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I think the issue here is a little more nuanced than right hand vs left hand, etc... Incognito was developed as a feature to hide your browsing history back whe
by deelowe 6y ago
I think the issue here is a little more nuanced than right hand vs left hand, etc... Incognito was developed as a feature to hide your browsing history back when all users having individual accounts on a computer was much more rare. It wasn't developed in a world where "privacy" meant what it typically means today.
Things have changed and perhaps Google should have changed as well, but to paint this as some sort of nefarious plot is a bit disingenuous.
- josefx 6y agoIncognito seems to be a bad name for what it does. Maybe Alzheimers mode would be better suited to describe the local forgetfulness without implying an attempt to hide the users identity.
- TeMPOraL 6y agoThe common name for it is "porn mode". It communicates the design goal very well: the point is to hide the fact you're visiting some pages from other people who may be using the same computer.
- slowmovintarget 6y agoEveryone was too embarrassed to admit this was the origin of the feature. Fast-forward a few decades, and people are shocked that what was a euphemism doesn't honestly describe how the feature works.