@bodah: same reason for me, but what happens when chrome updates, or what if google decides to work in other invasive 'features'? as badly as i would like to make chrome my regular browser at work, i just feel like google knows me too well already.

buradleix

Just because you are paranoid doesn't mean someone isn't out to get you...

jsmorley

@Deadhacker: It's a tin hat, dude.

Having said that, it's a stylish tin hat, with a fluffy bobble and everything.

Phoshi

Not so much "tinfoil hat" as "already been a victim of identity theft and see no reason to make it easier to victimize us again" crowd, thank you very much.

Paranoia is a survival trait.

Deadhacker

This was part of the reason I haven't tried Chrome yet, it may be time to give it a try.

bodah

Ironically, if you are really that paranoid should you be using a translation through google servers?

SRone2

@Mark: It's actually: "IF you think hard enough, everyone's out to get you"

Actually I just made that up.

Phoshi

Amazing title. Chrome`s some of the well documented features endangers user`s privacy, sounds quite mainstream to me.

kartal

@jsmorley:

It's actually, "Just because you aren't paranoid, doesn't mean someone isn't out to get you."

Mark

I found this part on the "Chrome vs. Iron" page...

Iron is using the newest version of Webkit (version 525.19) whereas Chrome is using the old version (version 525.13). ^__^

Asian Angel

@Mark:

No, it's not... Your version is neither pithy nor funny. You see "paranoid" is an unreasonable / unfounded fear that someone is out to get you. The joke is, just because you are crazy and think the world is out to get you doesn't mean it can't also be true...

jsmorley

@SRone2: @freelancewriter: You really think that MIT is a non-profit? Just because they're tax exempt doesn't make it so...

Piaculum

I am really glad to see this modification. ^__^ This is a version that I can use. ^__^

Adam, thank you so much for posting this! ^__^

@SRone2: I thought the same thing as far as using a Google service (not the paranoia part), so I ran the translation through Babel Fish at Yahoo Asia. ^__^

Asian Angel

@Mark:

He had it just fine. Except it should be "everyone" not "someone" as I have heard it.

But really, they all work.

jupiterthunder

I applaud the effort, but I lack the knowledge to analyze the code itself. If you are already wearing a tinfoil hat, can you trust the company that created this? Or did they embed questionable code themselves?

As mentioned in a previous post, I'd trust something like this more if it was done by a recognized non-profit such as MIT or University of Illinois.

freelancewriter

no tinfoil hat here, yet. but I prefer to be paid to participate in marketing surveys or for the use of my personal data. so this looks good!

resonanteye

one thing that doesn't work in Chrome for me is Firefox's search bar. I my #1 search engine is Google, however I love the fact that I can search through Wikipedia from my browser bar. Or Yahoo for that matter.

Google didn't offer this so I'm betting that this won't either from a quick click away.

ez10

Awesome, I am so getting this...

but...

Why didn't they call it Tin, or Aluminum?

CnEY

I'm impressed. Iron just kicked Chromes pants HARD!
I have never seen a web browser load up so quickly or as efficiently as Iron did. Sorry Chrome, you're history!

Coffenated

@SRone2:
haha right on Srone, my thoughts exactly

wngchng87

I always had the creeps while surfing with Chrome, especially when my Outpost firewall told me google Chrome wanted to activate a keylogger :-/ Iron appears to be much safer than Chrome, as far as data privacy goes.

kerpalguy

@jsmorley:

I know what paranoid is. The idea is that just because you don't think that someone is out to get you does not mean that someone is not out to get you. Paranoid people already think that someone or everyone is out to get them. This and "I could care less" which should be "I could not care less" are often misquoted. I see your interpretation, though, and understand your point.

Mark

Anyone wanna bet that Google's next product will be tin hats?

Hands

lol @ "tin hat crew". I've been using Chrome occasionaly, without the Unchrome and Anochro at first. Well at least this solution sounds good and i've been using it since this morning my time zone, central european time and it works just as good as Chrome.
I use Google products everyday and i sometimes hesitate about what i put into the Google search box.
I can't be sure this Iron version has no spyware etc. either, but i have never trusted any software unconditionally in the first place.
Feel free to laugh at the tin hat attitude, but i bet a lot of motor cyclists ,and construction workers wished they had worn their tin hats too lol.

