Incognito?

So, "you've gone incognito"...Or have you?


If you read the small warning when you first open Incognito mode, you'll see a brief outline telling you that Google Incognito doesn't actually protect you from very much at all-- I think it's safe to assume however that most people will ignore that warning.


It seems safe to say that what Incognito mode is protecting your from is anyone on your computer snooping around, checking up on sites you've been visiting. Effectively, this protects you from anyone you share a computer with finding out that you've been looking at private material online.


What isn't Incognito protecting you from?
Pretty much everything else.


Here's a small list of everything that can still record and store information about you and your web searches and browsing (according to Google itself):

• The websites you visit in Incognito mode can still record your visit and store information about you. Having said this, Google Incognito does rid you of any traces or cookies the site may leave on your computer, but everything you do on the site is still known to them.
• Anything you download can still store informationa about you, and malware can still infiltrate your computer.
• Your ISP can still store information about your web browsing. Information that they can hand over, as we have learned in tutorials, to any Government officials that ask for it.
• Following on from this, Government agencies can still store, and get information about you and your web browsing history.
• Finally, Incognito doesn't protect you from Google itself. If you sign into your Google account whilst using Incognito mode, from then on Google will store all of your searches and webpages visited.

So, while Google Incognito might keep you safe from anyone else with access to your computer finding out about the sites you've been visiting, it actually doesn't keep you safe from anyone looking to gain and store information about you or your web browsing history.


It seems those "surprises" you might be planning in Incognito aren't that secret after all.