Lawyers have filed a lawsuit against the company "Alpha Bit", which owns the browser Google Chrome because of Incognito Mode, which allows the user to browse incognito, in order to maintain the confidentiality of users, which the claim says is incorrect.
The lawsuit accuses Google of hacking into people's privacy, and tracks Internet use even when browsers are set to "incognito".
If you open incognito mode in Chrome, Google will display a message stating that you can "browse privately" and confirm that other people who use the device cannot see your browsing activity.
This message says that downloads and bookmarks will be saved, browsing history, cookies, site data and form entries will not be saved.
According to the lawsuit, filed by Boyce Schiller Flexner, a law firm in the Northern District County Court of California, the tech giant has violated eavesdropping and privacy laws, so users of this service over the past four years can get $ 5,000 in compensation.
"Google tracks and collects consumer browsing history and other web activity data, regardless of the safeguards consumers make to protect the privacy of their data," the complaint says.
What does Google say?
A Google spokesman said the company would defend itself vigorously against the claims, which it strongly opposed, adding, "The incognito mode in Chrome gives you the option to browse the internet without saving your activity in your browser or device."
But the lawsuit indicated that Google "accomplishes its hidden tracking" using methods such as Google Analytics, Google Ad Manager, and the Google website login button. It appears that the use of these tracking tools, and not being explicitly included in this hidden message, is the basis of the lawsuit.
By continuing to collect and identify browsing data, according to the complaint, Google violates federal and US laws regarding eavesdropping on phone calls, which give people the right to file a lawsuit if private communications are intercepted.
Expert opinion
Cyber security specialist Jack Moore says that "private web browsing is not private as you might think, as incognito modes tend to not record data on the device, but this data still goes to your ISP, and some data goes to the website you are visiting .
"Many people misunderstand a particular term, and without reading the terms and conditions correctly, some will not realize that they are legally handing out a lot of personal data. It is still possible to protect your identity to access the open web while maintaining protection," he says.
The proposed class action seeks compensation for at least $ 5,000 per user who has been browsing the Internet in incognito mode since June 1, 2016. The number of users is likely to exceed 1 million. So if you are one of them and the class action is successful, you can get the amount.