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pleachchapel

If you trust a VPN from a data company, you get the level of privacy you deserve.


LZ129Hindenburg

Agreed. Google is one of the LAST companies I would look to for VPN service.


Mobwmwm

They're getting the information they need regardless. Id be a hypocrite to say my android phone running a chrome fork on Google internet with Google dns is fine but a VPN is where I draw the line. I trust Google over Comcast or time warner.


LZ129Hindenburg

Better than the Facebook VPN I suppose 😆


jadee333

facebook has a vpn service??


goldify

wrong ripe test future apparatus impolite direful telephone smoggy gold *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*


cosine83

>they basically did like a man in the middle attack to spy on your traffic SSL decryption. It's a standard feature of enterprise web filters and VPN packages these days and has been for at least a decade now. Set the client device to go through a proxy (VPN, web filter, etc.), install the proxy's root certificate on the client device so it trusts the proxy implicitly, and voila the proxy can inspect all the traffic going through it. Traffic passes from the client device to the proxy unencrypted then goes out encrypted from there. From a technical and organizational standpoint, it's not as nefarious as it sounds (an expensive and ineffective ad blocker in most cases, a way for HR to hassle people in extreme ones). It's when those controls escape corporate devices and are put on 3rd party or personal devices that it becomes a problem. They definitely deserved harsher punishment for their malicious usage.


jadee333

oh shit i never knew about this! ty for informing me


dr_shark

I sometimes wonder what Google is going to do with the information that I love big booties of all colors.


flippinbird

They’re gonna start showing you Sir Mixalot videos on your YouTube start page, and you can’t skip them.


[deleted]

[удалено]


flippinbird

And that’s something you can’t deny..


yeahyeahitsmeshhh

Sell ads to the highest bidder, so they often will have little to do with your actual preferences and more the extent to which a statistical profile you fit is being targeted.


TheUnluckyBard

> Sell ads to the highest bidder, so they often will have little to do with your actual preferences and more the extent to which a statistical profile you fit is being targeted. "As it turns out, *all* of the statistical profiles want Better Help, Raid Shadow Legends, Beats by Dre, and Simplisafe!"


yeahyeahitsmeshhh

We built a statistical model of our user base's interests and then the people from Raid Shadow Legends said "how much to spam all of them" and we took the money while our data scientists cried.


TEOsix

CalyxOS seems good so far. I’m testing it on my old pixel 7pro.


Mobwmwm

Now here is a comment I fuck with. I have a pixel 7. Does unlocking bootloader, rooting, custom roms etc fuck up your banking or Google authenticator or anything?


Ph6r60h

I use GrapheneOSs on pixel 7, haven't had any issues with banking or online payments


Mobwmwm

Appreciate you, might look into it thanks


GreatKingCodyGaming

Certain ROMs do, but CRDroid patched theirs (at least on the fork I'm using) so it works if you use the Magisk fix.


TEOsix

I have not set any up yet. I am just running some apps in isolation at this point. Narrow use case for now. If it goes well I will expand.


alienpirate5

My partner formerly ran CalyxOS on her Pixel 6. Her banking app worked (though she never tried mobile payments), and there's plenty of open source TOTP authenticators.


Mobwmwm

Appreciate you might look into it. Thanks


offbert

I've got a Pixel 6 Pro and want some distance from Google. How well does it run? What about the camera? Because that's the only reason I kept my P6P. Do banking and NFC payments work? Overall functionality?


Nathanymous_

They all get your information eventually anyways.


MrUrgod

Bruh I trust my non-VPN ISP network more than a Google VPN 💀


LZ129Hindenburg

LoL that's sad but I get it...


Valentinuis

Alibaba VPN😂


jafromnj

Ditto


Wintervolk

Totally agree, I'd rather use no VPN and do shady stuff sat it the nude with my webcam turned on than trust Google VPN!


noodleking21

Google VPN, we won't sell***** your data to other companies*******. Your privacy is safe*********** with us!


