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Ask HN: How creepy are Google and Facebook wireless?

9 points by username223 ↗ HN
I've recently noticed "Google wireless" at various Starbucks, which has a click-through accepting Google's usual "we own you" ToS, and also an even creepier "Facebook wireless" at a couple of coffee shops. Any idea how much data they're harvesting if I don't use a VPN?

7 comments

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quadrangularis
Yikes. I would use a VPN, preferably one configured to use UDP over port 53.
jakeva
I've never heard of this. What is the advantage over just using https via a VPN verified to do no logging?
0x400614
Not all websites are https enabled.
atmosx
With VPN all the traffic is encrypted, not just https... Plus , https might work for you, but your DNS requests are still plain text. You could use DNSCrypt and DNSSEC (combined).

A VPN though, makes your life so much easier, you just open the connection and router everything through it.

jakeva
Yes, but that wasn't the question. The question was what does UDP over port 53 get you?
rndmind
That's the port and protocol DNS queries used, therefore it is usually never blocked.