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The paper is wrong when it says incognito mode only ensures your browser history is not stored. It also ensures that any session cookies are not shared between

The paper is wrong when it says incognito mode only ensures your browser history is not stored. It also ensures that any session cookies are not shared between private mode / regular mode. Obviously that doesn't rule out other browser fingerprinting methods of course (see panopticlick, evercookies, etc) Edit: It seems like they are saying you can be tracked within incognito mode sessions? That seems pretty obvious. I don't understand why this is surprising. Isn't the whole risk here that you could have your porn browsing habits tied to your "real" identity? (i.e. your facebook/google/twitter identities). It doesn't really bother me that Google is aggregating porn browsing habits if they can't tie that to my real identity.

FabHK 7y ago
> between private mode / regular mode Or within private mode. (I use private mode by default, and anytime I open a new tab, I need to log into HN again).
- novaRom 7y ago
  In Firefox on desktop you can use a container just for HN, another for Reddit, etc.
- baud147258 7y ago
  That's not the case for Chrome, cookies are shared by all the tabs.
dao- 7y ago
Also, private browsing in Firefox blocks known trackers by default.
- saagarjha 7y ago
  Enhanced Tracking Protection is now on by default even when not in private browsing.
  - magicalist 7y ago
    > Enhanced Tracking Protection is now on by default even when not in private browsing. Only for new installs. For existing installs it'll be "in the coming months" (I believe around the Firefox 70 timeline, though that could slip).
SmirkingRevenge 7y ago
I agree its not quite as concerning if your habits are only coalesced in an anonymous profile, but... The matching engines will keep matching on. You can't ever slip up, even once. If you leak any sort of signal, its all for naught - and the matching engines may be able to use that signal to link that anonymous collection of habits back to a real resolved identity.

FabHK 7y ago

> between private mode / regular mode Or within private mode. (I use private mode by default, and anytime I open a new tab, I need to log into HN again).

novaRom 7y ago
In Firefox on desktop you can use a container just for HN, another for Reddit, etc.
baud147258 7y ago
That's not the case for Chrome, cookies are shared by all the tabs.

dao- 7y ago

Also, private browsing in Firefox blocks known trackers by default.

saagarjha 7y ago
Enhanced Tracking Protection is now on by default even when not in private browsing.
- magicalist 7y ago
  > Enhanced Tracking Protection is now on by default even when not in private browsing. Only for new installs. For existing installs it'll be "in the coming months" (I believe around the Firefox 70 timeline, though that could slip).

SmirkingRevenge 7y ago

I agree its not quite as concerning if your habits are only coalesced in an anonymous profile, but... The matching engines will keep matching on. You can't ever slip up, even once. If you leak any sort of signal, its all for naught - and the matching engines may be able to use that signal to link that anonymous collection of habits back to a real resolved identity.