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> 2. Google's Alleged Collection of Plaintiffs’ Data > Plaintiffs allege that Google collects data from them while they are in private browsing mode "through m
by 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 agoYou 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 agoHow 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 agono, it wouldn’t because firefox and opera block cross site tracking.
- insanitybit 4y agoYou'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 agoUltimately 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 agoThey don't? How do they prevent javascript on a webpage making cross-site requests? That seems impossible.