I installed the Google Chrome browser at work in order to test browser compatibility for my web design work.

Whenever Chrome is open, even when I am not browsing, there are longish periods of high disk activity (a minute or more) followed by bursts of network activity. It's quite clearly gathering data from my PC and sending it somewhere.

In addition to the intense irritation of lots of disk activity that I didn't ask for, this is extremely suspicious. So I'm not using Chrome any more than I have to.

Wish I could help....but our head IT guy sent out a company wide email telling us we were not to download/install it to our machines because of things at the end of the EULA that no person or company should have to agree to....so no Chrome for us (and don't have a desire for it at home either)

So hope it get's figured out an nothing funky is going on.

Chrome is like a sleazy salesman. You gain some to make you happy so that you will eagerly lose one that is most important: your privacy.

the EULA has already been changed to remove the rights it was claiming. That was done within 2 days of it's release.

Why would anyone want to use a browser distributed by Google? There are good browsers already, and some of them aren't even spyware. 

Yup, seems like really poor timing by Google.  Three years ago there was
a niche for a good browser.  Now almost everyone is happy with Firefox or Opera,
and those browsers don't grab you, tie you down and wire you into the Matrix.

Paloth - there's nowt as queer as folk. (Read that with a Yarksheer accent). But if some queer folk use it, I need to make sure my websites work on it.

Khai - I never read EULAs.. more fool me, perhaps. What rights were they claiming?
PS: wgah'nagl - I don't get that bit.

Isao, run Chrome in the safe mode (I dont remember the icon name, personal or something) this way it dont send statistics from your browser to Google. Other thing about drive activit is that Chrome have a "sandbox" for every tab that you open and this need memory, almost all in HD... and finally its a beta version theres a lot of problems there but it look very smooth.

Thanks for the advice, GKD, I'll look for that setting when I'm back at work on Monday.

supposedly they were given the right to use your artwork to show off their browser, and you couldn't object (there's a thread in the Bryce forum by Agent Smith with more detail).

Attached Link: http://www.mattcutts.com/blog/google-chrome-license-agreement/

Alright, I’ve got another conspiracy theory misconception to dispel. After reading through the* Chrome Terms of Service, some people are worried that Google is trying to assert rights on everything that you do on Chrome. From one example story *by Marshall Kirkpatrick:

*> The terms include a section giving Google “a perpetual, irrevocable, worldwide, royalty-free, and non-exclusive license to reproduce, adapt, modify, translate, publish, publicly perform, publicly display and distribute any Content which you submit, post or display on or through, the Services.” That seems pretty extreme for a browser, doesn’t it?

I knew that Google didn’t want to assert rights on what people did using Google Chrome, so I asked the Chrome team and Google lawyers for their reaction or to clarify (probably several other people pinged them too). Here’s what I heard back from Rebecca Ward, the Senior Product Counsel for Google Chrome:

“In order to keep things simple for our users, we try to use the same set of legal terms (our Universal Terms of Service) for many of our products. Sometimes, as in the case of Google Chrome, this means that the legal terms for a specific product may include terms that don’t apply well to the use of that product. We are working quickly to remove language from Section 11 of the current Google Chrome terms of service. This change will apply retroactively to all users who have downloaded Google Chrome.”

Unquote*

Figured as much (think our IT guy just wanted to send out another red alert email with all the bells and whistles...they appear to like those things too much sometimes).

isao, thx fr the info on the google browser.  please post a screencap of the
activity monitor/network/data screen (black with green/red) for a period of
approx. 30 sec. whilst connected to this site and using chrome browser.

in OSX/firefox I'm seeing an initial spike here, then it goes back to zero.

Miss Nancy - I'll try to do that at work Monday morning. At home I use OSX/Safari.

What google is doing is trying to guarantee that their office products are usable beyond just a simple goofy tool that people can use once, and never return to.  They are creating an environment for businesses that will compete directly with Microsoft's .net stuff, and will probably be MS's only real competitor in that area.

This is good for users because it means that companies can write their quick and fun code using something that is platform independent. Eventually, Firefox will include the javascipt engine that they are writing, so you don't have to use chrome to benefit. IE users will probably never benefit directly, but they might find MS will put a lot of work into making sure folks don't leave IE behind, because their favorite web sites run much faster on another browser...who knows.

I think the worries folks are having are reasonable worries for being part of an early beta. If you don't want to jump in before the waters have been tested....you should wait. But, if you want to have a look at something a very forward minded company is pushing, then take a look. Since it's beta, though, be prepared to find some rough edges that might hurt a bit.

I opted out on that browser. My main browser is Opera but some sites won't load with it so I use Firefox then. If Firefox had Speed-dial and a magic wand Grin I have it as my main browser.

mamba-negra - this thread was about Chrome doing things I didn't ask it to, didn't know about, and probably would not want it to do if I did know about it. However great and forward looking Google may be (and in some ways I agree with that), if they produce software that, by default, uses my computer to do things I didn't ask it to and don't want it to, then I don't care how advanced it might otherwise be now or in the future - it sucks, and so do they.  :O)
Izi

in today's editorial page of one of the local newspapers, there was a cartoon about
the google browser browsing the user's information, hence that's either microsoft
propaganda (paid placement) or there's some grain of truth, if the browser is sending
out data packets to one of google's servers for no apparent reason, in contravention
of whatever the terms of use that one agreed to, prior to downloading the beta version.