Summary
Last week, a California judge denied Google’s request to dismiss the lawsuit it is facing over data tracking that took place while users were using incognito mode. Here’s the rundown of where the case stands and a reminder of what incognito mode actually does.
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Transcript
Last week, a California judge refused to dismiss a lawsuit alleging that the incognito mode in Google’s Chrome browser violated the privacy of millions by tracking users anyway. Google will now have to defend incognito mode in court. Here’s the details on what to expect.
For Personal Tech Media, this is Two Minute Tech. I’m Jim Herman.
At the center of the issue is whether or not Google misled consumers by portraying incognito mode as a function that stopped the company from tracking your browsing activity. The judge said many of incognito mode’s visual symbols could lead users to believe that they were not being tracked, despite statements to the contrary present in the browser.
In the decision, the judge pointed to several statements in Google’s privacy policy that implied there were limits on what the company would collect. The judge also cited a Google pilot program that paid users for their data as evidence of a market for the browsing histories and other user activity collected.
If you previously thought that the incognito mode kept big tech from seeing your activity, you might wonder what incognito mode actually does. Incognito mode only stops your browser from saving evidence of where you’ve been. However, big tech still sees what you’re doing. Although incognito mode doesn’t use tracking cookies, Google can see your activity in many other ways, especially if you sign in to your account.
In February, I did a two-part series on this podcast explaining what incognito mode does and does not do. Links to those episodes will be available in the show notes.