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If there is a law against Google collecting analytics data, then it's going to be illegal whether in incognito mode or not. That would be the situation with tre
by asdfasgasdgasdg 6y ago
If there is a law against Google collecting analytics data, then it's going to be illegal whether in incognito mode or not. That would be the situation with trespassing. There's a law against it.
But there is no such law against collecting browsing data. So there has to be some other legal theory under which Google would be liable. One example would be deceptive practices or fraud, where Google says one thing then does another. Unfortunately, we don't have the full text of the complaint yet as far as I can tell. But your "that's not how the law works" dismissal is actually going to be totally irrelevant to the complaint, because there's no legal comparison between trespassing and collecting browsing data.
- wegs 6y agoWith trespassing, if I cross your lawn, I'm probably okay. If I cross your lawn and there's a "no trespassing" sign or a fence, I'm probably not okay. It's vague. There are equivalent laws for technology. For example, you have the confusingly vague CFAA. If I've indicated to you that I don't want you grabbing files from my computer, and you do, you've likely broken it. It's even called digital trespass. On the other hand, if you have a public FTP server up, I can grab files. If you have a public FTP server up, and you've told me I'm not permitted to access it in person, or in an automated banner, or in an automated banner which my browser never shows me, things get legally complex. Pretending "private browsing" or "incognito mode" doesn't act like such a sign isn't very honest. Google disclaims this information might be visible to web sites, which is honest, but most indications are given that it's intended to help screen some of that. Intentionally working around incognito mode is almost certainly at least somewhat illegal.