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Google Offers Encrypted Web Search Option

Posted by Soulskill on from the helping-you-hide-your-pokemon-obsession dept.

alphadogg writes "People who want to shield their use of Google's Web search engine from network snoops now have the option of encrypting the session with SSL protection. In the case of Google search, SSL will protect the transmission of search queries entered by users and the search results returned by Google servers. Google began rolling out the encrypted version of its Web search engine on Friday. 'We think users will appreciate this new option for searching. It's a helpful addition to users' online privacy and security, and we'll continue to add encryption support for more search offerings,' wrote Evan Roseman, a Google software engineer, in an official blog post."

6 of 288 comments (clear)

  1. The real reason by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    The real reason is that internet hacking people have been figuring out how to monetize the traffic they sniff. This is merely Google reclaiming the market that is rightfully theirs.

    1. Re:The real reason by Jackie_Chan_Fan · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Exactly right. This is not about your privacy... Its about Google protecting their market from say Verizon who could be packet sniffing anything you search on Google, and then selling that data... which then competes with Google.

      Google is simply protecting their business. It has nothing to do with user rights or privacy.

      But it is a welcomed addition. Its certainly a good thing... but it is also more for Google, than for you.

  2. Now I can Google my SSN and CC#!!! by AmazinglySmooth · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I really wanted to know if any site are posting my SSN and CC#. Thanks you, Google.

  3. Check that fingerprint... especially at WORK by yup2000 · · Score: 3, Interesting

    but be sure to write down google's ssl fingerprint... and check it every now and then yourself. You never know when your place of work decides to start intercepting https! Mine did recently until I pointed out issues with HIPAA compliance in conjunction with our limited personal use policy! They (work) installed their own certificate on everyone's computers (but they didn't do Firefox which is why i noticed)... and then they modified the proxy servers to start taking a peek before re-encrypting and sending it along :(

  4. Close... but what about auto-suggests by poind3xt3r · · Score: 3, Interesting

    While Googles searches are secure, it would appear autosuggests? I use FF's search bar and set the search engine to use SSL. Forcing the autosuggest url to https redirects back to http which means anyone sniffing for suggestqueries.google.com can still find out my queries

  5. Interesting side effect by mysidia · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Corporate IT will no longer be able to monitor Google search activity merely by intercepting port 80 traffic.

    They also cannot implement a webfilter that simply monitors port 80 traffic, and denies your ability to search, based on keyword.

    They can't block SSL either, since Google requires SSL for certain things (login to Google accounts, google webmaster tools, google checkout) that Enterprise users may require.