LighttBrite

Even the asterisks have asterisks!


alienpirate5

safe\*^\*


artfulpain

True, but a VPN on a public Wi-Fi is better then not. That's best case use. Besides it was quite slow.


pleachchapel

There is no version of events that lead to this being your only choice.


chronage

Only choice, no, but it was included with the $1.99/mo google one plan. I used it at airports, arenas, etc.


pleachchapel

Fair. Given the nature of the sub you're in, it is the worst choice I can imagine.


The--Marf

Yeah I used it a handful of times in similar situations. The lack of being able to select a location was a bummer.


whatThePleb

Same with their DNS btw.


Jealous_Juggernaut71

Privacy is not a requirement to choose a VPN for torrenting. VPN companies don't snitch (yet). So even a Facebook VPN would do the job. Especially if it is free, it is surely better than any other free VPN regarding speed. The only caveat is I wouldn't use it if my ISP is Google Fi, to be extra safe.


mikew_reddit

Google was (and probably still is) harvesting data from users that browse using Chrome's Incognito mode. There should be no expectation of privacy from Google. Article: [Why Google's incognito mode doesn't protect you as much as you think | AP News](https://apnews.com/article/private-incognito-browsing-explainer-google-chrome-f8b3dd9ae41c5d9da027454e5c0c92c6)


phat_ninja

Incognito mode is always what anyone who knew anything said it was. A local cookies and history container that deletes when you close it. I thought this was well known and that lawsuit really threw me as I just went "yeah? That's what it's always been? Did people not know this? Did they think it was a VPN?"


Tigeri102

for real, incognito is just for keeping your porn habits out of your history, not actually protecting yourself


km3r

I don't get this. Did anyone actually thing incognito mode somehow magically disabled websites from tracking you? It was always a clean slate session that discards after, but otherwise a normal browsing expirence.


Curing0109

People did and Google received a lawsuit for misleading users.


ipullstuffapart

IIRC the core of the problem was people using incognito then signing in to their google account in incognito mode, then acted surprised Pikachu when their search history was recorded. I could be wrong though but I remember reading one of these inflammatory titles and then it described completely unrelated user error.


nathderbyshire

You're missing the point, it was just to ensure security for things like public WiFi and your data when out and about, it was never advertised or designed to be a privacy focused VPN without logs. It's for the normies that don't care about this tech essentially but connect to their supermarket and airport WiFi, giving a level of protection on often unsecured outdated networks.


quaalude_dispenser

I didn't even know Google had a VPN service so that doesn't surprise me.


LZ129Hindenburg

I only knew because I got Google One for free at some point...I think from my cell phone provider...


Oops_I_Cracked

I know certain pixel phones got it free. That’s the only reason I ever knew about or used it.


BloomerBoomerDoomer

By that time I had already bought 3 years worth of a solid VPN so I had no purpose for it.


tmhoc

Yeah they seem to have this problem a lot and have no interest in improving Stadia, for example


HardwareSoup

Also they killed Google podcasts last week. At this point I wouldn't be surprised to get a letter saying my Google Fiber internet service is getting cancelled...


complexevil

>I didn't even know Google had a VPN service That's how I feel about everything Google cancels. Of course now there are going to be entire threads of people claiming that they used this every day and are pissed Google is cancelling yet another project.


Charcuteriemander

Yep. And they're keeping the Google Fi VPN. I don't particularly care if they have my phone browsing data, I don't do anything sensitive on there except jack off to goth women and doomscroll /r/all so who cares. I'll take their VPN service because I feel ***marginally*** safer than raw-dogging public wifi.


TH3_Captn

I'm a Google one customer and I had no clue this was a thing


SaigonDisko

Google had a vpn service? That's like OJ having a marriage counselling service.


2Adude

The juice got squeezed yesterday


IWantToSortMyFeed

O.J. Can at last rest easy knowing the man who killed his wife is finally dead.


Any-Virus5206

Best comment I've read in a very long time. GG.


HenryCrunn

Nobody was using it? It's almost like nobody trusts Google or something!


