Google and The Incognito Myth
On April 1 2024, Google agreed to settle a lawsuit by destroying billions of data records collected from Incognito mode. The lawsuit alleged that Google was secretly tracking the internet use of people who thought they were browsing privately.
Incognito mode is a setting for web browsers that don’t keep records of the web pages visited. Every browser has a different name for the setting. In Chrome, it’s called Incognito Mode; in Microsoft Edge, it’s called InPrivate Mode; in Safari, it’s called Private Browsing, and in Firefox, it’s called Private Mode. These private browsing modes don’t save your browsing history, cached pages, or cookies, so there’s nothing to delete–or so Chrome users thought.
The class action, filed in 2020, covered millions of Google users who used private browsing since June 1, 2016. Users alleged that Google’s analytics, cookies, and apps allowed the company to improperly track people who used Google’s Chrome browser in “Incognito” mode as well as other browsers in “private” browsing mode. The lawsuit accused Google of misleading users about how Chrome tracked the activity of anyone who used the private “Incognito” browsing option.
In August, Google paid $23 million to settle a long-running case over giving third parties access to user search data. Internal Google emails brought forward in the lawsuit demonstrated that users using incognito mode were being followed by the search and advertising company for measuring web traffic and selling ads. It alleged that Google’s marketing and privacy disclosures didn’t properly inform users of the kinds of data being collected, including details about which websites they viewed.
The plaintiff’s lawyers described the settlement as a momentous step in demanding honesty and accountability from big tech companies regarding data collection and use. Under the settlement, Google is not required to pay damages, but users may individually sue the company for damages.
