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Google Chrome Incognito Mode Can Still Be Detected

bleepingcomputer.com

31–40 of 201 posts

Re: Google Chrome Incognito Mode Can Still Be Detected

#31

Workaround for now: 1. Open the profile menu. (This is the icon in the top right, just to the left of the three vertical dots.) 2. Click "Manage people", click "Add person" (lower right). 3. Type "Darned Newspapers!" and click "Add". 4. When you get blocked, copy URL, use the profile menu to navigate to open a new "Darned Newspapers!" window, paste URL. It's a real profile, so it should behave quite closely and shoul…

Another workaround: Disable javascript on the newspapers' sites. They load the full article and then use JS to hide it. (They also use JS to do the incognito detection in the first place.)

I hope this never changes. It’s so easy and works so well, even on mobile!

Talking about this makes me feel the same as when I discuss youtube-dl.

Re: Google Chrome Incognito Mode Can Still Be Detected

#33
post #15

Can this fight ever be won? If you've been browsing the internet for more than 5 minutes you already have cookies from some of the major ad networks. Therefore if you do not have cookies from the major ad networks, you're either a brand-new device or an incognito browser. All that is left to do is get in bed with the ad network to ask them if they have good cookies for this session. As it so happens most of the compa…

Alternatively, Google starts crawling the web in incognito mode; punishes websites that hide content.

I understand the point of using a special user-agent to crawl webpages for indexing, but search engines should use a "regular" browser UA string (full JavaScript, etc. to simulate an actual browser) occasionally. From a different IP range too, of course. If the contents of the page are wildly different, penalise the site.

Re: Google Chrome Incognito Mode Can Still Be Detected

#34
post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Alternatively, Google starts crawling the web in incognito mode; punishes websites that hide content.

I understand the point of using a special user-agent to crawl webpages for indexing, but search engines should use a "regular" browser UA string (full JavaScript, etc. to simulate an actual browser) occasionally. From a different IP range too, of course. If the contents of the page are wildly different, penalise the site.

They do both or at least google does.

Re: Google Chrome Incognito Mode Can Still Be Detected

#35
post #15

Can this fight ever be won? If you've been browsing the internet for more than 5 minutes you already have cookies from some of the major ad networks. Therefore if you do not have cookies from the major ad networks, you're either a brand-new device or an incognito browser. All that is left to do is get in bed with the ad network to ask them if they have good cookies for this session. As it so happens most of the compa…

> .. Chrome browsing the web on your behalf, building up a bogus profile for the ad networks

Chrome is an ad network itself, well, a biggest player. I'm browsing in default Private mode on Safari for years, so yes, my fight is over, no cookies for me, lol. And on always-on VPN.

Re: Google Chrome Incognito Mode Can Still Be Detected

#37
post #24
post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just don't use sites that dont respect your privacy. If it doesn't like you blocking cookies, walk away.

So, don't use the internet? Because that's what you're describing. Better cut the power cord, too, just to be safe.

Plenty of sites respect user privacy. I should know; I run dozens of them.

Re: Google Chrome Incognito Mode Can Still Be Detected

#38
post #15

Can this fight ever be won? If you've been browsing the internet for more than 5 minutes you already have cookies from some of the major ad networks. Therefore if you do not have cookies from the major ad networks, you're either a brand-new device or an incognito browser. All that is left to do is get in bed with the ad network to ask them if they have good cookies for this session. As it so happens most of the compa…

Maybe they should start randomly sharing adtech cookies through the cloud.

Re: Google Chrome Incognito Mode Can Still Be Detected

#39
post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why not just use a temporary file system like /tmp? EDIT: I suppose these are often backed by memory anyway, so not sure if this would solve the problem, but interested in hearing arguments around it nonetheless.

Because there is zero guarantee /tmp gets cleared regularly, if ever.

Firefox will cache videos from sites like YouTube in /tmp last I checked.
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