Rohan_Zurich

@Deadhacker: "It's not whether you're paranoid. It's whether you are paranoid enough." As the strange woman told the Lone Gunmen.

tgrantt

Anyone else disturbed they called it Iron. I mean Germans, information control, Iron Curtain. Bueller? Bueller?

GeraldineNiger

@torsoboy:

Is there a special clause for Hackintosh 'puters?

It's the Platypus of computers.

Popsonian

Maybe I'm missing something but who said online activity was private?

If I'm doing searches on Google's servers, I expect them to keep track of what I'm searching for. . . not so they can stalk me or sell that information to illegal immigrants and thieves, but so they can perfect their marketing strategy.

In the end, it really doesn't matter if Google knows how many times I searched for "Hot Rabbit on Hare porn" or how many times I clicked the "hot, sexy, single {midgets}" link on the right side of the screen. It might be useful to them for marketing, but my Google search records aren't going to prove much about me except that it's my home page. . .and even if it did, IT'S THE INTERNET. . . they only get what you give them. . .and no one is going to steal your identity with knowledge of your Jay Leno fetish or the number of times you've searched for "farting panda" on YouTube.

Now, go forth and Google.

Popsonian

@Coffenated: It's based directly on the source code of Google Chrome with a few features stripped out... That's like me buying a Dell computer, removing a networking card, and calling it a completely new system. =)

torsoboy

@Popsonian: I totally agree with you. Why are people so paranoid about Google and the idea of Google watching you or whatever?

How does this make you not rest easy at night? To me, hell I could care less. How about other search engines? I don't see any crap about those!

rdn98

@freelancewriter: Sweet. I went to University of Illinois. Go Illini!!!

rdn98

Glad to see someone actually do this. Although the more I learn about internet security the more I only worry about my personal information that could be abused (identity theft). Slowly I am becoming less and less conscious about who could be watching what I am doing because it is way to easy to. When you connect to the internet most likely you are going to public places, so someone is watching somewhere. I think I will just pretend to be ignorant about usage statistics and other semi-harmless information.

Defcon1

@GeraldineNiger: Nope, not at all. I think it's a fine name.

nightbirdsf

@rdn98:

Just wait and see. You will understand why people are so paranoid about companies like Google.

kartal

Once again, there can be no security until and unless the very nature of the internet itself is changed - DNS is a great protocol for networking, but terrible for security...hell, the cDc (Cult of the Dead Cow) and L0pht knew about the unsecure nature of the internet for decades before Kaminsky called out webmasters and server operators...but I digress.

It's not what Google does with the data which is bothersome, it's the principle of it. Google has offered nor provided no service to me which warrants anyone at that company, computer, person, or extra-terrestrial, to know my search patterns, interest, hobbies, sexual preferences, pr0n habits, reading lists, restaurant preferences, or location. Period. Google doesn't deserve to know that information at all - not for advertising purposes (especially as I ignore all advertisements), not for data retention and aggregate trend analysis of traffic - nothing. No service Google provides, be it webspace, email, convenient and useful search, mapping, or news, is sufficient to warrant storing my personal data on its servers. Larry, Sergei, (Chang?) - keep your hands off my internet protocol address and I won't crush your ad revenue bots with no-script. End of fucking story.

dasverlangen

I like Chrome, but I want the click sound, like IE has when you click on a link or button, until then I will keep using the best: IE6.

tonynyc

Preach on brotha!!!

Niscrome

I don't suffer from the paranoia where i think someone's out to get me, i suffer from a kind where i think no-body's out to get me...it's almost scarier, but it does sorta help you to test out programs like chrome....i mean wouldn't perform anything important through it....but then i don't do anything important any ways

Zepth

Why didn't they just name it "Tinfoil"? ;D

Torley

I think a more fitting name would be "Panacea" or "Placebo." (Depending on what side of the privacy line you stand on)

Popsonian

I would pretty much want to try this, but fact of "doesn't check with Google for updates" keeps me back

delagato

@dasverlangen: Isn't using google basically saying that what they offer warrants what they collect on you? You do have a choice to go elsewhere, although there are very few offerings that will work as well, or as conveniently as google, all of which do cost money that they pay for by advertising.

