What you need to know
Apple has confirmed it is redirecting Google Safe Browsing traffic in iOS 14.5 through its own servers to better protect user info.
Apple s head of WebKit engineering has confirmed that Safari is now redirecting Google Safe Browsing traffic through its own servers to protect user information in iOS 14.
Commenting on a recent The 8-bit article, Maciej Stachowiak, Apple s head of WebKit stated:
This article is a bit confused on the details of how Safe Browsing works, but in the new iOS beta, Safari does indeed proxy the service via Apple servers to limit the risk of information leak.
Apple has confirmed that the new beta release of iOS 14 passes Google Safe Browsing requests through Apple s own servers to prevent user data being returned to Google.
Apple continues working on privacy improvements in Safari as it seeks to disrupt the data industrial complex. Thinkstock
Apple seems focused on building Safari to become the world’s leading privacy-focused web browser, continuing development of under-the-hood enhancements to protect private lives.
Better privacy by proxy
Beginning with (currently in beta) iOS 14.5, Apple is improving privacy by changing how Safari accesses Google’s Safe Browsing service. The latter warns users when they visit a fraudulent website. (Apple uses the service to drive the Fraudulent Website Warning in
Settings>Safari on iOS or iPadOS devices.)
The Safe Browsing service works by identifying potentially compromised sites from Google’s web index. If it suspects a site is compromised, virtual machines are despatched to see whether the site attempts to compromise them.
Apple has confirmed that the new beta release of iOS 14 passes Google Safe Browsing requests through Apple's own servers to prevent user data being returned to Google.
Business Insider
Privacy has become a key differentiator for browsers trying to challenge Google Chrome s market dominance, such as Apple s Safari, Mozilla s Firefox and Brave.
Many of the fights between different browser providers about privacy take place through standards bodies such as the W3C, where members essentially determine what the web looks like.
Google s rivals and critics say its dominant presence in W3C groups give it an outsize say in the future of the web, and that the company is incentivized to erode privacy something the firm denies.
But unlike the browser war days of the 1990s, smaller browsers like Safari and Brave are successfully teaming up to push back against web features pushed by Google that they see as highly invasive.