It seems that Google Chrome’s Incognito mode is not so incognito after all. Google has decided to do some spring cleaning and will delete “billions of data records” it collected from users who thought they were browsing without leaving a trace. This decision is part of a settlement (reported by WIRED) reached in a class-action lawsuit dating back to 2020, and puts an end to years of questionable practices by the tech giant.
According to the agreement, Google must update the welcome page of Incognito mode to tell you, without beating around the bush, that Google and third-party websites can still collect your data, regardless of whether you are in Incognito mode or not, or if you use a different browser.
In addition, there is good news for those who care about their privacy: Google will delete some of the data it had collected, including “private browsing data” that is “more than nine months old” from the date Google signed the terms sheet of the agreement last December, as well as private browsing data collected throughout December 2023.
The spokesperson for Google, Jose Castaneda, stated that the company “is pleased to remove old technical data that was never associated with an individual and was never used for any form of personalization“. In addition, he also pointed out that Google will have to pay “zero” dollars as part of the agreement, after previously facing a fine of 5 billion dollars.
However, even though we have finally discovered the truth about Chrome’s Incognito mode, some documents that discuss how Google collected that data are still under lock and key, so we don’t know exactly how thorough the cleanup was.
In addition to updating the welcome page, Google will continue to block third-party cookies in Incognito mode for five more years, it will have to partially hide IP addresses to prevent re-identification of anonymized user data, and remove certain information from headers that can currently be used to identify users with Incognito mode enabled.