Do you use google products?

I do actually agree with you partially though, but I think that it's incorrect to complain about them collecting data, as long as they are honest about what is collected. It's when companies try to hide what they are collecting that I get bothered.

There was a search site a few months (or maybe last year) that advertised that they wouldn't collect information on the users, sorry can't remember the name of it, but it didn't seem to gather popularity based on this.

mattarse

I join the crowd here in being a little insulted by the title. It is not that I am paranoid, i just do not think the quality of google's products warant the amount of data-mining they do. The information they gather from me is worth a whole lot more than a competing browser in my eyes and therefore i do not use chrome, g-mail etc.
Their search engine is awesome however and through lack of proper alternatives I use it. It's a balance of pro's and cons and has nothing to do with being 'paranoid'.

Well maybe a little. I simply do not trust anyone that gathers too much power (be it in force, money or knowledge) and google is definately gathering too much of it and showing every intention of trying to get more (of course).

Sjoerd

@CnEY: Becuase then they'd have people going "It's spelled Aluminium you dolt!" and search engines would be screwed up. Especially for those silly Brits. :)

kickarse

@tonynyc: Ummm... are you serious? Did I read you right? The most obnoxious and unnecessary quality of IE is the reason you won't switch browsers?

My head is spinning...

eightseventeen

@Popsonian: I agree totally. People spend WAY too much time worrying about what they are doing online. If you have truly sensitive information, use a trusted, secure site. Otherwise, you're at risk whether you are using a Google product or not.

These paranoid worrywarts need to get over themselves! There are so many other ways besides spying on you online to steal your identity...

eightseventeen

@Kafka: On my computer it is:

Program Files --> Iron Browser --> Themes

Nice and simple compared to the original Chrome installation...I can not say for certain about Chromium since I only tried the portable version briefly...

Asian Angel

I like it. Anybody found the folder to place new themes? Couple things have changed from the default Chrome locations. I'm betting this is the same setup as Chromium.

Kafka

@Deadhacker: Not so much "tinfoil hat" as "already been a victim of identity theft and see no reason to make it easier to victimize us again" crowd, thank you very much.

Paranoia is a survival trait.

It's not paranoia, it's caution and prudence. The paranoid are those who think Google will be any less "evil" than Microshaft as their marketshare increases. Best intentions and claims of them never survive increasing profit margins.

P_Smith

I've abstained from using Chrome for this very reason. Thanks Iron!

SpudDude

@delagato: Hi delegato, i was digging around in the iron website forum, and one post asked the update question, and one of the software team or moderator said an update feature is coming sometime soon....

Rohan_Zurich

Does it still have the "fatal flaw" that can contribute to a broken relationship?

michaelleung

@dasverlangen: "Google has offered nor provided no service to me which warrants anyone at that company, computer, person, or extra-terrestrial, to know my search patterns, interest, hobbies, sexual preferences, pr0n habits, reading lists, restaurant preferences, or location. "

You're kidding right? Google provides a number of services and provides an explanation of the terms under which those services are being provided. If you don't agree with those terms ... don't use the service.

I don't like what my employer has asked me to do I am free to quit. Likewise if my employer sees that I am no living up to the terms of our agreement they are free to fire me.

So you don't like Google's terms ... go use yahoo or MSN. What? They have similar terms of use? Ok, go write your own search engine. Go on. Get to it.

Khurt

@resonanteye: You are being paid for the use of your personal information. Google is proving a search service to you.

Khurt

@tonynyc: IE6? You are kidding! Good joke. Thanks.

Khurt

@kickarse: Yeah those silly English people. How dare they tell us how to speak there language.

Khurt

I would be willing to use Chrome if Google were able to get their energy policy sanctioned by the government. I would wash the CEO's car every day if they could get this passed. Energy independence should be a top priority for us, and it is very forward thinking when it comes to renewable energy. Otherwise, I am using Iron.

LandonLabarixair

Yay! at least we can get a little of our privacy back... Finally, something faster than firefox without some of Chrome's problems.

marckc22

@Khurt: That's the way the world turns my man.

kickarse