Google Chrome is ignoring the need for anonymous browsing services such as Tor to route DNS queries through a proxy server. Instead, it is routing queries from the local network, giving away the identity and location of computers that the users think are anonymous.

Tor, developed by MIT academic Roger Dingledine, is an anonymous browsing service that passes packets - including DNS queries - through a series of participating anonymous browsing servers in a bid to hide their identity from network snoopers. A computer making a request via the service sends a DNS request - which resolves a domain name to an IP address - through this system. This hides the originating address of the DNS query. However, if the DNS query is made directly from the network, the identity is visible.

There are suggestions on the Google developer site that the issue may be caused by the Google Chrome DNS pre-fetching service, which is designed to speed up web requests. Some commenters are reporting that the DNS exposure happens only when this service is turned on, while others suggests that it happens regardless when using Google Chrome.

Tor is available for use with other browsers. There are plug-ins for the open source Firefox browser, for example.