Google is a tech company, originally known for its search engine. Fast forward, Google is already encompassing the whole web.
As a matter of fact, Google is almost synonymous with the internet itself. Pretty much everything is tied to Google. From querying something to its search engine, browsing most websites on the web, to using devices that are powered by Android, to commuting with Google Maps, streaming videos on YouTube, sending emails via Gmail, and lots more.
While Google is doing whatever it can to preserve its users' privacy, it's worth saying that Google itself is siphoning user data for itself like almost nothing else that ever exist.
It has been long known, that Google is one of the internet's biggest data hoarder, which tracks users' activities through their personal information.
And because of that, Google is extremely invasive.
To let people know the extent of Google's reach, Bert Hubert who is the originator of the PowerDNS open-source server program, has created an application known as 'Googerteller.'
I made a very very simple tool that makes some noise every time your computer sends data to Google. Here a demo on the official Dutch government jobs site. The noise starts while typing the domain name already. Code, currently Linux only: https://t.co/ZjKeOSfYff pic.twitter.com/dEr8ktIGdo
— Bert Hubert (@bert_hu_bert) August 21, 2022
The software is pretty basic and straightforward.
Because all it does, is letting users know whenever their device sends any data to Google.
Hubert at first wanted to know and acknowledge what kind of information Google is taking from users.
But in the end, he wanted to learn about the possible spectrums as to when and where the company uses the obtained data for what reasons.
And Googerteller is essentially a software that allows users to know when their device even pings Google.
Available as an open-source project on GitHub, Googerteller works by utilizing the IP addresses provided by Google on the public platform.
All these addresses are associated with the many Google services, but not those related to Google Cloud.
Once installed Googerteller will monitor each and every incoming and outgoing traffic, and play a huge beep each and every time it detects the device is in contact with any of the listed IP addresses.
So, whether users use an app or browser the web, each time Google knows what the users are doing, a beep will be heard.
In Hubert’s initial demo video, there’s a beep after every keystroke into Chrome’s address bar, as the browser sends requests for autocomplete suggestions.
And apparently, Mozilla Firefox web browser also frequently pings Google.
I did a demo of the Google noisemaker that makes some noise every time your computer talks to Google. This demo was based on Google Chrome & made lots of noise. People told me to expect this, since it was Chrome. Here is a video showing the exact same thing on Firefox: pic.twitter.com/btFbIbEivg
— Bert Hubert (@bert_hu_bert) August 22, 2022
While browsing the Dutch government’s careers website, nearly every click on the page, including expanding and collapsing menus, connects to Google, resulting in a beep.
This could be caused by Google Analytics, which tracks website visitors' engagement on the site.
Hubert also found that the Spotify app also logs every click to Google as well.
Initially, Googerteller only works on Linux-based operating systems.