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Is Private Browsing Really Private?

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Re: Is Private Browsing Really Private?

#51

Post by shitloadofbooks »

aarontyree wrote: post #48
throwaway2016a wrote: post #12

"DuckDuckGo is the search engine that doesn’t track you." so obviously this article has marketing lean. While private browsing is not actually private I feel going so far as to say it does not stop websites from collecting info on you is maybe a bit too far. The site can still collect information about you, yes. But unless you sign in while in private browsing or the site is using some sort of user-agent / IP tricker…

"I feel going so far as to say it does not stop websites from collecting info on you is maybe a bit too far." This is not a personal attack. Just have to address this. If you think that you cannot be identified because you use a "private" window in a browser when you were using a logged in browser 30 minutes before from the same IP with the same OS and the same screen size, with the same background apps making the sa…

Do you have a source for "Facebook associates IP's with Facebook accounts, then tracks Chromecast requests from those IP addresses"

That's not really possible for a webpage or mobile app to do (at least not on iOS, anything goes on Android I guess).

Re: Is Private Browsing Really Private?

#52

Post by eh78ssxv2f »

AdamSC1 wrote: post #23
camiller wrote: post #3

Not really private, just keeps your local machine clean. Despite TeMPOraL's labeling it "porn mode" my most common use case is if I need to log into my Google account from my wife's laptop I'll use an Incognito mode window in Chrome so that I don't have to log her out of her Google account.

That's the problem we tried to outline in this paper. If you ask the average person what "private" should mean in this context it turns out they believe it is a large set of features providing total protection. To a tech-savvy audience its more obvious that private browsing modes don't offer that. This discrepancy is something that people have genuine concerns about and want to see either more features to protect the…

I do not see results broken-down by different browsers. I am not sure about FF's privacy mode but Chrome's incognito mode clearly says: "However, you aren’t invisible. Going incognito doesn’t hide your browsing from your employer, your internet service provider, or the websites you visit."

This warning appears on every tab in the incognito mode, so it is pretty visible.

Re: Is Private Browsing Really Private?

#53

Post by neotek »

spaceboy wrote: post #11

Probably relevant: "Google removes secret agent warning from Chrome’s incognito mode" https://src.chromium.org/viewvc/chrome/trunk/src/chrome/app/... “Pages you view in this tab won’t appear in your browser history or search history, and they won’t leave other traces, like cookies, on your device after you close all incognito tabs. Any files you download or bookmarks you create will be preserved, however. Going incog…

I love to know what prompted that change, whether it was due to user feedback, or a management decision, or even just the personal preferences of the individual responsible for rewording the warning.

Re: Is Private Browsing Really Private?

#54

Post by neotek »

ddito wrote: post #39

I really don't understand why anyone would expect private browsing to be completely anonymous. I suppose they could change the name to something better but seeing as how I only use it to browse khm websites which I don't want in my browsing history and I know other people use it only for the same reason as whell. In any case I suppose that anyone who really needs anonymity is aware what browsers mean by "private brow…

Of course you understand, you know as well as any of us that the average user knows next to nothing about how the Internet, their computer, or their browser works, either physically or conceptually.

It's not unreasonable for a user to take Google or Mozilla or whoever at their word when they call the feature "incognito mode", or "private browsing" etc. They don't know the first thing about how their privacy is breached in the first place, so why would they know how their browser mitigates potential breaches?

Re: Is Private Browsing Really Private?

#55

Post by AdamSC1 »

eh78ssxv2f wrote: post #52
AdamSC1 wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's the problem we tried to outline in this paper. If you ask the average person what "private" should mean in this context it turns out they believe it is a large set of features providing total protection. To a tech-savvy audience its more obvious that private browsing modes don't offer that. This discrepancy is something that people have genuine concerns about and want to see either more features to protect the…

I do not see results broken-down by different browsers. I am not sure about FF's privacy mode but Chrome's incognito mode clearly says: "However, you aren’t invisible. Going incognito doesn’t hide your browsing from your employer, your internet service provider, or the websites you visit." This warning appears on every tab in the incognito mode, so it is pretty visible.

