Why do you surf incognito?
According to a recent study(*), the reasons why people use Google in private browsing mode are mostly related to a desire to hide their activities from employers and school (a considerable percentage also cited the government) or the belief that they are better protected from malware. Users associate incognito with security and privacy features, thus thinking they are more protected and untracked.
(*) "Your Secrets Are Safe: How Browsers' Explanations Impact Misconceptions About Private Browsing Mode"-study conducted by the University of Chicago and Leibniz University Hannover
But now how do I tell you that these are just digital legends? I let you tell you directly from the opening screen of Chrome's incognito mode, which reads as follows:
Chrome will not save the following information:
Browsing history / Cookies and site data / Information entered in forms
Your activity may still be visible:
To the websites you visit/ To your employer or school/ To your Internet service provider
Translating: your online activities will be hidden from other people using the same device, but not from the network operator (e.g., precisely, your employer or school). Although in fact user history will not be stored and caches/cookies will not be saved, it will be possible for those with network privileges to trace your browsing and, crucially, preference data and interests of surfers will continue to be collected by Google.
No history, no cookies, no tracking: no trace in short. But is this really the case?
Eh no, unfortunately that is not the case at all! The home screen clearly tells us so.
Perhaps Google has not been very transparent about privacy, however, so much so that in America the big G has been sued by a group of users, united in a Class Action lawsuit for a sum of about $5 billion, accusing it of collecting browsing data without permission through its Chrome browser.
A Google spokesperson was quick to point out that "incognito does not mean invisible," calling for immediate archiving:
"... Chrome's Incognito browsing mode provides the ability to browse the Internet without activity being saved on the browser or device. As we clearly state whenever a new Incognito tab is opened, websites may be able to collect information about browsing activity during the session."
However, these explanations did not convince the federal judge, who dismissed the motion to dismiss, arguing that the company's efforts to inform users that tracking is not completely disabled were very weak, not adequate to the privacy-protection laws in force in California.
What, then, is the moral of this story?The issue of regulation and informed consent to the tracking and use of browsing data is beginning to emerge, a topic that is becoming increasingly topical and whose implications we cannot yet imagine.
So we have come to realize that incognito surfing is not that dearest friend to whom we can confide our secrets: to achieve true private and anonymous surfing, we need to rely on a good VPN (Virtual Private Network), even better if it is shielded from the prying eyes of employers or school professors!
Francesca Vanolo
Web Marketing and Social Media Ambassadors - Digital Innovation Days