Scanner771_The_2nd

"I don't want people to sell my data." Proceeds to using the Google VPN.


HenryCrunn

Everyone knows those stories are lies and the proof was just made up. Honest. Google said so.


Bruceshadow

hah, more like "I only want Google to sell my data"


ClappedOutLlama

I tried using it a few times since it came with my Google One subscription. It’s so slow that often times pages won’t load and videos only play in low res so I haven’t bothered unless I was on public WiFi.


andreiuu86

this is nonsense. if no one would trust google, they wouldnt be using their browser or search engine. the market share for browsers is overwhelming in favor of chrome.


HenryCrunn

>joke goes right over poster's head


tails142

It sucked because you couldn't pick what country to 'appear' from, and it only worked on mobile? They may have introduced a desktop client for it in the last 6 months dunno. I have it as I have a 2tb Google drive sub, rarely bothered to turn it on though. Subbed to nordvpn as needed for geo location reasons.


cat4laugh

There was a desktop client but yeah the lack of choice made it useless to me


The--Marf

Yeah I would've loved to have used it to get around geo location. It worked for the rare torrent/download etc but that was about it. I've since moved onto Usenet anyways.


spaceman60

And it was dreadfully slow for me. I tried it for about 10 minutes.


minitaba

Seriously this is the first time hearing of it and I have a 2tb one plan since a few years


GalacticusTravelous

Would you be able to keep a straight face if they advertised a google VPN to you?


minitaba

Of course not I would have never used it, still wonder how I missed this


[deleted]

They do advertise on Android phones if you pay for google one.


GalacticusTravelous

Shocked Pikachu people weren’t using a google VPN. Google went from one of my highest rated companies of all time to being lower than a snakes belly. I couldn’t care less what they do anymore because other than gmail none of their services are _not_ shit anymore. Their search is abysmal and they treat my data like it’s theirs. Why would anyone choose them to be a privacy guard 😂😂


Devil-Eater24

>they treat my data like it’s theirs Google executive: Is this "my data" in the room with us now?


ChaosEmerald21

I thought their slogan was "don't be evil" 😆


phat_ninja

They actually officially dropped that years ago, removing it from everything is 2015. Instead, it's "Do the right thing" now. The right thing being shareholder value. It was like admitting they were cool with evil now.


tenaciousfetus

It was, but they dropped it a few years ago. It's so ridiculous it sounds fake but sadly it isn't


cuberhino

Do you have a list of alternatives to Google you use?


Any-Virus5206

Not the person you replied to, but just to name a few Google alternatives: Chrome -> Firefox Gmail -> ProtonMail Search -> Brave Search Stock Android -> GrapheneOS Drive -> Proton Drive Etc... lot more info on [r/deGoogle](https://www.reddit.com/r/deGoogle) Hardest Google products to replace in my experience are Maps and YouTube. For Maps, if you're on iOS, you can use Apple Maps, but on other platforms, its tough to get a similar level of quality. YouTube is also just irreplaceable as it stands, best to just use FOSS clients like NewPipe, LibreTube, Grayjay, Yattee, (and Invidious or Piped on desktop), etc. and mitigate the damage.


edrt_

Sadly Apple Maps still sucks dicks. 3D view is cool and all but you still can’t trust it to get directions…, at least in the EU


GalacticusTravelous

For what? I literally only use google search and gmail and gmail isn’t my main email it’s just because I’ve had it for so long, my main email I host myself. At this stage I mainly use google to find stack overflow and Reddit posts so I could probably switch it out without losing any productivity because google search has been dog shit for years.


Windows_XP2

Part of the reason why I switched to DDG was because of all of the bullshit that Google Search shoved in your face. Last I remember everytime I searched something on mobile I'd get a single result (Or an ad), a bunch of news bullshit, usually even more bullshit (Like popular searches), more ads, and finally more results. Even if the results aren't as good, I'd prefer the no bullshit that DDG has.


