Google testing proxy scheme to hide IP addresses for privacy
Google says it plans to prototype a technique to mask IP addresses via network proxies in future versions of its Chrome browser
The Register reports:
The project first surfaced as part of Privacy Sandbox back in 2021 when it was initially referred to as “ip-blindness” or “Gnatcatcher.” It is now called IP Protection, where IP refers to Internet Protocol and not intellectual property.
The project, planned initially for Chrome on both Android and the desktop, is an effort to limit cross-site tracking on the web that complements the move away from third-party cookies, another mechanism for ad-focused surveillance. It does not address browser fingerprinting – apart from making IP addresses less useful for generating a fingerprint value – or CNAME tracking. Nor does it deal with tracking via native apps.
“As browser vendors make efforts to provide their users with additional privacy, the user’s IP address continues to make it feasible to associate users’ activities across origins that otherwise wouldn’t be possible,” the IP Protection explainer says.
Google says it will initially test IP protection using a single Google-owned proxy that only works on domains it controls. A subsequent test phase will involve a two-hop proxy setup that puts both a Google-owned and a third-party proxy server between the client and the destination server. One of these proxies will not see the client destination and the other will not see the client IP address.
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