4 ms·

Can you explain how Google tracks users in incognito mode outside of the websites they visit? If there's no client-side Chrome telemetry in incognito mode, why

Can you explain how Google tracks users in incognito mode outside of the websites they visit? If there's no client-side Chrome telemetry in incognito mode, why should Google be special-cased when all ad networks can do the same thing that Chrome caveats explicitly?

lamontcg 4y ago
> 2. Google's Alleged Collection of Plaintiffs’ Data > Plaintiffs allege that Google collects data from them while they are in private browsing mode "through means that include Google Analytics, Google ‘fingerprinting’ techniques, concurrent Google applications and processes on a consumer's device, and Google's Ad Manager." Id. ¶ 8. According to Plaintiffs, "[m]ore than 70% of all online publishers (websites) use one or more of these Google services." > Specifically, Plaintiffs allege that, whenever a user, including a user in private browsing mode, visits a website that is running Google Analytics or Google Ad Manager, "Google's software scripts on the website surreptitiously direct the user's browser to send a secret, separate message to Google's servers in California." Id. ¶ 63. This message includes six elements, each of which is discussed below. [...followed by a lot of detail on what gets tracked...] https://casetext.com/case/brown-v-google-llc https://casetext.com/case/brown-v-google-llc So there is client-side telemetry which completely de-anonymizes and geolocates you and Google tracks you in incognito mode everywhere that Google Analytics is deployed (~70% of the web). If you use incognito mode and visit porn sites that use Google Analytics, then Google has your complete de-anonymized porn surfing history in their databases. This is not what people are led to believe is happening by the incognito warning message.
- ryeights 4y ago
  > So there is client-side telemetry which completely de-anonymizes and geolocates you This is not supported by the quote you posted.
  - lamontcg 4y ago
    - ryeights 4y ago
      > whenever a user, including a user in private browsing mode, visits a website that is running Google Analytics or Google Ad Manager, "Google's software scripts on the website surreptitiously direct the user's browser to send a secret, separate message to Google's servers in California." Which part of this indicates that the Chrome client contains code giving Google special privileges to track users in incognito mode that other websites don’t have access to? >Google's software scripts on the website surreptitiously direct the user's browser is referring to JavaScript. Any other analytics platform could (and does) do the exact same thing.
    - Spivak 4y ago
      You claimed something was there, the burden is on you. The allegation is Google, through a combination of data collected from you Incognito browsing session and non-incognito data collected from other Google apps that happen to be running on the same device could be enough to deanonymize you. There is nothing at all alleging they use Chrome. Even the most egregious X-Client-Data header is called out as specifically as not sent in Incognito.
- belltaco 4y ago
  How is it client side telemetry when the exact same things would happen in edge, Firefox, Opera etc. with or without private browsing turned on. All of what you listed has zero to do with Chrome.
  - twobitshifter 4y ago
    no, it wouldn’t because firefox and opera block cross site tracking.
- insanitybit 4y ago
  You're misreading or misunderstanding. It's not your fault, the plaintiff is taking great pains not to say "Google Chrome sends this data" and make it unclear.
  - BeefWellington 4y ago
    Ultimately though, it is Chrome sending the data to third party services. Firefox, Safari, et. al, do not permit these cross-site tracking requests.
    - insanitybit 4y ago
      They don't? How do they prevent javascript on a webpage making cross-site requests? That seems impossible.
grupthink 4y ago
Summary: - Google Chrome won't track you in Incognito mode. - Google Analytics javascript (if added by the webmaster to their site) will track you in any mode. So the lawsuit is saying, "Google promised us that Incognito would let us browse privately, but Google is still tracking us". To me, they're really muddying the waters here, because clientside Chrome doesn't track you, but, doubleclick on a website, will still track you. According to this lawsuit, Google's biggest sin is saying "Now you can browse privately..." but when you open Chrome Incognito it clearly says "Your activity might still be visible to websites/employer/ISP" Kind of a weak case for the plaintiff, and a weak article (engineers joked about the icon? and wanted to change the name? It's definitely a shitty name but this article makes it sound like this a smoking gun.)
ipaddr 4y ago
ChromeId https://www.theregister.com/2020/02/05/google_chrome_id_numbers/ https://www.theregister.com/2020/02/05/google_chrome_id_numb...

