Whenever a person browses the internet using a browser his activities are tracked by the browser as well as the sites he visits.
This activity tracking is carried out by simple to implement cookies and scripts.
For some people this can be quite annoying as search engines and sites dish out ads and serve content based on a user's browsing history and usage.
So far going incognito has been the goto method to maintain anonymity and prevent being tracked by the sites and the browsers.
Google Chromes built in Incognito mode
The Incognito mode feature of the chrome browser has for long been the trusted method to block being tracked.
However recently it came to light that though the Incognito mode of the chrome browser protects a user from this site, this does not protect you from the prying eyes of google.
Apparently google does track a user even in the Incognito mode mode. This makes the Incognito mode less effective that blocks third party sites but keeps a user's activity accessible to google.
Recently google had to settle a 6 billion USD privacy lawsuit for tracking users illegally in the chrome browsers incognito mode.
After this lawsuit Google has started informing its users that they would be collecting user data even when the user has started up the chrome browsers incognito mode.
This information is shared as a disclaimer in the canary build of the google chrome browser.
The canary build is an early access version .
This version of the browser enables both the users as well as the developers to test the new features and the updates of the chrome browser before they are released in the stable build of the browser.
In the incognito mode a user would be able to browse privately and other people using that device would not be able to see the user's activity.
Still all the downloads, the bookmarks and the reading list items will be saved.
This would bring any change to how data is collected by the websites a user visits or the services that are used by them including google.
Earlier google had not disclosed their role in users data collection in the incognito mode.
The disclaimer does mean there is a change in google's stand about tracking users activity.
As it has been doing so for a long time.
Google in its part has only updated the disclaimer.
Use Chrome incognito mode with caution
If a user is using the incognito mode then caution is advised because google is always tracking your activities.
The purpose of this disclaimer about Chrome browsers incognito mode comes just before the final lawsuit agreement which is likely to come by February 2024.
Google is no stranger to such legal actions as it had also faced a class action lawsuit in 2020
For the same reason as it was collecting user data in chrome's incognito mode.
Those who are to avoid being tracked can opt for the brave browser or a more traditional looking DuckDuckGo browser which also has the function to add an extra layer of anonymity.
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