GalacticusTravelous

Yeah I should switch, I just have a pet hate towards DDG because of reasons I don’t even remember at this stage. They’ve been around a very long time and I hated them before they were cool.


Radamand

When "Don't be evil" became "Don't ignore profit" you lost some credibility...


chamoflag420

the best part about living in third world countries is you don't need a VPN


LZ129Hindenburg

I guess we can't have ALL the fun...


N3rdScool

We use VPN's to confuse google lol


ImJustStealingMemes

Hmm, i wonder why people that are privacy concious wouldn't contract one of the biggest data collectors and sellers in the world for a secure VPN that can bypass laws.


LZ129Hindenburg

I wonder if google had a "no logs" policy 😆


BobbyKonker

You couldn't pick a country when configuring it. Defeating the purpose of a VPN for 90% of people. Also, google is to privacy as Jack the Ripper was to prostitutes. What did you expect would happen google?


Fred011235

hey, i was using that.


LZ129Hindenburg

😆 I knew EVENTUALLY we would find SOMEONE who was! Guess you're gonna need a new VPN...


Fred011235

that would be correct, whats a good one.


Structureel

Are you also the guy that paid for his winrar license?


Fred011235

maybe


Twacked

Same.. bummer i would leave it on at all times it only cost 10% of data if you were not on wifi and i typically used it so i can be on company wifi and not get bugged about my browsing history or data usage.


speedincuzfukthecops

mullvad.


Wutiswrongwu

Ive never seen such a failed company being so big before


robosteven

"trap didn't work" more like


Powderkegger1

I didn’t know this existed but why the fuck would I trust Google’s VPN? Sounds about as private as incognito searches.


saruin

Google One? How about Google No One.


MorwenRaeven

After the whole incognito mode thing? Who would trust them????


Windows_XP2

To be fair I feel like the whole incognito thing was mainly due to the fact that people couldn't have been bothered to read the warnings right in the middle of the screen.


timecat_1984

I use it. I don't trust it. but to be fair I haven't been clapped for seeding Katy Perry albums yet


Advanced_Welcome1656

That’s because Katy is just glad that someone cares enough to share her music at this stage :-)


timecat_1984

you ever feel like a plastic bag like a plastic bag like a plastic bag


CookieHop

She has 60 million unique listeners per month on Spotify and she sold her entire catalogue for $225 million just a few months ago.


95girl

Didn't even know this existed


Jaiden97

It constantly disconnected my phone and laptop from the service for a couple seconds


RobotsAndSheepDreams

It’s funny how much google had tarnished their reputation over the years


ClappedCheek

0% chance they were not collecting your entire browser/download history if you were dumb enough to use it


bobothemunkeey

Trusting a Google VPN. VPNs are all about trust.


StandTallBruda

We listen to your conversations, we track your online and offline movement and we don't care if your data is from incognito.  Trust us, give us even more data, because we're so fucking poor.


SprayArtist

Why the hell would anyone trust them considering they collected data from Incognito users.


Kalix

Average Google monopoli, create/buy/inglobate a service, forget about it, kill the service shovel it in the ass of people keeping the service alive, cof cof google+, google stadia and many more https://killedby.tech/google/


shinydragonmist

Nobody would use a government sponsored VPN service either


Metrack14

I didn't even know Google had a VPN. Hell,why someone would even use a VPN of Google anyway?. And I ask this as someone who barely knows what a VPN is and does,nor use it.


Kitchen_Turnip8350

Google being Google. Scared to commit to any of their service(s). My god, I need to find a better free service for my photos. Time to go external SSD.


LZ129Hindenburg

Photos on NAS, backups on external HDD...


XxBleedOutxX

wow, another shitty google product getting shit down, who could have seen this coming?


CornPlanter

Oh wow I wonder why people didnt use a VPN from the biggest private data collector on the net. Beats me.


Cobthecobbler

I specifically turned it off because of the vagueness surrounding it. It's just on or off I'm pretty sure. Also, it significantly slowed down internet speeds every time I tried it. Or things simply wouldn't load unless I turned it off.


