Verify our no-logging policy through code inspection
Couldn't a network appliance, iptables or a bpf program still be logging and we'd have no idea?
Validate that the code running on our servers matches this public repository
Yes but AFAIK it can't validate that the code you verified against is the same code actually powering your VPN session right now (could be a dummy box just used for validation), or that some other external hardware or superuser-level code isn't also listening in. Someone please correct me if I'm wrong.
Basically instead of launching completely new processes for each tab, which uses the (now updated/different) binary on disk, it uses a small secondary process that stays running the whole time the browser is open, and new processes are forked from that one, which makes them all use the same in-memory copy of the old process even after the program is updated.
This only works on *nix because you can't overwrite binaries on Windows that are in use... but Linux keeps the old binary in memory the whole time, so it doesn't care if you replace it, as it won't be used until you restart the program.
So it doesn't actually update anything at all while it's running.
It used to be an awesome clone of the famous MS Trackball Explorer (now that the patent has expired), but apparently they have completely changed the design and don't offer it anymore: https://www.trackballmouse.org/ploopy-classic/
Unfortunately I'm not interested in this new design at all.
If anyone is still looking for an explorer clone, I highly recommend Sanwa.
duckduckgo, icon.horse and favicongrabber.com also have their own APIs for this
I bet there is a way this could be abused in order to proxy/tunnel arbitrary requests via google IPs. Even if it's slow and must be done through e.g. PNG image data and dynamic subdomains or something, it would still be possible.
I just use a network share to copy files from the host, and don't have a default gateway, that way I don't risk having an open internet connection in the VM.
I like the attention to sandboxing/security that web apps are given, the ease of updating, and that the UI design is easier/more accessible (many more web devs than anything else) than traditional apps, but I still prefer the speed, size and light (memory) weight of native apps.
Couldn't a network appliance, iptables or a bpf program still be logging and we'd have no idea?
Yes but AFAIK it can't validate that the code you verified against is the same code actually powering your VPN session right now (could be a dummy box just used for validation), or that some other external hardware or superuser-level code isn't also listening in. Someone please correct me if I'm wrong.