Are Google Video and YouTube Uploading Data From You?

Help for v3
#1

This is rather strange: I was watching a video on Google (http://video.google.com), and noticed that after opening Comodo’s FW I had some outbound connections. Deciding to investigate further, I noticed that the “Bytes Out” column under the “ashWebSv.exe” section was upwards of 5 MB since I started to watch the video!

Two questions immediately popped up in my mind:

  1. Why would a simple act of viewing an online video cause an upload of 5 MB of unknown data from my system to Google (apparently videos shared with YouTube have the same effect)?

  2. Is there a way in the Comodo Firewall to selectively disable the outgoing data based on an IP, or better yet, a website address?

Thanks.

Teletype

#2

Do you have Avast!? If so, “ashWebSv.exe” is their Web Shield. If you have Web Shield on, it is normal that it uses your internet connection.

Edit: added SS.
I think Avast! web shield channels the data through itself to the internet, instead of having each browser connect.

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#3

Hi Jeremy,

Yes, I do have the Avast. But what I do not understand is why there should be 5 MB of uploaded data from my system (as shown in Comodo FW).

And more importantly, how do I use Comodo FW to stop the outgoing packets on a case-by-case basis?

Thanks.

#4

Yep they’re spying … everything you search on google gets saved + your IP addres

Xan

#5

And you are correct Xan. However, the number of bytes in an IP address including the search string (and other info) is on average less than 1K. In my case it was over 5 MB for a 2 hour video!

My original two questions still stand.

Incidentally, you can use Scroogle Scraper to hide both your IP, and your search string from Google.

Two ways of doing this:

#1) Using Scroogle’s non-encrypted version:

You are still protected as Scroogle acts like a proxy covering your footprints.

#2) For Scroogle’s encrypted search (SSL): https://ssl.scroogle.org/
Same protection as in the #1 above, but now not even your ISP will know what you’re searching for :slight_smile:

Main Home Page (learn more about Scroogle):

Here is how Scroogle’s SSL protects your privacy:
https://ssl.scroogle.org/sslnote.html

Check them out!

Teletype

#6

Is it trustful?

#7

Yeah, Scroogle may spy on you. (:NRD) :THNK

#8

Yes, the possibility is real and it does exists. Most every software and hardware is suspect.

Case in point: I will never buy routers from Dell anymore.

Suffice it to say that after trying to unsuccessfully log into my router (when I entered a wrong password), I got an undeliverable email from Dell stating that one of their employees was on vaction and won’t be in until some time later !!! (:AGY)

It is obvious that Dell not only had forwarded my unsuccesful attempts to my own email address (which I had specifically authorized during the router setup), but also had in its firmware, installed its own email address to send all of my passwords, and who knows what else.

And yes, it had the Dell domain as part of its email adddress. Now, what business does Dell have in knowing this very private (password) information?

It does not take much imagination to see that after having my IP address, along with my password to get into my router, they could do whatever they felt like. The irony of it is that they could do that without any software-based firewall, or anti-malware ever knowing about it; as it all happened before packets of data could even enter my computer for analysis.

There are a number of ways to exploit this maliciously-built vulnerability such as changing DNS in the router, and even reporting all the links that a user visits back to Dell.

The question then becomes: Who is watching the gatekeepers?

In case of Scroogle, you are just adding an additional layer of “protection” by hoping that they might not be part of Google itself !!!

I call it cheap insurance.

Teletype.

P.S. My other two questions still stand :THNK