Google has a new data compression extension for Chrome -- do you trust it?
A couple of days ago Google launched a Chrome extension that compresses web pages. This is a feature that has been available for the iOS and Android versions of Chrome, but now it has hit the desktop. It's something that will be off interest to people whose ISP puts data caps in place.
Launched on March 23, the Data Saver extension is currently in beta (come on, this is Google… what did you expect?) and it helps to "reduce the amount of data Chrome uses". This might sound appealing, but it does mean that your traffic is routed through Google's own servers. Do you trust Google enough?
Using the extension has obvious plusses. If you have to keep within a data limit, anything you can do to compress pages is to be welcomed. Compressing pages can also have the happy side effect of speeding up load times. Sounds great, yeah? What's not to like about optimized pages? Look to the extension's page in the Chrome Web Store and the description says:
When this extension is enabled, Chrome will use Google servers to compress pages that you visit before downloading them. SSL and incognito pages will not be included.
Very much the same information is provided on the relevant Google support page:
When you're using Data Saver, Google's servers reduce the amount of data that gets downloaded when you visit a webpage. How much data gets saved depends on the type of content on the page. Secure pages (pages that start with https) and incognito pages load without any data savings.
Living in an age of heightened awareness of privacy issues, would you be happy for all of your traffic to pass through Google's servers? Do you have enough trust in the search giant to give it even more chance to scrutinize your online activity?
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