4 ms·

The internal controversy seems to be that it doesn’t warn that your activity is still visible to Google (for ad targeting and conversion tracking). Which is arg

by wrs 4y ago

The internal controversy seems to be that it doesn’t warn that your activity is still visible to Google (for ad targeting and conversion tracking). Which is arguably much less obvious.

ikiris 4y ago
Reread what they said. The only thing incognito ever offered was not saving local history.
gruez 4y ago
That seems to be covered by "Your activity might still be visible to: Websites that you visit"?
- sooyoo 4y ago
  It's tracked by Google even if you never visit a page operated by Google. Non-Google websites that include Google tracking are contributing here (which is most of the web). The sentence you cite suggests that it's "just" such sites that see your activity, while it's a third party (Google) that does as well and that is the issue here. Sure, technically you could argue that the tracking is "part" of the website that you visit, so it's technically still "only" the site that's tracking you. But let's be honest here, no reasonable non-hair-splitting non-geek would read it that way.
  - thewebcount 4y ago
    Thank you for pointing this out. It's strange the contortions other posters here are going through to pretend that a normal person wouldn't understand that when Google tells you're in incognito mode, Google still tracks you. If I put Firefox in private mode, I'm pretty sure the Mozilla Foundation doesn't get to see a bunch of my activity. It's pretty simple.
    - deleted 4y ago
      [deleted]
    - sahila 4y ago
      But Google only tracks you if the website you visit belongs to Google or the website uses something Google Analytics. In either case, it's explicit in how Google gets your information. Is there other ways Google is tracking you in incognito mode? Additionally, there's other websites like Meta or things like Fullstory, segment, or really any third party tracking that gathers data in the same way GA does.
      - thewebcount 4y ago
        > or the website uses something Google Analytics Right, so only just about every website on the planet. > In either case, it's explicit in how Google gets your information. It's not explicit at all. The vast majority of users would not understand that's happening when they're in incognito mode.
        sahila 4y ago
        Curious, what would you have google do? Disable GA tracking when in incognito, and if so, how should they handle other tracking scripts? Possibly they could try to explain to the user what GA is, but I imagine if users don’t understand the internet already, this isn’t easy to explain.
      - kotlin2 4y ago
        But you’re also using a Google product that markets itself as allowing you to browse “incognito” and its own engineers admit it’s a terrible name because it’s super misleading. Basically, Google is trying to have its cake and eat it too.
- weare138 4y ago
  That's true regardless and not the issue. The issue is calling it 'Incognito Mode' and implying it offers the same privacy protection as other browsers' private modes, like Firefox's private mode for example, when in fact it doesn't. It's a standard feature on modern browsers and Google intentionally misled it's users that Chrome offered a comparable feature. Users had understandably assumed Chrome's privacy feature did in fact provide the same level of privacy they would expect from other modern browsers. It would be like me selling you new brakes for your car and telling you there is always a possibility brakes can fail when in fact they didn't work to begin with and would have never stopped your car. One is common sense advice, the other is fraud.
  - orangecat 4y ago
    What does Firefox's private mode do that Chrome's doesn't?
    - twobitshifter 4y ago
      block cross site trackers and scripts https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/enhanced-tracking-protection-firefox-desktop https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/enhanced-tracking-prote...
  - jsnell 4y ago
    Doesn't incognito mode predate Private Browsing in Firefox? Also, what's the distinction? The Firefox documentation doesn't make their feature seem particularly different: https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/common-myths-about-private-browsing https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/common-myths-about-priv... > Myth 1: Private Browsing makes you anonymous on the Internet > Reality: Private Browsing does not mask your identity or activity online.
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]
- sleepybrett 4y ago
  google tracks your incognito tabs just like it tracks normal tabs, without you even visiting google.com

by wrs 4y ago

The internal controversy seems to be that it doesn’t warn that your activity is still visible to Google (for ad targeting and conversion tracking). Which is arguably much less obvious.

ikiris 4y ago

Reread what they said. The only thing incognito ever offered was not saving local history.

gruez 4y ago

That seems to be covered by "Your activity might still be visible to: Websites that you visit"?

sooyoo 4y ago
It's tracked by Google even if you never visit a page operated by Google. Non-Google websites that include Google tracking are contributing here (which is most of the web). The sentence you cite suggests that it's "just" such sites that see your activity, while it's a third party (Google) that does as well and that is the issue here. Sure, technically you could argue that the tracking is "part" of the website that you visit, so it's technically still "only" the site that's tracking you. But let's be honest here, no reasonable non-hair-splitting non-geek would read it that way.
- thewebcount 4y ago
  Thank you for pointing this out. It's strange the contortions other posters here are going through to pretend that a normal person wouldn't understand that when Google tells you're in incognito mode, Google still tracks you. If I put Firefox in private mode, I'm pretty sure the Mozilla Foundation doesn't get to see a bunch of my activity. It's pretty simple.
  - deleted 4y ago
    [deleted]
  - sahila 4y ago
    But Google only tracks you if the website you visit belongs to Google or the website uses something Google Analytics. In either case, it's explicit in how Google gets your information. Is there other ways Google is tracking you in incognito mode? Additionally, there's other websites like Meta or things like Fullstory, segment, or really any third party tracking that gathers data in the same way GA does.
    - thewebcount 4y ago
      > or the website uses something Google Analytics Right, so only just about every website on the planet. > In either case, it's explicit in how Google gets your information. It's not explicit at all. The vast majority of users would not understand that's happening when they're in incognito mode.
      - sahila 4y ago
        Curious, what would you have google do? Disable GA tracking when in incognito, and if so, how should they handle other tracking scripts? Possibly they could try to explain to the user what GA is, but I imagine if users don’t understand the internet already, this isn’t easy to explain.
    - kotlin2 4y ago
      But you’re also using a Google product that markets itself as allowing you to browse “incognito” and its own engineers admit it’s a terrible name because it’s super misleading. Basically, Google is trying to have its cake and eat it too.
weare138 4y ago
That's true regardless and not the issue. The issue is calling it 'Incognito Mode' and implying it offers the same privacy protection as other browsers' private modes, like Firefox's private mode for example, when in fact it doesn't. It's a standard feature on modern browsers and Google intentionally misled it's users that Chrome offered a comparable feature. Users had understandably assumed Chrome's privacy feature did in fact provide the same level of privacy they would expect from other modern browsers. It would be like me selling you new brakes for your car and telling you there is always a possibility brakes can fail when in fact they didn't work to begin with and would have never stopped your car. One is common sense advice, the other is fraud.
- orangecat 4y ago
  What does Firefox's private mode do that Chrome's doesn't?
  - twobitshifter 4y ago
    block cross site trackers and scripts https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/enhanced-tracking-protection-firefox-desktop https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/enhanced-tracking-prote...
- jsnell 4y ago
  Doesn't incognito mode predate Private Browsing in Firefox? Also, what's the distinction? The Firefox documentation doesn't make their feature seem particularly different: https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/common-myths-about-private-browsing https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/common-myths-about-priv... > Myth 1: Private Browsing makes you anonymous on the Internet > Reality: Private Browsing does not mask your identity or activity online.
deleted 4y ago
[deleted]
sleepybrett 4y ago
google tracks your incognito tabs just like it tracks normal tabs, without you even visiting google.com