If you’re on the internet browsing with the recently redesigned Google Chrome, you’re probably not the most privacy-minded person out there. Still, the world’s most popular browser is gearing up to allow users to hide their IP address from websites, even without a VPN.
Google has been building up this IP Protection feature to try and cut down on cross-site tracking by associating users and their activity with their IP addresses. It’s a kind of covert tracking that’s potentially even more devilish than the regular cookie, as there are few ways to block sites from recognizing users’ IP addresses and associating it with their activity. The feature would essentially create a proxy IP address, meaning select sites won’t be able to know who is trawling their page. The news was spotted by BleepingComputer.
On Friday, Google senior software engineer Brianna Goldstein wrote that Google is gearing up for its first initial IP protection beta. The program will be opt-in, and to start it will only proxy off domains that Google already owns, including Google.com, Gmail, and Google Ad Services. Essentially, Google is testing how well its IP blockers work on the company’s own sites that register users’ IP for cross-site tracking. Additionally, it will only be accessible to U.S.-based addresses for users logged in to their Google account on Chrome, and a select few users will be automatically allowed for this first test.
After this first test, Goldstein wrote that the IP Protection will start using a two-hop proxy, essentially a proxy for the initial proxy that would be run by an external network.
The whole point of this isn’t to block users’ IP from every website under the sun but to block it for traffic specifically meant to track users even beyond the dreaded cookie. Google promises it’s building the feature so it won’t disrupt legitimate operations that rely on IP addresses. If Google continues these tests, the feature will also start routing more third-party domains through the Google proxy.
It’s something akin to what Apple implemented with the iCloud Private Relay through Safari. It means that users’ IP addresses are available to the network provider and Apple itself, but it first encrypts the DNS records, and then a third-party network creates a temporary IP address for accessing a site. All that rerouting can affect how fast a device can connect to a site, and it could similarly affect Chrome users in the same way should Google decide to expand the nascent feature.
It’s interesting to see Google expanding its privacy options now as it’s rolling out its so-called Privacy Sandbox meant to stab directly at the crusty heart of third-party cookies. The company plans to disable cookies in 2024. Combined with IP Protection, third-party sites will have far fewer options to track users across multiple sites.
Still, it will be all for the sake of playing in Google’s proprietary sandbox where the company can still advertise to users, though ostensibly with less direct access to billions of individual users’ data.