7 ms·

'Secret agents' warning removed from Chrome incognito tab

146 points by shill 13y ago

deleted 13y ago
[deleted]
bestdayever 13y ago
Are you really trying to prop this up as some sort of conspiracy?
eli 13y ago
Maybe the joke just isn't funny any more.
- hayksaakian 13y ago
  Maybe it's not a joke?
  - line-zero 13y ago
    It was their way of warning us.
- cachichas 13y ago
  Great The Smiths song!
tptacek 13y ago
People had apparently been complaining for awhile (search for the bug thread on this); for instance: http://permalink.gmane.org/gmane.comp.web.chromium.bugs/181502 http://permalink.gmane.org/gmane.comp.web.chromium.bugs/1815...
- catshirt 13y ago
  on unreasonable grounds... >> Government surveillance is nothing to joke about i didn't consider it a joke, and i'll let the next one speak for itself: >> it isn't performed by secret agents, but via lawyers and engineers
  - 0xdeadbeefbabe 13y ago
    Offended by use of via.
    - saraid216 13y ago
      Orwell says that using Latin is evil.
      - 0xdeadbeefbabe 13y ago
        Now that makes sense.
        deleted 13y ago
        [deleted]
  - bo1024 13y ago
    If government surveillance isn't performed by secret agents, then clearly the secret agents joke has nothing to do with government surveillance.
    - wutbrodo 13y ago
      The quote is "surveillance by secret agents". Given that "secret agent employed by the gov't" is by far the most common usage of "secret agent", anyone fluent in English would parse the original warning as "government surveillance performed by secret agents". That isn't to say that I agree with the complaint, but your comment makes no sense.
      - bo1024 13y ago
        Sure, it was just meant to be a joke.
        wutbrodo 13y ago
        -_- my bad. I guess the fact that I took it seriously is testament to the fact that that kind of statement (said in all seriousness) is pretty common these days.
- anigbrowl 13y ago
  People will complain about anything. I, for example, am going to complain about this slight decline in my browser humor.
  - zeckalpha 13y ago
    Try NetPositive: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NetPositive#Error_messages_in_Haiku https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NetPositive#Error_messages_in_...
- deathhand 13y ago
  It was a disruption tactic: https://firstlook.org/theintercept/2014/02/24/jtrig-manipulation/ https://firstlook.org/theintercept/2014/02/24/jtrig-manipula...
  - nitrogen 13y ago
    Some of the comments after that article are rather bizarre. Sometimes I forget just how good the comment quality is on HN, even though it can get pretty bad.
- csoghoian 13y ago
  As one of the complainers (and the person who filed the bug you linked to), I'm happy to see Google make some progress here. I'm even happier to see that they hired Adrienne Felt, who is excellent, and are letting her improve the usability of Chrome's warnings.
  - shill 13y ago
    What are your feelings about the "Aw, Snap!" error message?
  - not_kurt_godel 13y ago
    So, uh, your complaint sucks. First, although it may have been interpreted jokingly by some, the text absolutely had a serious meaning behind it. Now that meaning is gone. Second, your suggestion of a link to the tor project is the real joke. Third, if you file a bug complaining about wording without suggesting a precise and usable alternative, you suck.
jcutrell 13y ago
This seems to happen a lot after a certain half life - all of the little quirky personality-showing additions get stripped over time in projects like this. Even happens in code comments too. Things slip through the cracks and go to production, and then everyone complains and then things with too much color get pulled.
- jeffcox 13y ago
  Software grows up too, for better or worse. I find this less surprising than nmap losing "...requires root privileges which you do not appear to possess. Sorry, dude."
  - TrainedMonkey 13y ago
    I think like people software should have character and history as long as they do not interfere with functionality. I am always a bit sad seeing either one go.
    - saraid216 13y ago
      If you come up with a way to make sure no one ever gets offended again, let us know. =/ We had to pull a Konami code easter egg from our website when a customer complained.
      - couchand 13y ago
        What a sad human they must be to know the Konami code but somehow not appreciate it.
        deft 13y ago
        I can imagine people being offended depending on what happened when the code was entered.
        saraid216 13y ago
georgemcbay 13y ago
Terrible change, IMO. Even if the older expanded list skewed a bit into jokey territory in the wording (which I think is fine, even for -- maybe especially for, the secret agent bit because jokes are a fantastic way to highlight injustices) it gave Joe Random user a much better idea of what things incognito won't protect him from than the new text does. The dividing line of protection incognito gives you may seem completely obvious to anyone reading HackerNews, but I assure you that it is non-obvious to my non-tech friends and family who tell me their new computer has "2 terabytes of memory".
- line-zero 13y ago
  I once had a conversation with someone about how Incognito Mode doesn't actually provide anonymity, and he said, "No, it's cool dude. I have my DSN [sic] set to 8.8.8.8 -- that makes you totally invisible online. It just makes it look like you're Google. Don't worry."
higherpurpose 13y ago
Here, have some Streisand effect, Google!
zenocon 13y ago
I bet the folks over at https://groups.google.com/a/chromium.org/forum/#!forum/chromium-dev https://groups.google.com/a/chromium.org/forum/#!forum/chrom... must get a good chuckle out the hysteria swarming over this
npdoty 13y ago
Interesting that this change from early December is being discussed now. A more recent commit (from @__apf__) in mid-December changes the text to, as the author puts it, "increase emphasis on what incognito doesn't provide". https://src.chromium.org/viewvc/chrome?view=revision&revision=240758 https://src.chromium.org/viewvc/chrome?view=revision&revisio...
xacaxulu 13y ago
Probably because government surveillance is completely expected now.
dbloom 13y ago
"Cookies are delicious delicacies" https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=213186 https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=213186
- Houshalter 13y ago
  So this is why Never-Ending Language Learner thought that computer files were baked goods. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Never-Ending_Language_Learning#Process_and_goals https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Never-Ending_Language_Learning...
gbog 13y ago
I for one welcome this change, on stylistic grounds. Browsers are used by many people around the world from all ages, all of what they tell to their users must be carefully edited to avoid misunderstandings and anything not necessary needs to be removed. A joke or half joke like that was prone to misunderstandings and unnecessary.
dsugarman 13y ago
it also won't protect you from bullying from people named incognito
ChrisAntaki 13y ago
Out of sight, out of mind
cordite 13y ago
If only this was a canary clause.

