Almost all browsers have an incognito mode, which is supposed to keep your browsing history private. It is important to understand which data is actually deleted and which is not.
How incognito mode works
It is believed that when using the private mode, the web browser forgets about the session immediately after it ends: the visited pages are not saved in the log, and cookies, which record some of the user’s online activities, are quickly erased.
It is this type of file that allows information about the contents of online shopping carts to be saved, even if they are forgotten about for several days. Cookies also help websites remember whether you have been there before: for example, most sites offer to subscribe for updates only on the first visit, and do not do so on subsequent visits. But if you open the same pages in incognito mode, it will happen all over again.
This anonymity has both pros and cons. For example, if you sign in to your Twitter or Gmail account in incognito mode, you have to enter your username and password every time, but for the same reason you can access many free articles from paid sites (most resources do not immediately calculate that you have already visited the platform before).
Recently, browsers have become increasingly personalized: the Web sites that the user visits most often are the first to appear when you type in the address bar or search box. In incognito mode, browsing history and information you’ve entered into web forms is not saved: this data disappears as soon as you close the browser. Therefore, sites you have visited in incognito mode should not appear in these tooltips (although there are exceptions, which you can learn about below).
Incognito mode is useful when you need to use several accounts at once. You don’t have to sign out of your account every time you use it, because the browser does it for you. Incognito mode is also useful when you’re searching for information about sensitive topics – such as health problems – and don’t want that information to appear in your browsing history or to affect your contextual ads.
Data about a user’s incognito activity does get deleted from the browser history and the device used, once you close the relevant windows. But don’t forget that in today’s world, tracking and analyzing data goes far beyond that.
What private mode doesn’t protect you from
Once a user in incognito mode visits one of the popular sites – Facebook, Amazon, Gmail, etc. – his actions cease to be anonymous to at least those resources. Cookies and tracking data are deleted when the session ends, but this information is actively used to link his actions to various accounts while visiting the site.
For example, if you are logged into Facebook, the social network can see your actions on other sites and adjust ads accordingly, even when incognito mode is enabled. Blocking third-party cookies in your browser (Chrome even has a feature) may make this process difficult to some extent, but you can’t stop it completely because of the way ad networks and tracking technologies work.
Google has already had trouble with this practice. When using the company’s services in incognito mode, search queries are logged and linked to the account if it is configured accordingly. In addition, there is the possibility that Google continues to follow the user even when he or she goes to other sites.
You don’t have to log into accounts to be tracked – websites can use the user’s IP address and device type and browser data to identify the user and link that to other data. Some browsers struggle with this type of tracking, called “digital fingerprinting,” but it has yet to be completely avoided.
In addition, incognito mode does not protect your browsing data from your employer and Internet service provider: you can use it to hide information about your activities from a particular browser and other people using the same device – otherwise, there are no guarantees.
Staying completely invisible online is quite difficult. To keep tracking to an absolute minimum, you can choose special privacy-oriented browsers, use services like the DuckDuckGo search engine, and connect to the Internet via VPN.