7 ms·

their "private" is not private. about a month ago, i searched for some health-related stuff in a chrome incognito window and then immediately afterwards got rel

their "private" is not private. about a month ago, i searched for some health-related stuff in a chrome incognito window and then immediately afterwards got related sponsored product ads on amazon in a logged in normal window.

skydhash 1y ago
I was trying Chrome on a work computer (because why not, I'm only doing work stuff on it). That incognito (but not really) mode made me download Firefox in an hurry.
- saintfire 1y ago
  How does Firefox improve on icognito? I haven't used chrome in a long time but as far as I was aware they do the same thing: wipe session data on close.
  - skydhash 1y ago
    If you add your Google account into chrome, it will bring it into Incognito mode.
    - mh- 1y ago
      I don't experience this at all; in what way are you saying?
    - jsnell 1y ago
      That is not true.
naniwaduni 1y ago
"Private" and "incognito" mode are fundamentally misnamed. They provide almost no real privacy wrt counterparties over the network, just to other people using the same computer after you. Amnesiac mode, if you will.
- lucb1e 1y ago
  I remember upon introduction, tech news would jokingly refer to it as the porn button if they were immature enough (and let's face it, back then most of us and the web news sites were quite literally immature). Sounds like that would be more accurate, but it fell out of style and now we have this name :(
Nathanba 1y ago
The firefox private window seems to work better than the chrome incognito mode. Maybe brave would be even better because I tested brave against fingerprinting libraries once and it was the best at avoiding any detection.
- blahlabs 1y ago
  Brave confuses me. On one hand it seems to have quite good privacy tech, but then on the other hand there are instances of what seem to be quite shady actions. Both impressions come from comments and anecdotes, I have not looked into it myself.
  - happymellon 1y ago
    Brave is the preppers/tea party/Jan 6th browser. Deeply paranoid people can have occasional good arguments mixed in with their sociopathic traits. The fact that Brave didn't fork Firefox, or build their own like Ladybird implies to me that they are not really trying to improve the system. It's like Windows users extolling the virtues of the LTSC version.
    - blahlabs 1y ago
      Yes, also in hindsight of my comment, there is nothing inherently conflicting about those two sides of brave. I think my impression was that because they valued privacy, it follows they should be more 'on the level', or something. Which is clearly absurd.
    - akimbostrawman 1y ago
      The only one reading tea leafs here to criticize a browser is you. This website is not reddit but about technical discussions.
adzm 1y ago
One of my fav party tricks when I get on someone's Wi-Fi is to search for an obscure disease with an expensive treatment. Everyone in the geographical area seems to start getting ads for it for a while afterwards!
- citizenpaul 1y ago
  Please tell us you have a list to share.
samtheprogram 1y ago
This is not true of any web browser because of fingerprinting. That’s the point of fingerprinting for ad networks. You can try using a different device but even then, I occasionally get recommending things that are definitely influenced by my roommates (i.e. on the same WiFi) Using something that prevents fingerprinting helps, but only if you don’t use that browser all the time — otherwise it’s just another fingerprint — and still on the same network.
- kennywinker 1y ago
  > This is not true of any web browser because of fingerprinting. Some browsers, like the one you should be using, have anti-fingerprinting tech in them.
  - samtheprogram 1y ago
    You didn’t finish my comment. Read the last sentence. Anti-fingerprinting tech just produces a different fingerprint. Google knows e.g. when things are scrambled but certain other things stay the same.
    - tojumpship 1y ago
      Untrue, you can modify it enough to avoid giving it more entropy. Possible approaches include: - Spoofing browsers down to the TCP stack - Plausibily random values - Every possible bit scrambled on each request You can see a similar thought-process behind Tor bridges so it is tried-and-tested. Noted that it is a much more difficult feat to accomplish in a full blown browser rather than network layer.
  - jeroenhd 1y ago
    Anti fingerprinting is nice but if you get served ads based on your IP address you're going to need more than just a browser to escape tracking based advertising. Adblockers aren't good enough when websites you visit use first-party servers to forward data back to ad networks.
EbNar 1y ago
"Incognito", on ANY browser, is not meant for that. Is meant to not leave traces on your PC, so your son/daughter/wife/husband can't see you've been watching porn (for instance). You're still tracked by the sites you visit, unless you use some kind of blocker (and, even then, you may still be tracked server-side).
al_borland 1y ago
Try Mullvad’s browser. It does a lot more to avoid user fingerprinting, even locking the resolution of the rendered content to various sizes. There are some things that make it less practical as a daily driver, but it seems good as a secondary browser for private mode.

