Is Freedome betraying our privacy and sending every single webpage we visit to Google?

Agathon

I care very much about privacy, which is why I use a VPN--Freedome.  It’s also why I don’t use Google search but StartPage instead, why I don’t use Gmail but StartMail instead, and why I don’t use Google Chrome browser but Firefox instead.  I even run Emsisoft Anti-Malware and use its HOSTS blocking feature to block Google almost entirely.

So I have been extremely dismayed to see recently that while I am running Freedome it seems that my computer is making or trying to make thousands of connections to Google, usually an attempt every second or so!  It’s connecting to 8.8.8.8, which is Google’s DNS.

In the past Freedome has said that they have their own DNS servers, but it now seems that Freedome is using Google’s DNS to look up every website we Freedome users visit–is this correct?  If so, I ask that this practice stop at once, and that more privacy-respecting DNS providers are used.  PLEASE!  Many of us are using a VPN such as Freedome because we care about privacy.  Please do not forward every single one of our webpage/DNS requests to Google!  Thank you.

P.S.  If this is incorrect, please let us know how exactly Freedome affects our DNS, and which DNS provider(s) Freedome uses.

[Deleted User]

Hi Agathon,

 

The DNS queries from the computer/phone/tablet should be going to the DNS server hosted within the Freedome gateway the user is connected to. It certainly shouldn’t go to Google’s DNS.

Most likely, something else has configured the DNS settings on the device to point to Google’s DNS. However, even if the DNS traffic would seem to go to 8.8.8.8 on the device, it will anyway go to our DNS server on the Freedome gateway as we take over all the traffic destined to port 53 regardless the address.