If data collection is for the benefit of us, as we are often told, the lingering question remains why companies are so secretive in collecting our data?
The recent settlement by Google is another case in point (link). Google admitted that its so-called "incognito" mode on the Chrome browser isn't "private". Based on what is said in the article, third-party cookies were not possible to turn off even when a user was "incognito". Third-party cookies are a crucial part of Google's advertising business. In addition, the tech company has retained huge datasets of people's browsing history while in "incognito" mode, which it has now "promised" to "destroy". (Not "sticking around in browser history" does not mean Google does not store browsing history on its servers.)
I put those two words in quotes because I'm convinced that is an empty promise. It just can't be done. By the way big data analytics work, any data are replicated lots of times, across many platforms and servers, and possibly have landed also in laptops and devices of analysts. Further, the data may even have been shared with partners and customers of Google.
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Such lawsuits always provide nice fodder as internal emails are unearthed. For example, a marketing executive wrote: "“We are limited in how strongly we can market Incognito because it’s not truly private, thus requiring really fuzzy, hedging language that is almost more damaging."
She was totally right. Even before this statement, Chrome incognito mode came with a suspicious disclaimer.
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