
'Secret agents' warning removed from Chrome incognito tab - shill
http://src.chromium.org/viewvc/chrome/trunk/src/chrome/app/generated_resources.grd?r1=239201&r2=239282
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georgemcbay
Terrible change, IMO.

Even if the older expanded list skewed a bit into jokey territory in the
wording (which I think is fine, even for -- maybe especially for, the secret
agent bit because jokes are a fantastic way to highlight injustices) it gave
Joe Random user a much better idea of what things incognito won't protect him
from than the new text does.

The dividing line of protection incognito gives you may seem completely
obvious to anyone reading HackerNews, but I assure you that it is non-obvious
to my non-tech friends and family who tell me their new computer has "2
terabytes of memory".

~~~
line-zero
I once had a conversation with someone about how Incognito Mode doesn't
actually provide anonymity, and he said, "No, it's cool dude. I have my DSN
[sic] set to 8.8.8.8 -- that makes you totally invisible online. It just makes
it look like you're Google. Don't worry."

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jcutrell
This seems to happen a lot after a certain half life - all of the little
quirky personality-showing additions get stripped over time in projects like
this. Even happens in code comments too.

Things slip through the cracks and go to production, and then everyone
complains and then things with too much color get pulled.

~~~
jeffcox
Software grows up too, for better or worse. I find this less surprising than
nmap losing "...requires root privileges which you do not appear to possess.
Sorry, dude."

~~~
TrainedMonkey
I think like people software should have character and history as long as they
do not interfere with functionality. I am always a bit sad seeing either one
go.

~~~
saraid216
If you come up with a way to make sure no one ever gets offended again, let us
know. =/

We had to pull a Konami code easter egg from our website when a customer
complained.

~~~
couchand
What a sad human they must be to _know_ the Konami code but somehow not
_appreciate_ it.

~~~
deft
I can imagine people being offended depending on what happened when the code
was entered.

~~~
saraid216
Just [https://kickassapp.com/](https://kickassapp.com/)

(I actually don't know where we got the source code from; it was added before
my time.)

~~~
SpaceRaccoon
Woah, sweet!!

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tptacek
People had apparently been complaining for awhile (search for the bug thread
on this); for instance:
[http://permalink.gmane.org/gmane.comp.web.chromium.bugs/1815...](http://permalink.gmane.org/gmane.comp.web.chromium.bugs/181502)

~~~
catshirt
on unreasonable grounds...

>> _Government surveillance is nothing to joke about_

i didn't consider it a joke, and i'll let the next one speak for itself:

>> _it isn 't performed by secret agents, but via lawyers and engineers_

~~~
bo1024
If government surveillance isn't performed by secret agents, then clearly the
secret agents joke has nothing to do with government surveillance.

~~~
wutbrodo
The quote is "surveillance by secret agents".

Given that "secret agent employed by the gov't" is by far the most common
usage of "secret agent", anyone fluent in English would parse the original
warning as "government surveillance performed by secret agents". That isn't to
say that I agree with the complaint, but your comment makes no sense.

~~~
bo1024
Sure, it was just meant to be a joke.

~~~
wutbrodo
-_- my bad. I guess the fact that I took it seriously is testament to the fact that that kind of statement (said in all seriousness) is pretty common these days.

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npdoty
Interesting that this change from early December is being discussed now. A
more recent commit (from @__apf__) in mid-December changes the text to, as the
author puts it, "increase emphasis on what incognito _doesn 't_ provide".

[https://src.chromium.org/viewvc/chrome?view=revision&revisio...](https://src.chromium.org/viewvc/chrome?view=revision&revision=240758)

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eli
Maybe the joke just isn't funny any more.

~~~
hayksaakian
Maybe it's not a joke?

~~~
line-zero
It was their way of warning us.

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xacaxulu
Probably because government surveillance is completely expected now.

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dbloom
"Cookies are delicious delicacies"

[https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=213186](https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=213186)

~~~
Houshalter
So this is why Never-Ending Language Learner thought that computer files were
baked goods.

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Never-
Ending_Language_Learning...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Never-
Ending_Language_Learning#Process_and_goals)

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gbog
I for one welcome this change, on stylistic grounds. Browsers are used by many
people around the world from all ages, all of what they tell to their users
must be carefully edited to avoid misunderstandings and anything not necessary
needs to be removed. A joke or half joke like that was prone to
misunderstandings and unnecessary.

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zenocon
I bet the folks over at
[https://groups.google.com/a/chromium.org/forum/#!forum/chrom...](https://groups.google.com/a/chromium.org/forum/#!forum/chromium-
dev) must get a good chuckle out the hysteria swarming over this

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cordite
If only this was a canary clause.

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ChrisAntaki
Out of sight, out of mind

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dsugarman
it also won't protect you from bullying from people named incognito

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higherpurpose
Here, have some Streisand effect, Google!

