Incognito mode not safe! Lawsuit against Google: S Pichai to Testify

Are you a regular user of Incognito mode in Google? There might be some danger for your private data.

Incognito or Private browsing mode says we can browse privately and the company won’t save any data of the user. We believe in this. But, is Google true to its words? Let’s dive deep and see the reality.

Everybody needs their private space on the Internet and that is when Google users turn to the Incognito mode for a more personal browsing experience. Though most of the users use this mode to stop browser history logging, there are many other privacy perks that Google promises us. They say that the user’s browser history will not be saved on Chrome, they say that Cookies and Site data will not be saved by the browser, and also information entered into forms are totally private. These words from Google are tricky and our understanding of the company’s statement differs from theirs.

The problem with Google tracking users on Incognito mode started in 2019. Sundar Pichai was notified about the misleading privacy policies that Google provides. But Pichai did not want Incognito mode “Under the spotlight” at that time. Now, this issue has blown up and Google is under pressure to answer all the allegations.

On June 2nd, 2020, Chason Brown filed a complaint on Alphabet Inc, the parent company of Google, in the U.S. District Court in San Jose, California. The problem with the tech giant is simple. Google continues to track and save users’ data even when they are using the Incognito mode on Google Chrome. This will sound more upsetting if you know what all Google still collects from you on Incognito.

On Incognito, the duplicate GET request records, IP addresses of the user’s connection to the internet, User ID’s, location details, other fingerprint data, and cookies are all collected and saved by the company. This clearly shows that Google is tracking its users even after promising privacy on Incognito mode.

Google has tried to escape this as it wanted the court to let aside this complaint on them but Judge Koh denied this request by Google in March 2020.

Google’s Spokesman, José Castañeda says that the company has done its best to cooperate with the plaintiff’s numerous requests. It is also important for us to note that Google was trying to save Sundar from testifying, by saying that this problem can be addressed better by employees who work directly on the Chrome browser. The latest news is that Sundar Pichai has to answer the questions of a California Judge for 2 hours. We can just believe that this will bring in more clarification.

Before we end this, there is a question. Are you a person who is more likely to use the Chrome Incognito Mode for privacy? The situation tells us that it is time to look out for better browsers that give better respect to privacy.