Incognito Mode hasn’t been as private as we all thought: In a recent legal settlement, Google has committed to scrubbing away “bns of data records” gathered from users in Chrome’s Incognito mode, tech journal Wired reports. The revelation sheds a glaring light on Chrome’s limitations when it comes to safeguarding user privacy.

Quick recap: One of the staple elements of Google Chrome browser since 2008, Incognito is branded as a web browser mode that doesn’t keep a record of the pages that its users visit. The so-called private browser has been facing a USD 5 bn lawsuit since 2020 for collecting private data that made it an “ unaccountable trove of information.”

The details: Data that Google hoarded on Incognito users will be deleted, including older “private-browsing data” as well as records it collected in December 2023 — but the full extent of the cleanup remains murky due to sealed documents.

More transparency from here on out? As part of the agreement, Google faces the imperative to revamp the Incognito mode experience. No more dancing around the issue — users will now be informed while using the browser that Google takes data from third-party websites “regardless of which browsing or browser mode you use,” and that “third-party sites and apps that integrate our services may still share information with Google.”

Other future safeguards: Google has also committed to blocking third-party cookies in Incognito mode for five years.

Tags: