Firefox quietly "contacting"Google?

[squinteyes]

I'm a life long nube who's always used ZoneAlarm as my firewall.I recently replaced ZA with Sygate 5.5 free and was looking through the traffic logs and noticed that Firefox was contacting Google and Google was replying.Is this normal?

I created an advanced rule to block IP addresses 72.14.xxx.xx so on and 216.239.xx.xx so on.It seems to block the communication between the two but I don't know if this is something common with Firefox.

Any ideas?



Windows ME
Dial-Up

[sukarof]

Do you have gmail extension installed?

[squinteyes]

No I don't use that. The only two extensions I use are AdBlock and Quick Preference Button.

[ronjor]

Do you have Firefox configured to use Google's list of phishing sites?

[squinteyes]

I have it checked for the first option, "To check using a downloaded lists of suspected sites".

Does this list come from Google as well as the second option you can choose?

[GideonD]

It could possibly be the search box as well. When you use search function in 2.0 it automatically starts bringing up the most common matches as you type. It has to get those matches somewhere so I'd assume it's contacting google at some point if that is your selected search provider.

[ronjor]

Does this list come from Google

More than likely since Google was involved in the design of the filter.

http://wiki.mozilla.org/Phishing_Pro..._Documentation

Also from the firefox help file.

Check using a downloaded list of suspected sites

With this optionpreference selected, Firefox will check the current
site against a frequently updated list stored on your computer. No data about
the sites you visit is transferred to third-party anti-phishing providers
during normal browsing. Since phishing techniques and sites evolve quickly,
this mode of protection may not be as effective as having an anti-phishing
provider check every site you visit.


Check by asking ... about each site I visit

With this optionpreference selected, Firefox will send the address of
the current page over an encrypted connection to the selected third-party
anti-phishing provider in order to verify its identity. This method offers the
greatest protection, but information such as your IP address and browser
version may be transfered and stored by the selected provider. You will be
prompted to review and agree to the selected data provider's privacy policy
after selecting this optionpreference.

[tlu]

Originally Posted by squinteyes

I'm a life long nube who's always used ZoneAlarm as my firewall.I recently replaced ZA with Sygate 5.5 free and was looking through the traffic logs and noticed that Firefox was contacting Google and Google was replying.Is this normal?

Unfortunately yes, at least for RSS feeds. See http://www.legroom.net/modules.php?o...rticle&sid=215

[iceni60]

i have a ssl connexion to google sometimes when firefox starts up, i just had it when i started ff afew minutes ago. but, i just block it and haven't bothered checking where it comes from. i'll try to remember to check what's happening next time.

[Hyperion]

Thank God i saw this topic.I was going insane.I was using ZAF.Today i switched back to Kerio,and here is my log:

http://img211.imageshack.us/img211/464/logek9.png


All addresses resolve to Google Inc. And this even if i have UNCHECKED the antiphishing filter.

P.S: I don't use Rss feeds.Never click on them,don't like them.

[iceni60]

this is the connection i have -

http://kb.mozillazine.org/Browser.sa...vider.*.keyURL

i think it's to do with proxomitron (it causes mismatched certificates), because the dns resolved to one of my feeds - leoville EDIT i wasn't really looking very closely, what i saw was sb-ssl.google.com and leoville using the same DNS

you can disable it by doing this -

type about:config in to the address bar
then paste this into the filter bar that's just below the tabs
browser.safebrowsing.enabled

then double click it so it goes to false

so what is it then

[iceni60]

i really don't like google or firefox very much. i'll just use opera instead. i've only been using firefox for about 3 weeks, and i don't like it.

so is it something built into the browser? or is it something else? i can't find anything about it

[iceni60]

i just asked at irc.mozilla.org. this is what it is -

It downloads a blacklist of phising sites from sb-ssl.google.com every half hour

so when i said it resolves to leoville, what i ment was sb-ssl.google.com and leoville were both querying the same DNS

[Lamehand]

They better rename it to 'GoogleFox 2.0', is it becoming a closed source program?
Too much google will ruin this browser once and for all. This is not open source software but 'open the door to google' software.


Lamehand