An email leak from an employee working in Google has confirmed that the so called ‘Incognito Mode’ offered by the web search giant on its Chrome browser is useless as it doesn’t serve the intended purpose.
A consumer lawsuit has been filed on this note in Oakland, California and the judge will review it and might impose a hefty penalty accounting to billions on the internet juggernaut if/when found guilty.
If we go deep into the details, the incognito mode was supposed to wipe off all the search history as soon as the user exited the browser, thus keeping them private when they access the web through a shared device.
But in reality, the logo with spectacles, moustache and a hat compiled by Google for private browsing was deceptive and did not serve the purpose.
It was proved in the year 2018 through an employee email leak that Google still keeps the browsing history of consumers using Incognito mode and might also sell the details to advertisers behind the screens.
The leaked email from a Google Engineer (now a former employee) clearly states that the company can keep a tab of things that were happening in Incognito mode and so doesn’t serve the purpose of offering complete privacy to users.
Now the details have re-surfaced online as the lawsuit filed as a case of public interest is fast approaching the data of final hearing.
If, in case, the Alphabet Inc’s subsidiary is found guilty, it might be liable to pay billions to consumers.
NOTE- Interestingly, after reacting to a few discussions on Twitter last year, the global marketing chief Lorraine Twohill of Google reportedly emailed CEO Sundar Pichai on the occasion of International Data Privacy Day urging him to bring some consumer favorable rules that make incognito private in reality…. now what does that mean? The same email was somehow recorded as evidence and will be presented in the courtroom before the judge in Oakland, California.