146 points by shill 13y ago

deleted 13y ago

[deleted]

bestdayever 13y ago

Are you really trying to prop this up as some sort of conspiracy?

eli 13y ago

Maybe the joke just isn't funny any more.

hayksaakian 13y ago
Maybe it's not a joke?
- line-zero 13y ago
  It was their way of warning us.
cachichas 13y ago
Great The Smiths song!

tptacek 13y ago

People had apparently been complaining for awhile (search for the bug thread on this); for instance: http://permalink.gmane.org/gmane.comp.web.chromium.bugs/181502 http://permalink.gmane.org/gmane.comp.web.chromium.bugs/1815...

catshirt 13y ago
on unreasonable grounds... >> Government surveillance is nothing to joke about i didn't consider it a joke, and i'll let the next one speak for itself: >> it isn't performed by secret agents, but via lawyers and engineers
- 0xdeadbeefbabe 13y ago
  Offended by use of via.
  - saraid216 13y ago
    Orwell says that using Latin is evil.
    - 0xdeadbeefbabe 13y ago
      Now that makes sense.
      - deleted 13y ago
        [deleted]
- bo1024 13y ago
  If government surveillance isn't performed by secret agents, then clearly the secret agents joke has nothing to do with government surveillance.
  - wutbrodo 13y ago
    The quote is "surveillance by secret agents". Given that "secret agent employed by the gov't" is by far the most common usage of "secret agent", anyone fluent in English would parse the original warning as "government surveillance performed by secret agents". That isn't to say that I agree with the complaint, but your comment makes no sense.
    - bo1024 13y ago
      Sure, it was just meant to be a joke.
      - wutbrodo 13y ago
        -_- my bad. I guess the fact that I took it seriously is testament to the fact that that kind of statement (said in all seriousness) is pretty common these days.
anigbrowl 13y ago
People will complain about anything. I, for example, am going to complain about this slight decline in my browser humor.
- zeckalpha 13y ago
  Try NetPositive: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NetPositive#Error_messages_in_Haiku https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NetPositive#Error_messages_in_...
deathhand 13y ago
It was a disruption tactic: https://firstlook.org/theintercept/2014/02/24/jtrig-manipulation/ https://firstlook.org/theintercept/2014/02/24/jtrig-manipula...
- nitrogen 13y ago
  Some of the comments after that article are rather bizarre. Sometimes I forget just how good the comment quality is on HN, even though it can get pretty bad.
csoghoian 13y ago
As one of the complainers (and the person who filed the bug you linked to), I'm happy to see Google make some progress here. I'm even happier to see that they hired Adrienne Felt, who is excellent, and are letting her improve the usability of Chrome's warnings.
- shill 13y ago
  What are your feelings about the "Aw, Snap!" error message?
- not_kurt_godel 13y ago
  So, uh, your complaint sucks. First, although it may have been interpreted jokingly by some, the text absolutely had a serious meaning behind it. Now that meaning is gone. Second, your suggestion of a link to the tor project is the real joke. Third, if you file a bug complaining about wording without suggesting a precise and usable alternative, you suck.

