Google Is Finally Deleting Your Incognito Browsing Data: Here Is Why
Search engine giant Google has agreed to delete billions of data records, it had 'illegally collected' from users who thought they were browsing the internet privately.
Google agreed to "delete and/or remediate billions of data records" linked to people using the Chrome browser's incognito mode, as part of the settlement of a $5 billion lawsuit in the San Francisco federal court.
Privacy lawsuit against Google?
The suit was originally filed in June of 2020 alleging that the "Incognito Mode" in the Chrome browser gave users a false sense that what they were surfing online was not being tracked by the Silicon Valley tech firm.
However internal Google emails brought forward in the lawsuit demonstrated that users using incognito mode were being followed by the search and advertising behemoth for measuring web traffic and selling ads.
Google infringed on user privacy?
The lawsuit, filed in a California court, claimed Google's practices had infringed on users' privacy by intentionally deceiving them with the incognito option.
The original complaint alleged that Google had been given the "power to learn intimate details about individuals' lives, interests, and internet usage."
"Google has made itself an unaccountable trove of information so detailed and expansive that George Orwell could never have dreamed it," it added.
Block third-party cookies?
The settlement requires Google, for the next five years, to block third-party tracking "cookies" by default in Incognito Mode.
Third-party cookies are small files that are used to target advertising by tracking web navigation and are placed by visited sites and not by the browser itself.
New description on incognito mode??
Earlier this year, Google had updated the warning on its Chrome browser's?incognito mode, telling users that websites can still collect your data.
¡°Others who use this device won¡¯t see your activity, so you can browse more privately. This won¡¯t change how data is collected by websites you visit and the services they use, including Google. Downloads, bookmarks and reading list items will be saved," the new description on?Chrome's incognito mode read instead of the original text that stated "Now you can browse privately, and other people who use this device won¡¯t see your activity. However, downloads, bookmarks and reading list items will be saved."
For more news and current affairs from around the world, please visit?Indiatimes News.
