[gentoo-user] Does Firefox call Google?

[gentoo-user] Does Firefox call Google?

[Grant]

I have a remote system on which shorewall blocks all outgoing 80/443
traffic except for 1 destination IP.  I noticed that whenever someone
logs in to an xfce4 session on that system, I see a bunch of rejected
80/443 requests from that system to various Google IPs from throughout
their session.  Does Firefox periodically make Google requests for
some reason?  The person logging in says they aren't attempting to
access Google, and the home page is not set to go there.  Does anyone
know why this might be happening?

- Grant

Re: [gentoo-user] Does Firefox call Google?

[Mick]

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On Tuesday 22 September 2009, Grant wrote:
> I have a remote system on which shorewall blocks all outgoing 80/443
> traffic except for 1 destination IP.  I noticed that whenever someone
> logs in to an xfce4 session on that system, I see a bunch of rejected
> 80/443 requests from that system to various Google IPs from throughout
> their session.  Does Firefox periodically make Google requests for
> some reason?  The person logging in says they aren't attempting to
> access Google, and the home page is not set to go there.  Does anyone
> know why this might be happening?
>
> - Grant

It may have something to do with the default search engine in FF's drop down 
search field.

-- 
Regards,
Mick

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Re: [gentoo-user] Does Firefox call Google?

[Frank Steinmetzger]

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Am Mittwoch, 23. September 2009 schrieb Grant:

> Does Firefox periodically make Google requests for
> some reason?  The person logging in says they aren't attempting to
> access Google, and the home page is not set to go there.  Does anyone
> know why this might be happening?

If you haven’t disabled it, Firefox periodically downloads a current list of 
malware addresses for its phising filter.
-- 
Gruß | Greetings | Qapla'
LOL, you said ROFL.

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Re: [gentoo-user] Does Firefox call Google?

[Grant]

>> Does Firefox periodically make Google requests for
>> some reason?  The person logging in says they aren't attempting to
>> access Google, and the home page is not set to go there.  Does anyone
>> know why this might be happening?
>
> If you haven’t disabled it, Firefox periodically downloads a current list of
> malware addresses for its phising filter.

Thank you.  Is this the checkbox: "Tell me if the site I'm visiting is
a suspected attack site."

- Grant

[gentoo-user] Re: Does Firefox call Google?

[Nikos Chantziaras]

On 09/23/2009 03:10 AM, Grant wrote:
>>> Does Firefox periodically make Google requests for
>>> some reason?  The person logging in says they aren't attempting to
>>> access Google, and the home page is not set to go there.  Does anyone
>>> know why this might be happening?
>>
>> If you haven’t disabled it, Firefox periodically downloads a current list of
>> malware addresses for its phising filter.
>
> Thank you.  Is this the checkbox: "Tell me if the site I'm visiting is
> a suspected attack site."

Two options, in the "Security" tab:

"Block reported attack sites" and "Block reported web forgeries."

Re: [gentoo-user] Re: Does Firefox call Google?

[Grant]

>>>> Does Firefox periodically make Google requests for
>>>> some reason?  The person logging in says they aren't attempting to
>>>> access Google, and the home page is not set to go there.  Does anyone
>>>> know why this might be happening?
>>>
>>> If you haven’t disabled it, Firefox periodically downloads a current list
>>> of
>>> malware addresses for its phising filter.
>>
>> Thank you.  Is this the checkbox: "Tell me if the site I'm visiting is
>> a suspected attack site."
>
> Two options, in the "Security" tab:
>
> "Block reported attack sites" and "Block reported web forgeries."

Thanks, you must be on 3.5.

- Grant

Re: [gentoo-user] Re: Does Firefox call Google?

[Grant]

>>>> Does Firefox periodically make Google requests for
>>>> some reason?  The person logging in says they aren't attempting to
>>>> access Google, and the home page is not set to go there.  Does anyone
>>>> know why this might be happening?
>>>
>>> If you haven’t disabled it, Firefox periodically downloads a current list
>>> of
>>> malware addresses for its phising filter.
>>
>> Thank you.  Is this the checkbox: "Tell me if the site I'm visiting is
>> a suspected attack site."
>
> Two options, in the "Security" tab:
>
> "Block reported attack sites" and "Block reported web forgeries."

BTW, Firefox asks Google for the lists right?

- Grant

[gentoo-user] Re: Does Firefox call Google?

[Nikos Chantziaras]

On 09/23/2009 05:16 AM, Grant wrote:
>>>>> Does Firefox periodically make Google requests for
>>>>> some reason?  The person logging in says they aren't attempting to
>>>>> access Google, and the home page is not set to go there.  Does anyone
>>>>> know why this might be happening?
>>>>
>>>> If you haven’t disabled it, Firefox periodically downloads a current list
>>>> of
>>>> malware addresses for its phising filter.
>>>
>>> Thank you.  Is this the checkbox: "Tell me if the site I'm visiting is
>>> a suspected attack site."
>>
>> Two options, in the "Security" tab:
>>
>> "Block reported attack sites" and "Block reported web forgeries."
>
> BTW, Firefox asks Google for the lists right?

Yes.  This is what Google says:

http://code.google.com/apis/safebrowsing/firefox3_privacy.html

"your browser will contact Google's servers when you visit a potentially 
risky site. It will also periodically contact Google's servers to 
download the most recent list of known phishing and malware sites"

Re: [gentoo-user] Re: Does Firefox call Google?

