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Google Web Accelerator

Posted by samzenpus on from the google-faster dept.

Lukey Boy writes "Google has released a free web accelerator product for both Firefox and Internet Explorer. According to their information page the software uses Google servers as a proxy for web content, delivering the pages to your system more rapidly and compressing them beforehand."

4 of 798 comments (clear)

  1. Break out the tin foil by djtripp · · Score: 0, Redundant

    Sounds great. But if you want your viewing habits documented, well, this is not product for you. If you don't mind, go for it.

    --
    "This is you left and that's your left. This is your right and that's your right. You're gonna die!
  2. It works with Firefox! by EvilStein · · Score: 0, Redundant

    From the FAQ:

    6. What are Google Web Accelerator's system requirements?

    To use Google Web Accelerator, your computer must have a Windows XP or Windows 2000 SP 3+ operating system. Google Web Accelerator works for the Internet Explorer 5.5+ or Firefox 1.0+ browsers.

    7. Can I run Google Web Accelerator on a browser other than Internet Explorer or Firefox?

    For other browsers running on Windows, you'll need to manually configure your proxy settings to 127.0.0.1:9100 for HTTP connections.

  3. Major privacy concerns by chrispyman · · Score: 0, Redundant

    The major problem I see with this is the privacy implications. Sure, each individual site you visit nowadays has some information about you in their logs, but Google's proxy would store information on every site you visit. Sure, their privacy policy might be good now, but who's to say it won't change without notice at any point in time, or perhaps the government could get a subpoena for them.

  4. Re:Smart. Scary. by dmf415 · · Score: 0, Redundant

    I think they should be able to implement ads in the pages that their proxy cache's...

    Ever notice the advertisements in gmail? For some reason i get these Brazillian Jiu-jitsu ads, how did they know? Scanning my email... hmmmm