Google WTF

[rousseau]

Well, clearing the cache cleared up the problem for a while yesterday, but today it's back. I turned off the VPN and indeed that's what's causing the problem. No VPN, Google works fine. VPN back on, Google fails.

Now I've had this particular VPN for a couple of years, and using Google forever, and there's never been a problem before. So why now?

One thing is certain is that Google likes to have a clear idea of who you are (who they're collecting data about), and I would imagine their underlying software not only tries to detect who you are, but is changing pretty consistently. Likely something changed in either Google's system, or on your VPN that is now tripping Google's wires.

If you were curious you could issue some searches to see if it's specific to the VPN you're using, or something broader. It's hard to say exactly what it is, but my guess is that your VPN is leaving some kind of trace that Google doesn't like. This is probably why clearing the cache fixed it temporarily - for a short time Google wasn't detecting your VPN until the issue came back.

 

[barbos]

Well, clearing the cache cleared up the problem for a while yesterday, but today it's back. I turned off the VPN and indeed that's what's causing the problem. No VPN, Google works fine. VPN back on, Google fails.

Now I've had this particular VPN for a couple of years, and using Google forever, and there's never been a problem before. So why now?

It's not you, it's your afghan VPN

 

[Cheerful Charlie]

Well, clearing the cache cleared up the problem for a while yesterday, but today it's back. I turned off the VPN and indeed that's what's causing the problem. No VPN, Google works fine. VPN back on, Google fails.

Now I've had this particular VPN for a couple of years, and using Google forever, and there's never been a problem before. So why now?

Perhaps heavy hacker traffic through the VPN that got it blacklisted. Malware command and control etc.

 

[ZiprHead]

I'm glad you got the what figured out, now comes the why.

I googled "google blocked when using vpn" and got lots of interesting responses.