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Does this differ in any way from the VPN you get from Google Fi, that launched in 2018?
It probably differs in that you don't need to be on Fi, which is a pretty major difference.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
> It doesn't increase Google's ability to spy on you You're going to have to prove that. Your Android device doesn't send ALL your traffic to Google today. Using this would send ALL your traffic to Google. that 100% means it increases Google's ability to spy on you.
Read their whitepaper: https://www.gstatic.com/subscriptions/marketing_page/vpn/whi... Client source code: https://github.com/google/vpn-libraries What they're doing - cryptographic blinding that separates authentication from user session - is probably the best approach at subscriber privacy I've seen so far. I wonder how they'll deal with abuse.
can someone eli5 please?
Never in a million years would I trust google as my VPN provider. 1) No customer support 2) it will probably be cancelled in 18 months 3) they already spy on me enough with search, android, google keyboard, gmail
> 1) No customer support Google One has customer support. Largely, Google One is paid support Google consumer products,. That's actually one of the main selling points. Since this is a feature of a particular Google One tier, it comes with support. > 2) it will probably be cancelled in 18 months Probably not. > 3) they already spy on me enough with search, android, google keyboard, gmail How would being a VPN (for An…
I wonder if you'll be able to sign up for a GMail account using a Google One endpoint?
That's a pretty insightful question. If people use the outbound addresses of these VPNs for disproportionately abusive activities then the reputation of those IPs and netblocks will eventually decline. It could come to pass that you wouldn't be able to establish a accounts from these IPs or, if you did, it would be in some kind of penalty box initially. That would go for all major providers, not just Google accounts.
Translation: Coming Soon: Tell us all about yourself and everything you do by signing up to our new service Google One. It comes with a VPN! Trust us, we won't tell!
> iOS, Windows, and Mac coming soon
It seems that some think you can fool people all the time with 'services' like this but companies like Google don't ever learn from their own mistakes. [0] [1] Phrases like 'Privacy and security is core to everything we make.' is another snake-oil tagline which is another branded trap. Not falling for this one.
[0] https://techcrunch.com/2019/01/30/apple-bans-facebook-vpn/
[1] https://techcrunch.com/2019/01/29/facebook-project-atlas/
[2] https://techcrunch.com/2019/01/30/googles-also-peddling-a-da...
I'm confused. If the product targets tech savvy customers, does Google not already know its reputation among the group?
Earlier quoted context omitted.
That's a pretty insightful question. If people use the outbound addresses of these VPNs for disproportionately abusive activities then the reputation of those IPs and netblocks will eventually decline. It could come to pass that you wouldn't be able to establish a accounts from these IPs or, if you did, it would be in some kind of penalty box initially. That would go for all major providers, not just Google accounts.
That's part of the attraction to me. I'd love my VPN activity to blend in with all the other activity (crawlers, etc.) coming from Google.
I understand why no one would want to trust Google and after Snowden's revelations, I don't see why anyone should. But when it comes to the largest VPNs such as ExpressVPN or Nord VPN, it is impossible to tell who is truly behind them. You cannot put a name on physical person in charge which is very worrying. And since the NSA is known to use front companies to spy on people [1], why couldn't they be behind all these…
Privacy enthusiasts often seem blind to this risk. I think it's quite likely that virtually all of these VPN providers are run by either state agencies or organized criminals. As the person who personally ran almost all Tor exits for a brief period in the early 2000's, I am here to tell you that if you cannot definitely identify the operator of your VPN or proxy service, then you probably should not use it.
I can not believe how many people just blindly recommend VPN like some silver bullet.
Using untrustworthy VPN as a privacy solution is like jumping from the fire into the pavement 20 stories below.