While surfing privately Google earlier promised to ignore the browser history. Google Chrome’s incognito mode is a quick way to privately surf the web without leaving a trace in your browser history.
Now lawsuit against Google has now revealed that the company does track our usage even in incognito mode. Google has also quietly changed the page description of its incognito mode, which raises concern that private browsing may not be that private.
Google has been facing a $5 billion legal battle since 2020 where a group of users alleged that the Chrome browser continues to track data in incognito, which was misleading on their end.
Although the company did not admit to it in court, Google finally settled the matter by paying the sum to the complainants.
It looked like Google wanted to close this chapter at its earliest, which is why it went ahead and paid $5 billion without any admission of guilt. But instead, the company is now taking measures to avoid any legal battles over the same in the near future.
Key Details
In the latest version of Google Chrome for Windows, the page description of the incognito mode now reads – “Others who use this device won’t see your activity, so you can browse more privately. This won’t change how data is collected by websites you visit and the services they use, including Google“.
Here, the company is clearly admitting that Google can track some elements of your browsing usage even in incognito mode. Instead of improving the privacy of this mode, the company has chosen to update its description by clarifying that its private mode is not actually as private as one may think.