jcutrell 13y ago

This seems to happen a lot after a certain half life - all of the little quirky personality-showing additions get stripped over time in projects like this. Even happens in code comments too. Things slip through the cracks and go to production, and then everyone complains and then things with too much color get pulled.

jeffcox 13y ago
Software grows up too, for better or worse. I find this less surprising than nmap losing "...requires root privileges which you do not appear to possess. Sorry, dude."
- TrainedMonkey 13y ago
  I think like people software should have character and history as long as they do not interfere with functionality. I am always a bit sad seeing either one go.
  - saraid216 13y ago
    If you come up with a way to make sure no one ever gets offended again, let us know. =/ We had to pull a Konami code easter egg from our website when a customer complained.
    - couchand 13y ago
      What a sad human they must be to know the Konami code but somehow not appreciate it.
      - deft 13y ago
        I can imagine people being offended depending on what happened when the code was entered.
        saraid216 13y ago

georgemcbay 13y ago

Terrible change, IMO. Even if the older expanded list skewed a bit into jokey territory in the wording (which I think is fine, even for -- maybe especially for, the secret agent bit because jokes are a fantastic way to highlight injustices) it gave Joe Random user a much better idea of what things incognito won't protect him from than the new text does. The dividing line of protection incognito gives you may seem completely obvious to anyone reading HackerNews, but I assure you that it is non-obvious to my non-tech friends and family who tell me their new computer has "2 terabytes of memory".

line-zero 13y ago
I once had a conversation with someone about how Incognito Mode doesn't actually provide anonymity, and he said, "No, it's cool dude. I have my DSN [sic] set to 8.8.8.8 -- that makes you totally invisible online. It just makes it look like you're Google. Don't worry."

higherpurpose 13y ago

Here, have some Streisand effect, Google!

zenocon 13y ago

I bet the folks over at https://groups.google.com/a/chromium.org/forum/#!forum/chromium-dev https://groups.google.com/a/chromium.org/forum/#!forum/chrom... must get a good chuckle out the hysteria swarming over this

npdoty 13y ago

Interesting that this change from early December is being discussed now. A more recent commit (from @__apf__) in mid-December changes the text to, as the author puts it, "increase emphasis on what incognito doesn't provide". https://src.chromium.org/viewvc/chrome?view=revision&revision=240758 https://src.chromium.org/viewvc/chrome?view=revision&revisio...

xacaxulu 13y ago

Probably because government surveillance is completely expected now.

dbloom 13y ago

"Cookies are delicious delicacies" https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=213186 https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=213186

Houshalter 13y ago
So this is why Never-Ending Language Learner thought that computer files were baked goods. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Never-Ending_Language_Learning#Process_and_goals https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Never-Ending_Language_Learning...

gbog 13y ago

I for one welcome this change, on stylistic grounds. Browsers are used by many people around the world from all ages, all of what they tell to their users must be carefully edited to avoid misunderstandings and anything not necessary needs to be removed. A joke or half joke like that was prone to misunderstandings and unnecessary.

dsugarman 13y ago

it also won't protect you from bullying from people named incognito

ChrisAntaki 13y ago

Out of sight, out of mind

cordite 13y ago

If only this was a canary clause.