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$5 billion Google lawsuit over ‘incognito mode’ tracking moves a step closer to trial
(www.theverge.com)
this post was submitted on 08 Aug 2023
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Privacy
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A place to discuss privacy and freedom in the digital world.
Privacy has become a very important issue in modern society, with companies and governments constantly abusing their power, more and more people are waking up to the importance of digital privacy.
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You’re missing the fact that Google is both the company behind the most popular browser used to access content on the internet and the most popular website on the internet. Their browser says incognito mode offers protections that their website then runs roughshod over. They’re the perfect company to sue over this because the website can’t shift blame to the browser and the browser can’t shift blame to the website.
That's the point of my comment. I won't say "don't sue Google", I'll say "sue Google, but actually read what it says when you open an incognito window". Offers protections against other people who use this device. And that's it.
Their browser doesn't say that it protects you from websites (including their own) tracking you.
Also, they consider it a problem if a website can detect if you're using incognito mode: https://www.blog.google/outreach-initiatives/google-news-initiative/protecting-private-browsing-chrome/
Having a signal sent to websites to tell them that you're in Incognito mode would make things worse for users and would probably work about as well to reduce tracking as the Do Not Track header.
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This is a good explanation, thanks.