It happens with the open source version as well... so this must be documented, and there must be a way to turn it off?
Edit: 1. You can confirm this using a network traffic analyzer. 2. Start page is set to about:blank
Sure. Use a browser whose creator isn't an Ad serving company with a business model built entirely around capturing and analysing massive amounts of product (you. you are the product) data.
There's all manner of things that it will do.
1) try to see if there's a real internet connection 2) check if it's the latest version 3) log in with your google account 4) sync passwords 5) update shared history 6) update chrome apps
I've probably missed some things out, but that's what I can think of, off the top of my head.
Tools like Fiddler should allow you to see this data in plaintext, though identifying what information it contains is another step.
https://www.google.com/transparencyreport/safebrowsing/diagn...
That would make you one of the 600 million people using that service, whether you realise it or not.
Alas, other browsers use it too without any warning, although you can turn it off it is not easily discoverable:
https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=430741
As suggested, add sb.google.com or whatever endpoint is used to /etc/hosts or HOSTS file.
If you are on Arch Linux, binaries are available on the AUR: https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/inox-bin
Don't use Chrome? Build Chromium from source.
I dont see why this needs to be a Ask HN.
gclient. A checkout involves pulling nearly 100 different SVN repositories of code. This process is managed with a tool called gclient.
// everytime i upgrade a browser? cmon..
1. If you are using the Google APIs (see this picture http://i.imgur.com/UodLpFh.png) for the browser to have more functionality.
2. If you have the "Google account Badge" thingy in the upper right enabled.
I don't know exactly what in those two causes the phone home, I assume (educated guess here) that it's verifying your api keys for browser features such as spell check, that or getting the "Badge" thing setup. While you may be opening a new tab labeled blank that "badge" thing is a pure js/html page thats loaded in the background that does need to phone home.