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Disrupting the largest residential proxy network

cloud.google.com

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Re: Disrupting the largest residential proxy network

#91

Why are they leaving Bright Data (aka Illuminati aka Hola VPN) untouched? They are doing this exact scheme on an industrial scale.

They have a robust KYC that appears to serve, at least in large part, as a way to stay off the shit list of companies with the resources to pursue recourse.

Source: went through that process, ended up going a different route. The rep was refreshingly transparent about where they get the data, why the have the kyc process (aside from regulatory compliance).

Ended up going with a different provider who has been cheaper and very reliable, so no complaints.

Re: Disrupting the largest residential proxy network

#93

I'm surprised by the negative takes... Yes, proxies are good. Ones which you pay for and which are running legitimately, with the knowledge (and compensation) of those who run them. Malware in random apps running on your device without your knowledge is bad.

Getting rid of malware is good. A private for-profit company exercising its power over the Internet, not so much. We should have appropriate organizations for this.

Okay. You get right on that. In the meantime, would you rather they did nothing? What do you actually want, in concrete terms?

Re: Disrupting the largest residential proxy network

#94
post #90
post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

By “your traffic” you mean device location reports? Or something else?

The data that powers the app tracking your devices, shown on your devices, yes. (What else?)

I don’t know. I wouldn’t have thought of myself as proxying other people’s traffic by carrying my iPhone around. (For one thing, it’s my own phone that initiates all the activity- it monitors for Apple devices, the devices don’t reach out to my phone.) I can see how you could frame it that way, though. I just thought they might be referring to something else that I didn’t know about.

Re: Disrupting the largest residential proxy network

#96

I'm surprised by the negative takes... Yes, proxies are good. Ones which you pay for and which are running legitimately, with the knowledge (and compensation) of those who run them. Malware in random apps running on your device without your knowledge is bad.

Getting rid of malware is good. A private for-profit company exercising its power over the Internet, not so much. We should have appropriate organizations for this.

The proxies is the reason why you get spam in your Google search result, spam in your Play store (by means of fake good reviews), basically spam in anything user generated.

It directly affects Google and you, I don’t see why they should not do this.

Re: Disrupting the largest residential proxy network

#98

> These efforts to help keep the broader digital ecosystem safe supplement the protections we have to safeguard Android users on certified devices. We ensured Google Play Protect, Android’s built-in security protection, automatically warns users and removes applications known to incorporate IPIDEA SDKs, and blocks any future install attempts. Nice to see Google Play Protect actually serving a purpose for once.

Yeah, it serves the purpose of blocking this kind of proxy traffic that isn't in Google's personal best interests. Only Google is allowed to scrape the web.

This is demonstrably false by the success of many scrapers from AI companies.

Re: Disrupting the largest residential proxy network

#99
post #41

We need more residential proxies, not less. I've had enough of companies saying "you're connecting from an AWS IP address, therefore you aren't allowed in, or must buy enterprise licensing". Reddit is an example which totally blocks all data to non-residential IP's. I want exactly the same content visible no matter who you are or where you are connecting from, and a robust network of residential proxies is a stepping…

I live in the UK and can't view a large portion of the internet without having to submit my ID to _every_ site serving anything deemed "not safe the for the children". I had a question about a new piercing and couldn't get info on it from Reddit because of that. I try using a VPN and they're blocked too. Luckily, I work at a copmany selling proxies so I've got free proxies whenever I want, but I shouldn't _need_ to u…

Have you considered that it’s because a new industry popped up that decided it was okay to slurp up the entire internet, repackage it, and resell it? Surely that couldn’t be why sites are trying to keep non humans out.

Re: Disrupting the largest residential proxy network

#100
post #94
post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The data that powers the app tracking your devices, shown on your devices, yes. (What else?)

I don’t know. I wouldn’t have thought of myself as proxying other people’s traffic by carrying my iPhone around. (For one thing, it’s my own phone that initiates all the activity- it monitors for Apple devices, the devices don’t reach out to my phone.) I can see how you could frame it that way, though. I just thought they might be referring to something else that I didn’t know about.

I remain skeptical. I can understand how one would might see it that way, but I think it’s stretching the word proxy too far.

Devices on Apple’s Find My aren’t broadcasting anything like packets that get forwarded to a destination of their choosing. I would think that would be a necessity to call it “proxying”.

They’re just broadcasting basic information about themselves into the void. The phones report back what they’ve picked up.

That doesn’t fit the definition to me.

I absolutely don’t mind the fact that my phone is doing that. The amount of data is ridiculously minuscule. And it’s sort of a tit for tat thing. Yeah my phone does it, but so does theirs. So just like I may be helping you locate your AirTag, you would be helping me locate mine. Or any other device I own that shows up on Find My.

It’s a very close to a classic public good, with the only restriction being that you own a relevant device.

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