
Google is sued in U.S. for tracking users' 'private' internet browsing - pseudolus
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-alphabet-google-privacy-lawsuit/google-is-sued-in-u-s-for-tracking-users-private-internet-browsing-idUSKBN23933H
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throwaway_234
If you are not str8 and not out about your proclivities Facebook, Google, ATT,
etc will out you indirectly (your friend, parent or partner needs to be smart
though).

Example you have a bi or gay app on your phone.. you visit such websites, etc
... Facebook, Google, etc will start showing you ads geared towards things bi
or gay people like. Now say you share your phone or your TV service with
someone who doesn't know your proclivities and they are smart ... they will
see the ads your being served are a lot of ads geared towards bi or gay
people. Though on their phone and on their TV service they aren't seeing such
ads. YouTube TV and ATT TV Now are the worst ... watching TV with your family
members or partner or whoever and bam they are running such ads and all in the
room watching too can see.

Im open about my proclivities, but many are not and FB, Google, etc have no
business invading users' privacy & potentially ruining user's lives for their
piggy bank. You will see old guys on Facebook complaining .. why am I seeing
this disgusting ad ... ummm, the guy is looking at gay and bi content that is
why, yet never came to terms with it nor ever could. Though that's his
business and these companies have no right to invade our privacy like this!

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dralley
Somehow Facebook managed to do to this to me despite having no FB-owned apps
on my phone, using Firefox with the Facebook Container addon, and not having
exposed that information on Facebook directly or through group membership or
search history.

Unless they're reading my facebook messenger messages, I have no clue how they
would have discerned that piece of information.

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bhhaskin
They do read your facebook messenger messages.

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dralley
Then they can go fuck themselves.

~~~
paul7986
They should be sued for this too!

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AnonC
I’m completely against Google and avoid its applications and services, but
this sounds like a nonsense case with no merit. Yes, users may not understand
that private browsing doesn’t prevent websites from tracking them, but the
notice is clearly displayed on the browser window every time an incognito
window is opened.

> Jose Castaneda, a Google spokesman, said the Mountain View, California-based
> company will defend itself vigorously against the claims.

> “As we clearly state each time you open a new incognito tab, websites might
> be able to collect information about your browsing activity,” he said.

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0zymandias
This is why I gave up on Chrome and Android even though I loved both products.

I don't know if this complaint is valid and what the exact scope is. However,
since switching to Safari and iPhone, I no longer constantly need to be on the
alert about my privacy.

I strongly believe that Google's business model will always push them to
exploit my privacy if there is an extra buck to be made.

~~~
Proziam
You seem to trust Apple a lot more than I do. Why not go a step further and
use Firefox/Tor?

~~~
0zymandias
I trust Firefox as well. It was my second choice. I had two reasons for not
switching to Firefox.

1\. Firefox used a lot more memory & CPU on my MBP. Maybe that is fixed now. I
remember reading that they worked on the footprint.

2\. The large majority of Firefox's revenue is (indirectly) driven by ads from
Google. I just wanted to get out of the ad swamp once and for all.

~~~
lokedhs
I use Firefox on Android for regular browsing. I've also configured the
default browser to be Firefox Focus, meaning that every time I click a link it
opens a disposable session with no history available.

I guess I could still be tracked based on IP address as I'm not normally using
Tor. Ublock and Privacy Badger does help there, I guess, but while it's not
foolproof I do believe it's better than just assuming that Apple will take
care of privacy for you.

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Gollapalli
I honestly don't think this has legs. The incognito mode in most browsers that
I've tried informs you that you can still be tracked through
javascript/google-analytics. What are they supposed to do, figure out that
you're in incognito mode and ignore the data that they've got from your IP
address and your mouse movement and all the other things they track?

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desas
The other way around - google's browser could figure out that it's a google
analytics snippet and not run it. Kind of like the existing google analytics
chrome opt-out extension does.

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bellwether
This is a law suit over Google Analytics and JavaScript based tracking, not
browser based tracking in Incognito mode.

~~~
48309248302
It's hard to make that argument when you control the browsing device that
tells users that they are in private mode, but then identify specific devices
and users from the other end of the network with your other product.

~~~
thorum
Chrome's Incognito mode is pretty clear about what it does, and clearly states
the fact that websites and ISPs can still track you.

Private Browsing has never been about hiding your traffic from analytics
AFAIK. It's about your local browser history only.

~~~
geofft
Yup. Here's what it says precisely:

> _Now you can browse privately, and other people who use this device won 't
> see your activity. However, downloads and bookmarks will be saved. Learn
> more_

> _Chrome won 't save the following information:_

> _Your browsing history_

> _Cookies and site data_

> _Information entered in forms_

> _Your activity might still be visible to:_

> _Websites you visit_

> _Your employer or school_

> _Your internet service provider_

Seems pretty clear.

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48309248302
One more to add:

> Google

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geofft
Last I checked, Google was a website.

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48309248302
Google is a company. Their tracking code isn't a website. It doesn't mention
to users that that their private browsing mode doesn't actually protect users
from their other products.

~~~
kinkrtyavimoodh
Yes, because it is not relevant. The website the user is browsing is what
decided to put Google Analytics code on their page. It is their responsibility
to tell their users that Google will get this data.

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48309248302
I think that would be a disingenuous argument from Google. Google is directly
receiving the analytics data and then feeding only a portion of it to the
website. They know that users are easily confused and don't fully understand
that one Google product doesn't respect another Google product's "privacy"
settings. Most of them probably don't even know what Google Analytics is or
how Google makes money by tracking them.

~~~
kinkrtyavimoodh
There is no 'privacy' setting being flouted, other than one that's been
entirely imagined up by commenters here.

In fact, if anything people should be against this kind of interaction between
two completely independent arms of Google. Isn't that what the "Break Google
Up" crowd wanted?

~~~
geofft
Right, just imagine the outcry if Chrome were working on countermeasures for
incognito mode detection but also sent a proprietary message to Google
Analytics to identity when someone is in incognito mode....

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nojito
Nothing to do with incognito mode. This is a complaint against browser
fingerprinting by using multiple devices to create a unique identifier of a
user.

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dang
There's almost no information here. Can somebody find a substantive source?

