If you still think Google Chrome’s Incognito Mode is a good way to protect your privacy online, now is a good time to stop.
Google has agreed to delete “billions of data records” the company collects when users browse the web using Incognito mode, according to documents filed in federal court in San Francisco on Monday. The agreement, part of a class-action settlement filed in 2020, ends years of disclosures about Google practices that revealed how much data the tech giant stole from users — even when they were in private browsing mode.
Under the terms of the settlement, Google must further update the Incognito mode “startup page” that appears when you open an Incognito mode Chrome window, having previously been updated in January. The Incognito launch page will clearly state that Google collects data from third-party websites “regardless of which browsing or browser mode you use” and stipulate that “third-party websites and apps that integrate our services may still share information with Google.” Among other changes. Details about Google’s private browsing data collection must also appear in the company’s privacy policy.
In addition, some data previously collected by Google about invisible users will also be deleted. This includes “private browsing data” from “more than nine months” since the date Google signed the settlement term sheet last December, as well as private browsing data collected during December 2023. Some of the documents in the case involve Google’s data collection methods, however, which remain sealed, making it difficult to assess the thoroughness of the removal process.
Google spokesman Jose Castaneda said in a statement that the company is “pleased to delete old technical data that is not personally associated and has never been used for any form of personalization.” Castaneda also noted that after previously facing a $5 billion fine, the company will now pay “zero” dollars as part of the settlement.
Other steps Google must take include continuing to “block third-party cookies in incognito mode for five years,” partially modifying IP addresses to prevent re-identification of anonymous user data, and removing certain header information that can currently be used to identify users while in incognito mode. Active status.
The data removal portion of the settlement follows preemptive changes to Google’s Incognito Mode data collection and the way it describes Incognito Mode’s capabilities. Google has been phasing out third-party cookies for nearly four years, and the company said it plans to block them entirely by the end of 2024. Google also updated Chrome’s Incognito Mode “startup page” in January, using weaker language to say that using Incognito mode is not “private,” but simply “more private” than not using it.
The settlement’s relief is strictly “injunctive,” meaning its core purpose is to end the Google activities that the plaintiffs claim are illegal. The settlement agreement does not exclude any future claims—wall street journal Attorneys for plaintiffs reportedly filed at least 50 such lawsuits in California on Monday, although plaintiffs noted that it is much more difficult to obtain monetary relief in privacy cases. Plaintiffs’ attorneys argue it’s important to make changes to Google now that will provide the greatest, most immediate benefit to the greatest number of users.
Critics of Incognito, a staple feature of the Chrome browser since 2008, say it offers little protection at best against the sophisticated commercial surveillance most users face today. At worst, they said, the feature could lull people into a false sense of security, helping companies like Google passively monitor millions of users who were tricked into thinking they were browsing alone.