Google Webaccelerator Beta

[Midknyte]

http://webaccelerator.google.com/

GWA FAQ (http://webaccelerator.google.com/support.html)

[fancyf]

One word: Hmmm.. http://www.fancysplace.com/forums/hmm.gif

[Someone Stupid]

I'm trying ATM. Just hitting sysopt pages at random after hitting CNN and BBC... seems mainly to be catching ads aparently since it is working on even sysopt threads. 9.3 seconds saved in about 10 pages of downloads that were practically instantaneous anyways.

Works with Firefox, that's a plus.

[fishybawb]

I had it running for a while now - it's saved 32.5 seconds apparently. It's a very interesting idea, but I can't say I've noticed any difference on a connection that was pretty quick to start with. Although it doesn't currently support dial-up, it might be more noticeable with a slower connection.

[dmoltrup]

I quickly read about it, but couldn't help wonder... Why would Google do this? What is in it for them?

I assume it is tracking your browsing habits. Just another form of SpyWare.

I haven't read the details on it, though, so don't take my word for it.

[urdvurk]

As far as I can tell it works as a proxy, and as such it will be able to keep track of your browsing habits. So, in exchange for -claimed- faster browsing you provide Google with detailed information about your activities on the web.

2. How does Google Web Accelerator work?

Google Web Accelerator uses various strategies to make your web pages load faster, including:

Sending your page requests through Google machines dedicated to handling Google Web Accelerator traffic.
And also:
5. How does using Google Web Accelerator affect my privacy?

Google Web Accelerator receives much of the same kind of information you currently send to your ISP when you surf the Web:

Google will receive your requests for unencrypted pages (those with "HTTP:", not "HTTPS:", at the beginning of the URL), along with information such as the date and time of the request, your IP address, and computer and connection information
If you enter personally identifiable information (such as an email address) onto a form on an unencrypted web page, some sites may send this information through Google. Whenever your computer sends cookies with browsing or prefetching page requests for unencrypted sites, we temporarily cache these cookies in order to improve performance

...

The policies for the Google Web Accelerator, like those for Google.com, uphold the highest level of integrity and respect for our users' information. Google will never rent or sell a user's personal information to third parties without a user's explicit permission.(emphasis mine) To learn more about our privacy practices, please see the Google Web Accelerator Privacy Policy.

Note that they don't say what they will do with this information themselves.

Errr no thanks.

[Someone Stupid]

There have been some issues with it, I've uninstalled it even though I haven't encountered them. Not hard to find the issues if you glance a few tech sites. Seems it is pulling other people's pages for stuff - which could mean it could pull yours.

Say you and I both view threads at sysopt (we do), and it decides to cache them - a few hours later I come back on and now I go to post, but I'm now you because it pulled your data. Granted I wouldn't have the needed info to post - but instances similar to that have been occuring on quite a few sites other than forums. Nothing serious like banking and the like, but still serious enough that I don't want to take part in it until it is fixed.