Monitoring even in Incognito mode

Google Chrome's incognito mode is a supposedly private browsing session that prevents the browser from saving history, cookies or information entered in forms. However, as argued in a class action lawsuit filed against Google in California (USA). In 2020, incognito mode wouldn't be as private as it should be, as it would continue to track user data by collecting device data or IP addresses.

Among the evidence presented in the lawsuit, it stands out that the company itself urged, in a circular addressed to the president of Alphabet, to make the incognito mode truly private, since the current model was imprecise and required confusing language to describe it. In December 2023, an agreement was reached and the company would have started the procedures to clarify the collection of data in this mode by updating the disclaimer.

In this way, the disclaimer of the first paragraph is modified by activating incognito mode and it is clarified that websites can collect data and track our online activity. The new version of the text will look something like this: “others using this device won't see your activity, so you can browse more privately. This won't change the way data is collected by the websites you visit and the services you use, including Google. Downloads, favorites, and reading list items will be saved.”

The text itself, which is not yet available in the original version of Chrome, also indicates that browsing history, cookies and even website data will be saved. Likewise, the text of the previous version is maintained, which does not rule out that the online activity is visible to websites, but also to the employer in the case of a corporate computer and even to the internet service provider.