[Enrico Weigelt]

Nikos Chantziaras wrote:

> "your browser will contact Google's servers when you visit a potentially
> risky site. It will also periodically contact Google's servers to
> download the most recent list of known phishing and malware sites"

Yeah, they actually sell phone-home as "privacy".
Is there an option to build without that crap ?


cu
-- 
----------------------------------------------------------------------
 Enrico Weigelt, metux IT service -- http://www.metux.de/

 cellphone: +49 174 7066481   email: info@metux.de   skype: nekrad666
----------------------------------------------------------------------
 Embedded-Linux / Portierung / Opensource-QM / Verteilte Systeme
----------------------------------------------------------------------

Re: [gentoo-user] Re: Does Firefox call Google?

[Mick]

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On Sunday 03 January 2010 06:51:05 Enrico Weigelt wrote:
> Nikos Chantziaras wrote:
> > "your browser will contact Google's servers when you visit a potentially
> > risky site. It will also periodically contact Google's servers to
> > download the most recent list of known phishing and malware sites"
> 
> Yeah, they actually sell phone-home as "privacy".
> Is there an option to build without that crap ?

Isn't it just a matter of switching off 'Block reported attack sites/web 
forgeries' under preferences?
-- 
Regards,
Mick

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Re: [gentoo-user] Does Firefox call Google?

[KH]

Grant schrieb:
> [snip]  and the home page is not set to go there.[snip]

Hi,

does this also include stuff like google analytics? Like are there adds 
on the homepage?

kh

http://www.ghostery.com/apps/google_analytics

Re: [gentoo-user] Does Firefox call Google?

[Grant]

>> [snip]  and the home page is not set to go there.[snip]
>
> Hi,
>
> does this also include stuff like google analytics? Like are there adds on
> the homepage?

Good question, I will test for that.

Does anyone know if Firefox downloads its website lists from Google?

- Grant

Re: [gentoo-user] Does Firefox call Google?

[Paul Hartman]

On Wed, Sep 23, 2009 at 2:45 AM, Grant <emailgrant@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> Does anyone know if Firefox downloads its website lists from Google?

I think in FF1 and FF2 it would periodically download a list of "bad"
URLs (FF1) or a list of hashes of bad domain names (FF1 and FF2) and
check the local list for hits. In FF3 I believe the phishing filter
submits every site to google as you browse, in real time. It may
download the list, too. I'm not entirely sure. Disable "Block reported
web forgeries" and "Block reported attack sites" in Firefo if you'd
rather not (potentially) tell Google about every URL you ever visit.

The host sb.google.com contains the lists.

Re: [gentoo-user] Does Firefox call Google?

[Frank Steinmetzger]

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Am Mittwoch, 23. September 2009 schrieb KH:
> Grant schrieb:
> > [snip]  and the home page is not set to go there.[snip]
>
> Hi,
>
> does this also include stuff like google analytics? Like are there adds
> on the homepage?

I'm blocking all requests to google analytics with NoScript.
Google doesn’t have to know everything.
The same goes for googlesyndication.
-- 
Gruß | Greetings | Qapla'
Hard drives have two known states: new and full.

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Re: [gentoo-user] Does Firefox call Google?

[Paul Hartman]

On Wed, Sep 23, 2009 at 10:56 AM, Frank Steinmetzger <Warp_7@gmx.de> wrote:
> Am Mittwoch, 23. September 2009 schrieb KH:
>> Grant schrieb:
>> > [snip]  and the home page is not set to go there.[snip]
>>
>> Hi,
>>
>> does this also include stuff like google analytics? Like are there adds
>> on the homepage?
>
> I'm blocking all requests to google analytics with NoScript.
> Google doesn’t have to know everything.
> The same goes for googlesyndication.

It's a double-edged sword. If I block google-analytics, web site
owners won't know that I've visited their site. It will be one less
Linux user in their stats. ("But everyone uses Windows, look at the
stats! Let's use ActiveX!")

Re: [gentoo-user] Does Firefox call Google?

[Paul Hartman]

On Wed, Sep 23, 2009 at 11:05 AM, Paul Hartman
<paul.hartman+gentoo@gmail.com> wrote:
> On Wed, Sep 23, 2009 at 10:56 AM, Frank Steinmetzger <Warp_7@gmx.de> wrote:
>> Am Mittwoch, 23. September 2009 schrieb KH:
>>> Grant schrieb:
>>> > [snip]  and the home page is not set to go there.[snip]
>>>
>>> Hi,
>>>
>>> does this also include stuff like google analytics? Like are there adds
>>> on the homepage?
>>
>> I'm blocking all requests to google analytics with NoScript.
>> Google doesn’t have to know everything.
>> The same goes for googlesyndication.
>
> It's a double-edged sword. If I block google-analytics, web site
> owners won't know that I've visited their site. It will be one less
> Linux user in their stats. ("But everyone uses Windows, look at the
> stats! Let's use ActiveX!")

* I will add that of course they can read their server logs, but you'd
be surprised how many people rely solely on GA and don't even know how
to read their server logs. Or on high-traffic sites the logs can be
many gigabytes per day and they simply can't download them and store
them.