lamontcg 4y ago

> 2. Google's Alleged Collection of Plaintiffs’ Data > Plaintiffs allege that Google collects data from them while they are in private browsing mode "through means that include Google Analytics, Google ‘fingerprinting’ techniques, concurrent Google applications and processes on a consumer's device, and Google's Ad Manager." Id. ¶ 8. According to Plaintiffs, "[m]ore than 70% of all online publishers (websites) use one or more of these Google services." > Specifically, Plaintiffs allege that, whenever a user, including a user in private browsing mode, visits a website that is running Google Analytics or Google Ad Manager, "Google's software scripts on the website surreptitiously direct the user's browser to send a secret, separate message to Google's servers in California." Id. ¶ 63. This message includes six elements, each of which is discussed below. [...followed by a lot of detail on what gets tracked...] https://casetext.com/case/brown-v-google-llc https://casetext.com/case/brown-v-google-llc So there is client-side telemetry which completely de-anonymizes and geolocates you and Google tracks you in incognito mode everywhere that Google Analytics is deployed (~70% of the web). If you use incognito mode and visit porn sites that use Google Analytics, then Google has your complete de-anonymized porn surfing history in their databases. This is not what people are led to believe is happening by the incognito warning message.

ryeights 4y ago
> So there is client-side telemetry which completely de-anonymizes and geolocates you This is not supported by the quote you posted.
- lamontcg 4y ago
  - ryeights 4y ago
    > whenever a user, including a user in private browsing mode, visits a website that is running Google Analytics or Google Ad Manager, "Google's software scripts on the website surreptitiously direct the user's browser to send a secret, separate message to Google's servers in California." Which part of this indicates that the Chrome client contains code giving Google special privileges to track users in incognito mode that other websites don’t have access to? >Google's software scripts on the website surreptitiously direct the user's browser is referring to JavaScript. Any other analytics platform could (and does) do the exact same thing.
  - Spivak 4y ago
    You claimed something was there, the burden is on you. The allegation is Google, through a combination of data collected from you Incognito browsing session and non-incognito data collected from other Google apps that happen to be running on the same device could be enough to deanonymize you. There is nothing at all alleging they use Chrome. Even the most egregious X-Client-Data header is called out as specifically as not sent in Incognito.
belltaco 4y ago
How is it client side telemetry when the exact same things would happen in edge, Firefox, Opera etc. with or without private browsing turned on. All of what you listed has zero to do with Chrome.
- twobitshifter 4y ago
  no, it wouldn’t because firefox and opera block cross site tracking.
insanitybit 4y ago
You're misreading or misunderstanding. It's not your fault, the plaintiff is taking great pains not to say "Google Chrome sends this data" and make it unclear.
- BeefWellington 4y ago
  Ultimately though, it is Chrome sending the data to third party services. Firefox, Safari, et. al, do not permit these cross-site tracking requests.
  - insanitybit 4y ago
    They don't? How do they prevent javascript on a webpage making cross-site requests? That seems impossible.

grupthink 4y ago

Summary: - Google Chrome won't track you in Incognito mode. - Google Analytics javascript (if added by the webmaster to their site) will track you in any mode. So the lawsuit is saying, "Google promised us that Incognito would let us browse privately, but Google is still tracking us". To me, they're really muddying the waters here, because clientside Chrome doesn't track you, but, doubleclick on a website, will still track you. According to this lawsuit, Google's biggest sin is saying "Now you can browse privately..." but when you open Chrome Incognito it clearly says "Your activity might still be visible to websites/employer/ISP" Kind of a weak case for the plaintiff, and a weak article (engineers joked about the icon? and wanted to change the name? It's definitely a shitty name but this article makes it sound like this a smoking gun.)

ipaddr 4y ago

ChromeId https://www.theregister.com/2020/02/05/google_chrome_id_numbers/ https://www.theregister.com/2020/02/05/google_chrome_id_numb...