VPN by Google One is shutting down for good (www.androidauthority.com)
from dvdnet62@feddit.nl to technology@lemmy.ml on 12 Apr 2024 04:48
https://feddit.nl/post/13646340

#technology

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independantiste@sh.itjust.works on 12 Apr 2024 04:57 next collapse

Why would I use a Google VPN anyways

Salvo@aussie.zone on 12 Apr 2024 05:06 next collapse

Some people think that Google is trustworthy. They still believe that the motto “Do No Evil” was ever relevant.

kandoh@reddthat.com on 12 Apr 2024 15:42 collapse

The power of branding is never to be overstated.

helenslunch@feddit.nl on 12 Apr 2024 23:45 collapse

But they even removed it from their branding. “Don’t be evil”, that is.

Salvo@aussie.zone on 13 Apr 2024 00:14 collapse

Probably one of the most honest policy changes they’ve made.

Chozo@fedia.io on 12 Apr 2024 07:20 collapse

I use it because it comes free with a service I already pay for.

peereboominc@lemm.ee on 12 Apr 2024 05:09 next collapse

I have this vpn because it comes for free with my Google Drive subscription. I have never used it because it does not do what I expect it to do

  • privacy, it’s Google.
  • pretend to be in a different country is not available
Smc87@lemmy.sdf.org on 12 Apr 2024 05:45 next collapse

But it’s included…. Ples give your data

Vilian@lemmy.ca on 12 Apr 2024 08:08 next collapse

what’s the utility of the vpn then???

chiisana@lemmy.chiisana.net on 12 Apr 2024 09:17 next collapse

Security when you’re on untrusted network. I can trust Google to snoop my banking data and update the spending power info on my ad profile, I can’t trust the random dude in trench coat also using the public wifi when I am traveling out of my roaming coverage.

I joke of course, but the security aspect is still valid.

PortugalSpaceMoon@infosec.pub on 12 Apr 2024 09:26 next collapse

What is it that you’re doing that is still not using some form of authenticated encryption? Almost everything is https, ssh, almost all mailservers have tls support, irc does have tls support… What’s left that needs to be encrypted by a VPN?

Vash63@lemmy.world on 12 Apr 2024 11:33 next collapse

The addresses themselves that you’re connecting to as one example. Also often DNS.

chiisana@lemmy.chiisana.net on 12 Apr 2024 14:19 next collapse

Strictly speaking, Encrypted Client Hello (ECH) paired with DNS Over HTTPS (DOH) can resolve this. But not many people have their systems setup this way, so it is still pretty niche.

Vash63@lemmy.world on 12 Apr 2024 17:28 collapse

That also doesn’t resolve the carrier seeing which IPs you’re connecting to, which can often be traced back to services or sites.

PortugalSpaceMoon@infosec.pub on 12 Apr 2024 14:35 collapse

What’s the threat model here? I can think of no DNS shennanigans that would not be detectable through the authentication mechainsms in TLS (chain-of-trust). Not having to trust network infrastructure is exactly what TLS is for.

chiisana@lemmy.chiisana.net on 12 Apr 2024 14:55 collapse

Most DNS requests are clear text, which is why DOH was introduced to secure it such that no one can snoop on you looking up something-embarrassing.com. Also, the initial request, before you get the SSL certificate from the web server, you must tell the server at 169.169.169.169 that you’re looking for the certificate for something-embarrassing.com before they can get you the correct certificate. This is why ECH was introduced. Neither of which have became mainstream yet, and so there are still some basic leakage going on.

Dymonika@beehaw.org on 12 Apr 2024 13:22 collapse

So this is a question I’ve been wondering: is public WiFi safe to treat like a private one if you’re using HTTPS everywhere?

skuzz@discuss.tchncs.de on 12 Apr 2024 18:30 collapse

You only use HTTPS everywhere until you don’t. It’s kinda like a security blanket to use a VPN in those situations. Someone could be running a MITM proxy and you’re dumb enough/in a rush/etc. and click accept on the expired cert. Or some new 0day vulnerability allows badness to happen without your knowledge. Even without being able to see your traffic, a bad actor could still see your DNS requests and narrow down what services you use for further targeting, especially if you frequent a place.

Electricblush@lemmy.world on 15 Apr 2024 00:01 collapse

It’s not the guy in the trenchcoat next to you you need to worry about.

It’s the fact that some unknown entity owns/has set up the WiFi.

Anyone working with complex network setup and admin will tell you how much you can abuse owning the network a user is connected to.

The network guys at work never use public WiFi, not hotels or anything. Neither do I, even with my much more limited knowledge of network administration.