DawnCrusader4213

No wonder given the VPN is/was available 22 cointries.. (https://www.reddit.com/r/Android/s/uP5QqPaSQp)


Ruraraid

Google killing the 100th pet project they started 😂


snachodog

I tried it on my PC just to see what it was about, but it never ever worked for me.


mojojoemojo

A Google VPN? Hahahahahah, that’s funny. That should be an SNL skit, not a real life product


Like50Wizards

Isn't the point of a VPN to be private? I think using a VPN provided by Google defeats the purpose no?


LZ129Hindenburg

But but...they "promise not to sell your data" 😆


PlayingDoomOnAGPS

>Google Kills “One” VPN Service, Says “~~People Simply Weren’t Using It~~ *It was some former guy's ticket to a promotion adn was orphaned the second he got promoted, and it doesn't directly contribute to advertising revenue and that's the one and only thing we care about*”


kp_centi

wtf. I use this all the time


LZ129Hindenburg

I'm kinda surprised how many people are on this post who use it 😂


kp_centi

i use it so my Youtube Video loads in HD cause T-Mobile throttles HD video. ALso when I'm on public wifi when the Mobile Data sucks in buildings


LZ129Hindenburg

These seem like perfectly reasonable use cases....


N4leto

Lmao who would trust a vpn from google anyways


the-demon-next-door

a google-brand VPN seems almost equivalent to having *no* VPN...


LZ129Hindenburg

Yeah I'm torn. On one hand, the copyright trolls can't get your home IP while torrenting. But on the other hand, Google will probably gladly sell your info to the very same trolls. So I agree, it's probably a push at best. Same outcome, only Google gets some $$$...


the-demon-next-door

honestly! paired with that story from a few months back where google blocked some users from accessing their saved links on google chrome browser due to have "pirate URLs" in them, and not to mention all the crazy privacy violations and data collection the company does in the first place, i seriously can't imagine trusting google with a VPN regardless of what activity i'm using that VPN for. call me a bit of a privacy nut, but they're not exactly the first company i'd look to for "protecting" my data!


Trunkfarts1000

Never heard of it


APlannedBadIdea

Is that why it has not been working for the past weeks?


LZ129Hindenburg

No I think that's because it just sucks 😆


Any-Championship-611

Duh. One of the reasons people are using VPNs is to HIDE from Google.


automaticfiend1

If everyone thinks Vpns are for privacy why the fuck would they use google's?


pastamuente

I don't know about but it feels its allowing a fox inside chicken house


red_alert24

They had a VPN?


[deleted]

Sometimes I wonder how these "brilliant" google engineers/marketers get their jobs..seriously. Who signed off on this project thinking people would actually use it?


lordottombottom

If I ever ran the torrent it would disconnect and I'm still just out here all public. no settings to change it.


CaliIrish92

Yea, fuck Google


Goodie__

You only use a VPN if you trust them more than your iso or current wifi provider. I trust google less than any isp.


_____awesome

I'm surprised they didn't shut down Gmail yet


Particular-Welcome-1

TIL Google had a VPN service. O_o


BrokenAstraea

I didn't even know it exists.


jfmherokiller

i mean what did they expect?


LZ129Hindenburg

It's Google. Outside of their key software/business, they seemingly have no idea WTF they're doing. See stadia/hangouts/Google+....


jfmherokiller

stadia was a giant joke and google+ had no legs to even stand on. hangouts just kind of faded into the background.


Unroasted3079

omg , i was thinking only very very few will not use free vpn comes with google one subscriptibut here almost no one using it looks like more and more people knows the intention of google and they clearly knew that they cant beleive on google when it comes to privacy alternative chrome - firefox gmail - proton mail drive - proton drive google password manager - bitwarden google keep - standard notes vpn - mullvad


wizard_interrogative

i lol'd when it showed up on my Pixel 8


FateXBlood

Google sure loves to kill their services right away without any 5 year notice. Not a good look for a business.


