Oh, according to the updated fine print, Chrome’s Incognito Mode is still collecting your data
In an effort to be more transparent with users, Google is clarifying the language in Chrome’s incognito mode disclaimer, saying in no uncertain terms that the company is indeed collecting your data.
An additional line has been added stating: “This does not change the way data is collected by websites you visit and the services they use, including Google.” The updated wording was initial discovered by tech news site MSPowerUser about the latest Chrome Canary update for desktop and mobile. We installed the browser on our devices to double check and we can confirm that the line is indeed there.
The bullet points below the disclaimer are largely the same. One of the headers now has a few extra words that say “Chrome is not storing the following information,” followed by the list instead of simply “Chrome is not storing the following information.”
Although not yet confirmed, the language update is likely the result of a recent lawsuit. In 2020, Google was hit with a $5 billion class action lawsuit, accusing the tech giant of collecting user data from “web browsers operating in private mode.” The company argued that every time someone opened an incognito tab, Chrome clearly let people know that other websites might be collecting information about users.
However, the judge presides over the case didn’t believe the argument stating “Google has never explicitly told users it does this”. The two parties involved ultimately reached a settlement on December 28, 2023 for an undisclosed amount.
Update pending
It’s unknown when the wording will make its way from Canary to the stable version of the browser.
If you’re not familiar with it, Canary is an experimental version of Chrome, primarily aimed at developers who want to try out upcoming features before they launch. It is not intended for the average person as it is unstable and can crash at random times.
Canary features may take a long time to launch, but since it’s only a few lines of text, we could see the Incognito mode refresh appear quite soon. According to a Ars Technica report from late Decemberthe settlement will have to be submitted to the court at the end of January. That court will have to approve the deal by the end of February.
So we might see the new wording sometime in March at the earliest. We’ve reached out to Google for more details. This story will be updated at a later date.
Please note that this does not change the behavior of the company. Information about you is still being collected. The only difference now is that Google is telling people it’s collecting data. To maintain online privacy, be sure to check out Ny Breaking’s massive list of the best privacy tools for 2024.