CosmicTurtle0@lemmy.dbzer0.com on 12 Apr 2024 10:07 collapse

The biggest thing was being able to switch it on and off from the notifications menu. It is/was super convenient.

Not surprised this is being shut down because it lacked many of the features that most major vpns had.

But that feature was unique.

ripcord@lemmy.world on 12 Apr 2024 10:48 next collapse

Is it that unique? I can connect/disconnect my Wireguard from the notification bar / utility tiles

mustbe3to20signs@feddit.de on 12 Apr 2024 11:22 collapse

Any VPN app can be turned on from the notification short cuts or atleast WireGuard and Windscribe can.

CosmicTurtle0@lemmy.dbzer0.com on 12 Apr 2024 11:26 collapse

Huh. I didn’t know that. I only have two vpns, mostly because they come with a product I subscribe to.

Good to know

helenslunch@feddit.nl on 12 Apr 2024 23:43 collapse

Right, it’s probably the same as every other “free” VPN. It’s free because it gives them access to 100% of your internet traffic. Basically completely antithetical to the entire concept of a VPN.

paraphrand@lemmy.world on 12 Apr 2024 05:40 next collapse

Google One is a huge disappointment.

pineapplelover@lemm.ee on 12 Apr 2024 21:07 collapse

I hear the big sell is the drive storage

cmnybo@discuss.tchncs.de on 12 Apr 2024 05:49 next collapse

Good, Google has enough access to everyone’s data already. Nobody needs to willingly give them even more access by routing all of their traffic through a Google server.

linearchaos@lemmy.world on 13 Apr 2024 01:44 collapse

Yeah that’s the same conclusion they reached.

SpaceNoodle@lemmy.world on 12 Apr 2024 06:21 next collapse

TIL they had a VPN

blackluster117@possumpat.io on 12 Apr 2024 06:24 next collapse

Another service to add to the pile of things Google barely supported then killed.

kautau@lemmy.world on 12 Apr 2024 07:40 collapse
Swarfega@lemm.ee on 12 Apr 2024 07:14 next collapse

Another one for the grave yard

Fisch@discuss.tchncs.de on 12 Apr 2024 07:16 next collapse

Google shutting down a service?! That’s a new one. I would have never expected that.

cosmicrookie@lemmy.world on 12 Apr 2024 08:17 next collapse

Imagine buying a VPN off google…

7heo@lemmy.ml on 12 Apr 2024 17:57 collapse

I feel cucked having google only get most of my traffic. I am an alpha male, I want them to get all of my traffic.

mondoman712@lemmy.ml on 12 Apr 2024 20:01 collapse

Instead of being spied on by google and other companies, just make sure google is the one and only

7heo@lemmy.ml on 12 Apr 2024 21:06 collapse

How about blackholing google to limit the damage instead? And you could limit it further by not using services that you know feed data to google.

Aria@lemmygrad.ml on 12 Apr 2024 08:40 next collapse

ITT people claim that a Google VPN is a bad product for all use cases because Google is not a privacy-respecting company. This ignores all non-privacy use cases for using a VPN.

And even for privacy, this would’ve been a product where the vendors interest in protecting your privacy and your interest in protecting your privacy aligned in the case where you were not hiding from Google. For example if you used a Chromebook laptop, used the Google Chrome browser, or used Google services like Google Search and Google YouTube, then Google would already know everything about you. You can’t hide your activity from them, but they can help you hide it from others.

Similar situations exist for other privacy disrespecting companies like Microsoft and Apple, where a user might reasonably want to hide from everyone other than their vendor of choice, whose product they consider good enough to allow them to see their computer activity as part of their payment. If you already subscribe to one privacy disrespecting vendor, it makes the most sense to go all-in.

guy@lemmy.world on 12 Apr 2024 11:02 next collapse

This is why I rarely get on board with new Google products nowadays. I know they’ll get half assed support and then be killed off really quickly.

FrostyCaveman@lemm.ee on 12 Apr 2024 13:40 next collapse

> VPN

> by Google

> Gets shut down

You literally can’t make this stuff up folks

AFC1886VCC@reddthat.com on 12 Apr 2024 14:17 next collapse

Google killed something off? Nah that can’t be right

mudle@lemmy.ml on 12 Apr 2024 20:15 next collapse

Google can go to hell.

octopus_ink@lemmy.ml on 12 Apr 2024 20:26 next collapse

Google, Meta, Microsoft.

Three companies I would never trust as a VPN provider. Not necessarily in that order.

TheAnonymouseJoker@lemmy.ml on 12 Apr 2024 20:33 collapse

Add Apple to the list, with their Private Relay nonsense.

pineapplelover@lemm.ee on 12 Apr 2024 21:06 collapse

No doubt, they used this to scrape network traffic.