Why does my IP address become Google's IP address when using Chrome on the mobile?

Question

I am tracking every member's geolocation (using db-ip) and everything is fine except mobile phones with the Chrome browser.

They always give me the result US Mountain View California ip:66.249.xxx.xxx. This is Google; I am 100% sure about it. But the person who visits the website is myself.

I am not even in the US; I am using a local GSM ISP.

Why does my IP address become one of the Google's IP addresses when I use my mobile with the Chrome browser?

Solution

You have Data Saver turned on in the settings of Google Chrome. It proxies all your HTTP (not HTTPS or incognito) traffic through an optimisation server at Google to make the pages smaller.

Comments

[Admin]

Oddly enough, we ran into the same question on Super User: superuser.com/questions/1058935/…

[Admin]

It's like the old days of AOL where all their users appeared to come from Pennsylvania even when they were actually in the US.

[David Mulder]

Fair to note that this is an opt in service and off by default.

[ozgur]

@DavidMulder No it was "on" by default, in my case. I don't recall enabling it.

[David Mulder]

@ozgur You probably got a small card at the bottom of your page at one point asking whether you wanted to turn it on. Considering it's a single tap overlaying the website you actually want to visit I guess it might be relatively easy to forget. And I think the preference is synced in your Chrome mobile settings from previous phones as well, but not sure about that last part.

[ozgur]

@DavidMulder You might be right about that. But still, IMHO, it feels like default. People can forget about that they agreed for this service. Chrome should ask it at least once in a month for such a radical service (all my web surfing passes through Google servers). Actually I insist that Google should remind it to it's users.

[David Mulder]

@ozgur: Well, Opera did this for years and years and nobody even blinked an eye (you couldn't even turn this off on mobile). I think it's a great feature, though somewhat useless as more and more of the web is using HTTPS (which isn't compressed or passed through Google as it would require compromising the security).

[Derecho]

Looks off-by-default here on my devices. The official help doesn't state explicitly, but it does imply that it is off by default.

[Lightness Races in Orbit]

I'm with @ozgur. Just because (with HTTP) you're using a protocol that can be sniffed, doesn't mean you actually want people sniffing it, so it seems pretty unethical for a large, supposedly trustworthy organisation to do this so quietly/silently. I wonder what web surfing data they're collecting from all those Android phones? A periodic reminder is the least they should do if it's so easy to enable across all your devices. We seem to be sleepwalking into a nonsense world where "well if you didn't want to be burgled then you shouldn't have left your door unlocked" is a valid defence for theft.

[Lightness Races in Orbit]

@DavidMulder: The OP has no recollection of opting in. Clearly it's easy to "accidentally opt in" to this and not even realise. And you're the one who pointed out the setting can be synced across multiple devices (which I would hardly call "explicitly opting-in" on those devices). So, yes, that's a matter of concern. As for "every other setting", don't be so absurd; slippery slope arguments don't help anyone.

[David Mulder]

@BarryTheHatchet "Clearly it's easy to "accidentally opt in" to this and not even realise." the reason this is easily forgotten as it's a simply one of many settings you pick when setting up your phone the first time. "synced across multiple devices" it's a totally reasonable thing that if you buy a new phone you do not want to be set up all the settings from scratch. I have no idea how you are trying to make that a bad thing. "As for "every other setting", don't be so absurd" It was you who came up with the idea of reminding people about how they set up their own settings, not me.