This is a great point. As I've noted a few times, our surveys were conducted with different question sets for every browser that made note of different features and warnings. We also took that into consideration when aggregating the results into one whitepaper.

We wanted the whitepaper to be browser agnostic, this isn't about blaming specific browsers or actions. We wanted to highlight the larger issue that there is a gap in privacy education for a mainstream user and that it is something that members of technical communities can all step up and help with.

As for a special note for the warnings, I would say it is akin to the Terms of Service for websites. Perfectly visible, but never really read and understood.

Re: Is Private Browsing Really Private?

#56

Post by Anthony-G »

throwaway2016a wrote: post #49
aarontyree wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"I feel going so far as to say it does not stop websites from collecting info on you is maybe a bit too far." This is not a personal attack. Just have to address this. If you think that you cannot be identified because you use a "private" window in a browser when you were using a logged in browser 30 minutes before from the same IP with the same OS and the same screen size, with the same background apps making the sa…

I can see my origional point was too broad to be defensible. But I was trying to explicitly talk about fingerprinting when I said... > unless you sign in while in private browsing or the site is using some sort of user-agent / IP trickery it won't be automatically tied to your accounts I am aware fingerprinting exists. I have done fingerprinting. I am also aware that for advertisers fingerprinted data is not as valua…

Thanks for that perspective. As a web user, I'm aware of fingerprinting techniques but I've been wondering how prevalent the practice actually is.

Re: Is Private Browsing Really Private?

#57

Post by platinum1 »

aarontyree wrote: post #48
throwaway2016a wrote: post #12

"DuckDuckGo is the search engine that doesn’t track you." so obviously this article has marketing lean. While private browsing is not actually private I feel going so far as to say it does not stop websites from collecting info on you is maybe a bit too far. The site can still collect information about you, yes. But unless you sign in while in private browsing or the site is using some sort of user-agent / IP tricker…

"I feel going so far as to say it does not stop websites from collecting info on you is maybe a bit too far." This is not a personal attack. Just have to address this. If you think that you cannot be identified because you use a "private" window in a browser when you were using a logged in browser 30 minutes before from the same IP with the same OS and the same screen size, with the same background apps making the sa…

> Your entire search history is fingerprinted, associated, shared, and sold.

I've often been curious about this. I've heard this sentiment many times, but I've never heard of where/how anyone could actually buy a search history. Surely there must be some accounts of how the other side of the equation works.

Also, how much does it cost? All the facebook/google help pages I've seen focus on ads, where no personal information is shared.

Re: Is Private Browsing Really Private?

#58

Post by aarontyree »

platinum1 wrote: post #57
aarontyree wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"I feel going so far as to say it does not stop websites from collecting info on you is maybe a bit too far." This is not a personal attack. Just have to address this. If you think that you cannot be identified because you use a "private" window in a browser when you were using a logged in browser 30 minutes before from the same IP with the same OS and the same screen size, with the same background apps making the sa…

> Your entire search history is fingerprinted, associated, shared, and sold. I've often been curious about this. I've heard this sentiment many times, but I've never heard of where/how anyone could actually buy a search history. Surely there must be some accounts of how the other side of the equation works. Also, how much does it cost? All the facebook/google help pages I've seen focus on ads, where no personal infor…

I was not specific enough with that. I should have said something like, when everything that is collected by different companies and agencies is combined, your entire search history is fingerprinted, associated, shared, and sold. Most are not combining. But some are, and they seem to be getting better at it.

Re: Is Private Browsing Really Private?

#59

Post by aarontyree »

shitloadofbooks wrote: post #51
aarontyree wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"I feel going so far as to say it does not stop websites from collecting info on you is maybe a bit too far." This is not a personal attack. Just have to address this. If you think that you cannot be identified because you use a "private" window in a browser when you were using a logged in browser 30 minutes before from the same IP with the same OS and the same screen size, with the same background apps making the sa…

Do you have a source for "Facebook associates IP's with Facebook accounts, then tracks Chromecast requests from those IP addresses" That's not really possible for a webpage or mobile app to do (at least not on iOS, anything goes on Android I guess).

I wish I could find the article. I read it about a year ago. It was a pretty lengthy write up on Facebook's offline tracking habits... just disregard until I can prove it!
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