Google Updates Chrome Browser's Incognito Disclaimer, Here Is What Has Changed
Chrome's incognito mode lets users browse more privately. Users will still be able to access their bookmarks and reading list. Google says this will not change how data is collected by the browser.
Google has 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 reads.
AP
Original disclaimer on incognito mode
On the other hand, the original text read "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."
According to MS Power User, which first reported the development, the updated Incognito pages are live in the Canary version of Chrome on Android, Windows, and other platforms.
Google Chrome
Lawsuit against Google
The change comes weeks after Google agreed to settle a $5 billion privacy lawsuit alleging that it spied on people who used the incognito mode on Chrome browser and similar private modes in other browsers to track their internet use.
The class-action lawsuit filed in 2020 said Google misled users into believing that it wouldn't track their internet activities while using incognito mode. It argued that Google's advertising technologies and other techniques continued to catalog details of users' site visits and activities despite their use of supposedly ¡°private¡± browsing.
REUTERS
What data Google was collecting
They also claimed that Google's activities yielded an ¡°unaccountable trove of information¡± about users who thought they'd taken steps to protect their privacy.
The complainants also produced internal Google emails that demonstrated that users using incognito mode were being followed by the search engine giant for measuring web traffic and selling ads.
Chrome is the most popular web browser in the world and is used by over 3.22 billion users to access the internet.
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Bobins Abraham is the Assistant News Editor at Indiatimes. He has more than twelve years of experience in TV and digital journalism. An avid student of history and geopolitics, he is a conservationist and environmentalist at heart. He writes on environment, sustainability, human-animal conflict and more.
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