Google Chrome suspicious connections

I'm using Chrome at Windows and with TCPView (of the SysInternals freeware suit) I see that chrome.exe establish connections to these IPs:

173.194.37.104
209.85.146.138

Using http://www.ipaddresslocation.org/ I check about these IPs and see they're related to Google.

Now, in order to clarify, these are the exact things I do:
Open up chrome, the default page is set to BLANK (i.e no homepage whatsoever).
Then I get into my website which has a blank page, so no "other" http requests are made.

Right from this point there is a persistent connection, usually to '173.194.37.104'.

What are these?? Very suspicious..

Edit #1:
- I'm in 'incognito' mode right from start, when launching Chrome, using a shortcut with the '-incognito' switch.
- I've turned off all phishing protections and other "advance" features in order to reduce Chrome's network activity.

Poni

Posted 2010-12-27T21:13:23.533

Reputation: 453

5What's perplexing is your other question about turning off security warnings for https traffic, but you're worried about connections to Google IPs from a Google product? I'm very confused. – None – 2010-12-27T21:27:08.977

Answers

You are aware, are you not, that Google Chrome was written by Google, and it connects to Google's servers even if you're not doing anything, in order to synchronise bookmarks, etc. with the mothership.

This is nothing to worry about. You have yourself identified the IP as belonging to Google. I recommend reading the small print in the licence agreement.

user3463

Posted 2010-12-27T21:13:23.533

Reputation:

@Randolph thanks for the reply! As I've just added "Edit #1" you can read that I've turned off all "advance" features of Chrome and it's running on "private" browsing mode. As for your comment at the OP I can say that this is all done because the browser is being used in a private institution where we want no external "factors" whatsoever. – Poni – 2010-12-27T21:34:36.847

As for reading the small print in the license agreement - could you point specifically? Because - THIS LOOKS LIKE A SPYWARE ACTIVITY. – Poni – 2010-12-27T21:35:27.127

Aw - and it surely has nothing to do with syncing with google in relation to bookmarks etc', as this is clearly no activated at the Options dialog of Chrome (it clearly states it). – Poni – 2010-12-27T21:38:49.013

Poni, stop arguing. Randolph is really right! You have two options, to use Google stuff or not. In the first case, Google knows everything about you. Just an example: http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2372498,00.asp

– Andrejs Cainikovs – 2010-12-27T22:14:31.780

2@Andrejs you're missing the point - it's not an argue but a discussion. OBVIOUSLY I CAN SIMPLY STOP USING CHROME! If it's not clear then - I'd like to know what these "transparent" connections are and what information they send out. Then I'll be able to choose if I want to keep using Chrome or not. Kapish? – Poni – 2010-12-27T22:28:16.353

@Poni, for example: the mothership is called for an updated list of bad websites, to check if updates are available, and to send usage statistics. (Note that Google's idea on private browsing might also be subject to Eric Schmidt's If you have something that you don't want anyone to know, maybe you shouldn't be doing it in the first place.) – Arjan – 2010-12-27T23:09:01.980

@Arjan How do I tell, then, to the mothership that I prefer to be an orphan? (: ......... It's about company's data security, the problem is that nowhere I could find it says exactly WHAT is being transmitted to google. – Poni – 2010-12-27T23:21:14.610

Oh, @Poni, I forgot: Can google chrome know how fast I type? :-)

– Arjan – 2010-12-27T23:30:54.150

Check out this link to see more about phoning home: http://www.mattcutts.com/blog/google-chrome-communication/

– None – 2010-12-28T04:12:26.587

@Poni: Ok, sorry for offensive comment then :) There is plenty of topics regarding this in the internet: http://forums.mozillazine.org/viewtopic.php?f=38&t=1967789&start=30&sid=834f40e99ba8bfd3ea9c7201d2d2e50e or http://www.lifespy.com/2007/7-tips-to-keep-your-search-private-why-firefox-is-best-for-porn-searches/ for example.

– Andrejs Cainikovs – 2010-12-28T15:29:47.797

Use packet sniffing software to see what information is being sent.

http://4sysops.com/archives/free-packet-sniffers-for-windows/

Moab

Posted 2010-12-27T21:13:23.533

Reputation: 54 203

+1 Believe me I'm 1cm from firing up Wireshark and analayzing the data =) – Poni – 2010-12-27T23:17:09.120

3@Poni, why wait? Using Wireshark to see the host names that Chrome uses for those requests, you might even be able to add fake entries in your HOSTS file for those host names! – Arjan – 2010-12-27T23:25:33.517

@ Poni, post back any interesting results. – Moab – 2010-12-28T02:00:50.363

Have you tried to disable all Chrome Extensions? Especially extensions created by Google
(such as Gmail, Google Drive ...). For disabling them, read this article.

Jet

Posted 2010-12-27T21:13:23.533

Reputation: 2 232