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Google Chrome logging file downloads to Google servers. Is this to stop piracy?

Google Chrome logging all downloads to Google?
Google Chrome logging all downloads to Google?

The Google Chrome browser is reportedly logging all downloads to users computers. Google has added some new security functionality to Chrome. Every time that the user downloads a file, the browser will compare it against a white-list of known-good files and publishers. If the file is not in the white-list, its URL will be transmitted to Google’s servers. This means that Google can record all of the downloads that a user is retrieving from the Internet if they do not match a certain white-list maintained by Google. This on top of serious Google Chrome security concerns and it becomes clear that the Google Chrome web browser is not a good choice for secure web browsing. The Chrome browser has had various security concerns in the past and this new information does not help its cause at all.

The open-source Chromium browser is a nice alternative and can still use the Chrome extensions such as Adblock and many others. There is some useful information about how the Chrome logging works in this PDF. The logging of all unknown downloads could mean that Google are chasing those who download *.torrent files as well as *.rar files from download sites such as Rapidshare, 4shared and others. This means that the popular browser is taking part in the surveillance of the Internet that is part of the SOPA and CISPA plans. More information at this Ars Technica link: http://arstechnica.com/business/2012/02/chrome-17-released-will-preload-autocompleted-urls-as-you-type/. This is intended to be protection against malicious downloads, but this could be subverted to censor the files that a user can download.

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