Google admits to tracking in "Incognito" mode

[Rod]

No surprises here; "In December, Google settled a $5 billion privacy lawsuit, which alleged that it spied on people who used Chrome's private browsing — or 'Incognito' — mode".
In reality all Google's privacy mode does is ensure that none of your browsing history, cookies, site data or any information entered in forms is saved on your device thus protecting your privacy from any other user on the same device. That's it!

"The privacy lawsuit claimed tracking users in "Incognito" mode "allows Google to offer better, more targeted, advertisements to users".
It argued that this was "the core of Google's business", with the tech company generating billions in revenue from its advertising business each year, and that Google sold data that was collected from private browsing sessions.

The upshot of all this is that Google's Chrome web browser will soon include a warning that "private" browsing does not prevent users from being tracked.
It's clear that that terms like privacy and private browsing are "ambiguous" with no fixed definitions and they vary from one developer to another. Firefox, a so called privacy-focused web browser, explicitly states that its private browsing mode "doesn’t make you anonymous" when a private window is opened. So, it comes back to us, the user to do the research and be aware of the fickle nature of some claims when based on our definition of "private".

 

[IWT]

If a member wants the best degree of anonymity, then a top-class VPN is essential and the search engine should be DuckDuckGo.

Personal view, of course.

Ian

 

[Raz0rEdge]

Those are all good for others to not track you, but if your browser is tracking you, there isn't a whole lot you can do make yourself anonymous in that case.

 

[Groovetube]

and then there's your ISP tracking and selling your activity as well.

 

[Raz0rEdge]

and then there's your ISP tracking and selling your activity as well.

That's easily bypassed by employing a VPN and using a different DNS.

 

[Groovetube]

True, though how many people actually use a vpn, I’d guess a minority. And I’m enough of a skeptic that perhaps isps could eventually sniff successfully given they own the hardware you access online with.

I don’t do anything that I’d care enough I suppose, but I’m annoyed by the ad thing.

 

[Raz0rEdge]

Folks are getting more and more savvy and using VPNs to protect themselves, so it's a bigger number than you think.

 

[Groovetube]

Perhaps last few years it’s growing. What’s interesting is I’m surrounded by really tech savvy people who all work online etc and I almost never hear any conversation about it. I know most use it working at companies, and perhaps more so since the pandemic and working from home became bigger.

I wonder what the isp response will be if it becomes far more prevalent as it’s a source of revenue for them. Maybe raise their prices (as we have some of the most expensive data rates in the world here in Canada already)

 

[ferrarr]

using a different DNS.

Where do you set that?

In macOS or the router?

 

[MacInWin]

Where do you set that?

In macOS or the router?

Open Settiings, Network and under the interface you use (WiFi or Ethernet, probably), and then "Details." On the left, select "DNS." You will see a list of DNS servers on the right. Something like 192.168.1.1, if your router uses 192.168.1.x for your network. You can put whatever you want. Google offers DNS service, as does CloudFlare and some others. Do an internet search for them. If you put 192.168.1.1 (assuming your network is set for 192.168.1.x) you will ask your ISP server for DNS services.

What does DNS do? DNS is "Domain Name Server" and is a key function of the internet. When you type in the address bar of your browser that you want to go to h t t p s : w w w . m a c - f o r u m s . c o m
then the DNS server looks up the numerical address of that site and starts the connection to it. (I had to put in extra spaces to keep the address from resolving to the actual website.) Of course, the DNS server knows where you asked to go, so that's why Ashwin said what he did.

If you use a VPN then when you connect to the VPN service, DNS gets you to the server, but once you are connected, the DNS server can no longer "see" where you are going from there as the lookup now shifts to whatever the VPN services uses. Good VPNs mask who is asking for what, so nobody, theoretically, knows you asked for " h t t p s : w w w . m a c - f o r u m s . c o m." That's part of the value of VPNs. Also, good ones use encrpytion in the communications, so that even if your ISP listens in, they cannot decrypt what your are sharing with the VPN server. The server then connects to wherever you wanted to go and masks who is actually asking for that connection (your internet address), and lets the traffic through, again encrypting to you.

VPNs do take a toll on speed, given what they have to do. But if you do online banking, or travel, or use public hotspots a lot, a good VPN will definitely make you more secure.

 

[Raz0rEdge]

I do it at the Mac level, but if you set it up at the router level then all devices on your network will benefit.

 

[Groovetube]

I just was reading that VPN use is almost half of users now? Have I slept through this? Why don't I hear more chatter on this?

Im kind of curious about one thing though, now that many sites have converted to secure 128bit encryption, doesn't that make VPNs redundant? As traffic between you and the site is encrypted? How is the VPN more encrypted? (I only understand secure server connections, but admittedly very little about VPN)

EDIT: just found an explanation between the the two. What is everyone using then for VPN?

 

[Raz0rEdge]

The discussion of VPN is separate from this thread and has been discussed a lot on these forums, so please search first so that we can stay on topic.

 

[Rod]

Just to answer Groovetube’s question; I have been using Express VPN for 5 years now. It’s expensive but it’s the best I’ve found after trying several close competitors over the years. I’m sure a search will reveal more on this topic.

 

[Groovetube]

Thx Rod. I did see that as highly rated.

sorry to go off topic i guess ill ask around. VPN is too short a term to search.

 

[Rod]

Thx Rod. I did see that as highly rated.

sorry to go off topic i guess ill ask around. VPN is too short a term to search.

No problem, it's closely associated and this is the Security Awareness section.

 

[Rod]

Groovetube, here is a reasonable web page on VPN's and their various capabilities. The three top rated by TechRadar pretty much align with other similar sites and despite being a long time user of Express VPN I have tried the other two; NordVPN and Surfshark fairly recently in an attempt to finder a cheaper alternative to unblock streaming services and restricted content abroad for TV.
In the end I ended up creating a new Express VPN account for Android as I was already at my device limit (you get 5 devices with one Express VPN account).

The best VPN service in 2024

I've spent over 3,000 hours testing the best VPNs on the market.

www.techradar.com

 

[Groovetube]

Much appreciated I’ll check this out thanks!

 

[IWT]

That's a great site you linked for us Rod.

One thing on which we are most likely to agree is - don't even contemplate a "Free" VPN. Just think - how do they cover their costs, let alone make a profit?

Ian