hmm, well yes and no. > If you’re in basic browsing mode, your data is still stored locally. The problem is that you no longer get to decide which mode you’re

hmm, well yes and no. > If you’re in basic browsing mode, your data is still stored locally. The problem is that you no longer get to decide which mode you’re in. But yes you do! Don't use gmail and you will remain in basic mode. I get the author's point, but he seems to want to have his cake and eat it too. If you're using gmail, Google already owns a very very significant part of your personal data, enough that you should be worried about it. If you don't trust Google to treat your cookies and other web-data with proper controls, then you shouldn't trust Google to manage your email either. So from a principled perspective, yeah it's a step backwards for sure. But from a practical perspective, it isn't nearly as substantial. I for one did find this new misfeature useful -- because Chrome signin and sync are buggy as hell. I get logged out all the time for no apparent reason. Loading gmail (usually without a new signin) re-signs me into Chrome now. I am not going to switch browsers based on this slide in user privacy from Google. They already suck wrt user privacy and this isn't that significant for me (as a gmail user). Chrome is still much better than FF for me. And come on, FF has had its own privacy flubs as well. didn't they force pocket on everyone? If you switch browsers everytime one of the vendors makes a misstep, there are going to be no more browsers to choose from, save elinks. Still, here's hoping someone writes an extension or figures out how to block sign-in at a network level.