privacy concerns, as a hashed value
is used for destination site lookup (not originator lookup). However, it's
been alleged that the NSA exploits the stored cookie for identification
purposes. See here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_Safe_Browsing
As the NSA has many, many alleged ways of tracking one's computer, I expect
Google's SafeBrowsing preferences cookie is the least of your worries.
Re: "hosts" file (and associated "networks" file) in Windows: They were a
borrow from the Unix world, and have been used in that arena for decades.
In fact, setting up an Ethernet network in early days required editing both.
On Sat, Jul 4, 2015 at 1:12 PM Chuck Norcutt <chucknorcutt@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
wrote:
> Mozilla runs on a shoestring. Perhaps Google is paying Mozilla to embed
> the Google function in Firefox.
>
> Chuck Norcutt
>
>
> On 7/4/2015 3:51 PM, Chris Trask wrote:
> >>
> >> Isn't Opera supposed to be the most stripped down browser? Would that
> run better on dialup?
> >>
> >
> > Hmmm... I'll look into that.
> >
> > In the meantime, I recalled that there already is a URL-blocking
> function built into Windows. It's a text file named "hosts", with no
> extension. In WinXP it's in the C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\DRIVERS\etc folder.
> You can edit it yourself to include URLs that you want to block. It's been
> a part of Windows since day one, but hardly anyone is aware of it. You can
> download a large version of it from the web.
> >
> > My firewall has a number of editable URL blocking files, and I
> make good use of those.
> >
> > I don't like the idea of this Google safebrowsing as it gives them
> the opportunity to eavesdrop on your internet usage, which is no different
> than keylogging malware.
> >
> >
> > Chris
> >
> > When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro
> > - Hunter S. Thompson
> >
> --
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Scott
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