skydhash 1y ago

I was trying Chrome on a work computer (because why not, I'm only doing work stuff on it). That incognito (but not really) mode made me download Firefox in an hurry.

saintfire 1y ago
How does Firefox improve on icognito? I haven't used chrome in a long time but as far as I was aware they do the same thing: wipe session data on close.
- skydhash 1y ago
  If you add your Google account into chrome, it will bring it into Incognito mode.
  - mh- 1y ago
    I don't experience this at all; in what way are you saying?
  - jsnell 1y ago
    That is not true.

naniwaduni 1y ago

"Private" and "incognito" mode are fundamentally misnamed. They provide almost no real privacy wrt counterparties over the network, just to other people using the same computer after you. Amnesiac mode, if you will.

lucb1e 1y ago
I remember upon introduction, tech news would jokingly refer to it as the porn button if they were immature enough (and let's face it, back then most of us and the web news sites were quite literally immature). Sounds like that would be more accurate, but it fell out of style and now we have this name :(

Nathanba 1y ago

The firefox private window seems to work better than the chrome incognito mode. Maybe brave would be even better because I tested brave against fingerprinting libraries once and it was the best at avoiding any detection.

blahlabs 1y ago
Brave confuses me. On one hand it seems to have quite good privacy tech, but then on the other hand there are instances of what seem to be quite shady actions. Both impressions come from comments and anecdotes, I have not looked into it myself.
- happymellon 1y ago
  Brave is the preppers/tea party/Jan 6th browser. Deeply paranoid people can have occasional good arguments mixed in with their sociopathic traits. The fact that Brave didn't fork Firefox, or build their own like Ladybird implies to me that they are not really trying to improve the system. It's like Windows users extolling the virtues of the LTSC version.
  - blahlabs 1y ago
    Yes, also in hindsight of my comment, there is nothing inherently conflicting about those two sides of brave. I think my impression was that because they valued privacy, it follows they should be more 'on the level', or something. Which is clearly absurd.
  - akimbostrawman 1y ago
    The only one reading tea leafs here to criticize a browser is you. This website is not reddit but about technical discussions.

adzm 1y ago

One of my fav party tricks when I get on someone's Wi-Fi is to search for an obscure disease with an expensive treatment. Everyone in the geographical area seems to start getting ads for it for a while afterwards!

citizenpaul 1y ago
Please tell us you have a list to share.

samtheprogram 1y ago

This is not true of any web browser because of fingerprinting. That’s the point of fingerprinting for ad networks. You can try using a different device but even then, I occasionally get recommending things that are definitely influenced by my roommates (i.e. on the same WiFi) Using something that prevents fingerprinting helps, but only if you don’t use that browser all the time — otherwise it’s just another fingerprint — and still on the same network.

kennywinker 1y ago
> This is not true of any web browser because of fingerprinting. Some browsers, like the one you should be using, have anti-fingerprinting tech in them.
- samtheprogram 1y ago
  You didn’t finish my comment. Read the last sentence. Anti-fingerprinting tech just produces a different fingerprint. Google knows e.g. when things are scrambled but certain other things stay the same.
  - tojumpship 1y ago
    Untrue, you can modify it enough to avoid giving it more entropy. Possible approaches include: - Spoofing browsers down to the TCP stack - Plausibily random values - Every possible bit scrambled on each request You can see a similar thought-process behind Tor bridges so it is tried-and-tested. Noted that it is a much more difficult feat to accomplish in a full blown browser rather than network layer.
- jeroenhd 1y ago
  Anti fingerprinting is nice but if you get served ads based on your IP address you're going to need more than just a browser to escape tracking based advertising. Adblockers aren't good enough when websites you visit use first-party servers to forward data back to ad networks.

EbNar 1y ago

"Incognito", on ANY browser, is not meant for that. Is meant to not leave traces on your PC, so your son/daughter/wife/husband can't see you've been watching porn (for instance). You're still tracked by the sites you visit, unless you use some kind of blocker (and, even then, you may still be tracked server-side).

al_borland 1y ago

Try Mullvad’s browser. It does a lot more to avoid user fingerprinting, even locking the resolution of the rendered content to various sizes. There are some things that make it less practical as a daily driver, but it seems good as a secondary browser for private mode.