Google faces a $5 billion lawsuit in the U.S. due to tracking users in incognito mode

According to Reuters reports, the user recently initiated a class-action lawsuit against Google for compensation of US$5 billion. The lawsuit was because Google collected data in the incognito mode of the browser.

Under normal circumstances, the browser’s incognito mode does not record the user’s browsing history and browsing content, so it is relatively private for the user.

Most websites and mobile applications use scripts to count the number of times websites and applications are used. Of course, the addresses of web pages visited by specific users are also counted.

The most popular statistical tool is Google Analytics service. At least 99% of the websites are using Google Analytics’ service to count website visits, etc.

Although in the incognito mode of the browser, the browser itself will not feedback data to its developer, but in the incognito mode, the website will also load statistical code for tracking.

In other words, no matter what browser the user uses, and whether it is in normal mode or incognito mode, the visited URL will still be uploaded to the Google server.

Although the statistical data cannot be attributed to the specific identity of a specific user, the unique visitor ID set by Google for the user can aggregate all tracking data.

In addition to Google Analytics services, Google-provided products, such as advertising management systems, also collect such data, which makes the incognito mode seem less reliable.

Some users initiated a class-action lawsuit against Google on this privacy issue. These users demanded that Google compensate $5 billion.

These users believe that Google’s illegal collection of user information violates the United States Federal Anti-Eavesdropping and the California Privacy Act of the United States.

Some researchers think that the design of the incognito mode of the browser is not originally a high-security environment, so the use of the incognito mode is basically meaningless for anti-tracking.

For example, websites using incognito mode can still read device hardware information, generate canvas fingerprints, and collect user access URLs through statistical codes or advertising scripts.

Although incognito mode isolates cookies, it is not an obstacle for attributing users, so whether to use incognito mode will not protect users better.