Maybe relevant to many of us? 😅

Google settled a lawsuit that alleged the company broke privacy laws by secretly collecting users’ data through its “incognito” private browsing option on its Chrome web browser.

https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2023/12/google-agrees-to-settle-in-chrome-incognito-mode-class-action-lawsuit/

Google agrees to settle Chrome incognito mode class action lawsuit

Maybe relevant to many of us? 😅  Google settled a lawsuit that alleged the company broke privacy laws by secretly collecting users’ data through its “incognito” private browsing option on its Chrome web browser.  https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2023/12/google-agrees-to-settle-in-chrome-incognito-mode-class-action-lawsuit/

Todd Smith

Google will delete data it collected from users of the ostensibly private “incognito” browsing feature in its Chrome browser, according to lawyers representing consumer plaintiffs who alleged the company had deceived them.

https://www.theinformation.com/briefings/google-will-delete-billions-of-records-as-part-of-chrome-incognito-settlement?utm_campaign=%5BREBRAND%5D+%5BTI-AM%5D+Th&utm_content=1095&utm_medium=email&utm_source=cio&utm_term=124&rc=gzsl71

Google will delete data it collected from users of the ostensibly private “incognito” browsing feature in its Chrome browser, according to lawyers representing consumer plaintiffs who alleged the company had deceived them.  https://www.theinformation.com/briefings/google-will-delete-billions-of-records-as-part-of-chrome-incognito-settlement?utm_campaign=%5BREBRAND%5D+%5BTI-AM%5D+Th&utm_content=1095&utm_medium=email&utm_source=cio&utm_term=124&rc=gzsl71

Sam Mendoza

this.  This is not a programming issue, this is a consent issue and how consent is achieved. Incognito mode was sold as a more deliberate way to manage the information you provide websites with, yet Google doesn't treat it that way. The consumer when using incognito mode is deliberately removing consent of being tracked, and Google should respect that.

But Google muddled the waters making it sound better than the others, which is why they got into hot water. If they described incognito the same way other browsers describe their private mode, there wouldn't be such a strong case. Also, they argued something boneheaded: that people agree with their privacy policy independently of their choice of using private mode or not, which the court found that lacked consent. In other words, Google was arguing that connecting your incognito profile with your other profile was ok, because you agreed with your non-incognito profile for this to happen. @Bobby

Bobby

I guess I'm confused then because that's a function independent of incognito?

And I don't know the verbiage in chrome for that feature, but I always understood it as a function that websites can voluntarily support, but has no actual enforcement mechanisms.

I just don't see how you can make a lawsuit out of that without misunderstanding the feature.

I guess I'm confused then because that's a function independent of incognito?  And I don't know the verbiage in chrome for that feature, but I always understood it as a function that websites can voluntarily support, but has no actual enforcement mechanisms.  I just don't see how you can make a lawsuit out of that without misunderstanding the feature.

Product Hunt

The Information

Digital Wellness 📱🧘

Sci-Fi Fans

The court found that isn't that users misunderstand the feature. Is that Google deliberately made the feature advertise vaguely something that wasn't that (via their privacy policy), which consumers might construe a idea that Google chrome provides a privacy guarantee. Read the case, these people aren't horsing around, and Google might have to change their practices. (BTW, in court documents was found that Google asked their browser for some specific info that uniquely identify the browser even in private mode)

Todd Smith

A group of likeminded people in The Most Important Thing are talking about this.