I set up SSH as a proxy server on my laptop when I'm on a public network, and configure Firefox to use the proxy by filling in the Manual Proxy config. If SSH is not running, I get this error message, as expected: "The proxy server is refusing connections" when I try to access any site EXCEPT Google. Google searches and access to Google.com always work, even when the proxy server is not up. That seems broken. When the proxy server IS up, Google searches do not appear to use it. Google is my default search provider. If I try to access Bing, Firefox acts as expected (no access when proxy is down, debug spew indicating new connections when proxy is up). If I change Bing to be the default search provider, the behavior of both remains the same (Bing uses proxy, Google does not). Why does access to Google (and only Google?) ignore the proxy settings? Are there other "magic" sites that would also ignore the proxy? I use the proxy because I want to protect my internet traffic when I'm on public networks, but if Firefox can randomly just ignore them for some sites but not others, how can I trust it?