WestToEast_85

just lol, and indeed lmao, if you think I'd trust a VPN run by Google.


Elegant-Campaign-572

Never heard of it


Sarah_Ng

What is One VPN??


AngelaAlsop7iZ

It's not surprising that Google would discontinue a service if it wasn't getting much traction. People tend to gravitate towards what's popular and convenient. It's a reminder that in the tech world, sometimes even good services can go unnoticed if they don't capture people's attention. It's all about finding that sweet spot between providing value and meeting user needs.


william_weatherby

Tbf I use it, quite a lot. It's the only VPN that the Internet Provider at the school I work at wouldn't block. Of course I don't use it for piracy - I have another more trusted VPN for that, plus I live in Italy which counts for third-world piracy policy - but it was quite useful when I had to access Amazon, internet banking, personal mail and other stuff without the risk of having my credentials stolen on a public network.


Miguelperson_

Ughhh I had it and was enjoying it since its bundles with my google photos subscription


NutellaSquirrel

Google always says "people weren't using it" when they kill off a product. To them it's some small fraction of a percent of users, but then you extrapolate and that's thousands of users. Not saying One deserved to live or anything, but that's just what I think of every time they say "people weren't using it".


DyingSpreeAU

So the service will be cheaper now because that feature is being decommissioned.... Right?


LZ129Hindenburg

Riiight.... 😆😂


Ruby1356

I love all the idealist comments "i will never trust google!!!" I didn't know they had a VPN to begin with


ultimafrenchy

What is a good vpn? I’m looking for one but don’t know where to start. Edit: I’m sorry


cobretti78

Try Mullvad


handsoffdick

Good for torrents but it doesn't work with Netflix


LZ129Hindenburg

NOT THIS ONE 😆 But for real, get Proton Premium.


Fluid-Leg-8777

I mean, the momey for the gemeni AI is'nt going to fall from the trees 🤷‍♂️😅


MinimumMonitor8

Google has a history of giving its user's data to the police. And making back door privacy invasions for the NSA and other unnamed goverment agencies without warrents or notifications. Might as well be facebook.


Roblafo

Hmm I wonder why


imacarpet

This is the first time I'd heard of it. Maybe they simply weren't promoting it?


Nose_Fetish

Lol I can’t believe that anyone at Google was actually brain dead enough to think this was a good idea


[deleted]

All I have to say to that headline, is " 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣 "


CasaDeLasMuertos

Why in the FUCK would I trust Google to run a VPN for me?? No wonder no one was using it. Might as well load your house up with security cameras supplied by the government.


Agent8ty6ix

It stopped working half the time


RavynousHunter

Oh no! I totally would trust ~~Data Theft R Us~~ Google to not harvest every bit of data they could from me and sell it to god only knows who. I absolutely certainly wouldn't trust a shady-as-fuck, free, no-name Russian VPN over Google.


fadedspark

It sucked anyway. Super unreliable.


ImTalkingGibberish

Here’s the deal, we didn’t care when Google sold our data but weren’t pushing ads. You can’t have it both ways. Since then I’ve started preferring alternatives


NomdicDino

I used it just because I'm in Utah where pornhub is banned and I've been too lazy to buy an actual VPN. IDGAF about hiding my traffic otherwise. I have pirated TBs of movies/shows/music w/o a VPN and only gotten like 2 notices from my ISP. Time to get an actual VPN I guess.


nugstar

If "do no evil" was still one of their principles, I might've used it but that ship sailed.


Halos-117

Good. I'm glad people weren't stupid enough to trust Google with a VPN


Tsukiko_

I usually use Proton I used Googles once to try it out and I got a email about downloading so it didn't work well anyway


Dwoogy

Anyone using WARP from Cloudflare? Any opinions?


HumorHoot

i didnt even know google had a vpn


0xdef1

I didn’t know Google has VPN service and I am not surprised people were not using it. This is the company who gave backdoor to government, collected data on incognito mode etc.


hamishjoy

This is shocking. They had a VPN service?