To be fair to Google, Chrome is not the only browser with limited privacy. Images of spies and a few short lines about blocking cookies may not give you the entire story. What Google says is clear can seem somewhat vague and misleading to others. “We’ve been clear about how it works and what it does.”Ĭhrome has had a privacy option since 2008, but it wasn’t until 2015 when Google changed it to incognito mode and introduced the now-famous spy guy icon. “Incognito mode offers users a private browsing experience,” Google’s spokesperson, Jose Casteneda, said in a company statement. Google disagreesĭespite lawsuits, internal employee emails, and a public unhappy with the appearance of being misled, Google insists we’ve all got it wrong. Fingerprinting makes the mode practically useless. They assign you a code, and then follow you around the internet, collecting data on everything you do.Ĭhrome’s incognito mode cannot stop that. The combination of browser, computer, ISP, location, social media accounts in which you remain logged in, and other individually unique identifiers gives a site enough information to build a profile about you. They’re increasingly using browser fingerprinting to track you around the internet. Instead, it deletes any cookies that may have been installed while you were surfing, and only after you close incognito mode.īut sites don’t need cookies to track you. Google Chrome’s incognito mode does not block cookies completely. Google Chrome incognito cannot protect you, even on your own device. They can even log your keystrokes and figure out your passwords to your social sites. If you’re using your workplace Wi-Fi, then your boss can potentially see what you’re doing on your own phone. However, this doesn’t end with employer-provided computers. They can access a complete history of every site you visited. While Google claims incognito mode prevents others from seeing websites you visited, this doesn’t extend to your employer. If you’re surfing incognito at work, your network admins are able to see exactly what you’re doing. Imagine the juicy details they’ve gleaned from your incognito adventures. This data included real-time user locations, web-surfing habits, sexual preferences, and other sensitive information, which was then sold to third parties. So why would your internet company care what you do online? Money, of course.īleeping Computer reported in 2021 that a Federal Trade Commission report found ISPs were collecting and selling user data. However, your ISP is not obligated to do this. They’ll send a letter to their customer warning them that the movie or song they downloaded was illegal. ISPs often do the initial dirty work for record labels and movie studios when someone pirates their intellectual property. Your internet service provider can also see what you’re doing. It’s not only Google tracking you when you switch to incognito mode in Chrome. Another compared the spy guy to Homer Simpson’s Guy Incognito doppelganger from an episode of the cartoon. “We need to stop calling it Incognito and stop using a spy guy,” One Google employee said in an email thread. That’s because Google continues to track everything you’re doing, incognito mode be damned.īloomberg uncovered Google employee emails, where engineers swapped jokes with each other about incognito mode. The first line of text reads: “Now you can browse privately.”īut it turns out you cannot browse privately, and that spy guy is actually a double-agent, spying on you. When you open incognito mode in Chrome, you’re met with a black screen featuring a cartoon icon of a spy-like hat and glasses. This Google Chrome feature may save you from malwareĭon’t roll your eyes - AI isn’t just another doomed tech fad (You can also access this option from the File menu on a Mac.Google has a great idea to fix your tab chaos in Chrome On Windows, it will be three line and on macOS, it will be three dots. You can spawn an incognito window by clicking the special menu in the top-right corner of the browser window. Google Chrome remains the most used browser on the market, and calls its private browsing mode "Incognito Mode". Related: How Private Browsing Works, and Why It Doesn't Offer Complete Privacy Google Chrome: Open Incognito Mode It isn't infallible, however, and while it will prevent information from being stored on your computer, it won't prevent your employer, Internet service provider, websites you visit, or the NSA for that matter, from collecting any information you transmit beyond your computer.Įvery browser has their own name for private browsing, and while accessing it is accomplished in practically the same way, there can be subtle differences from product to product. Private browsing is useful for covering your tracks (or rather, preventing any tracks from being made in the first place), among other things.
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