Websites are still able to detect when visitors are able to use Chrome's incognito (private browsing) mode despite Google's efforts last year to disrupt the practice. There are many reasons why website operators prefer to block incognito mode users. For example, some users employ incognito mode to bypass content paywalls and various content filters/limits. In addition, the current incognito (private browsing) modes in most browsers today still ship with aggressive anti-tracking features that prevent websites from tracking and completely demonetize their traffic.
It results in a direct financial loss to websites and the primary reason why scripts that detect incognito mode have become popular in recent years.
Google decided to take a stand against such scripts. Chrome 76, released in July 2019, included an update that prevented websites from using the filesystem API to detect whether a user was using Chrome's normal browsing mode or its incognito mode. Prior to Chrome 76, the FileSystem API was not available in incognito mode only, and website operators only had to query this API to find out if a user was using incognito mode. With Chrome 76, Google activated the filesystem API for secret detection windows, rendering the previous identity script useless. However, this update was not foolproof. Google has not fully activated the filesystem API but has only set a hard limit for the amount of storage space that incognito mode Windows can access 120 MB.
After the release of Chrome 76, it took programmers within a week to find out what's going on, and develop scripts that could test the file space system to see if a website could access it, and It can indirectly detect whether the user is using incognito mode. Two different scripts were released in August 2019, and one of them made its way to the New York Times website, confirming how popular these scripts are with many online content publishers.
In August 2019, while answering a computer question, Google promised to fix the bypass and fixed incognito mode section. However, nine months later, it is still possible to detect incognito mode in Chrome, and all other Chromium-based browsers, such as Edge, Opera, Vivaldi, and Brave, all of which are a core part of Chrome's codebase. In addition, developers have taken over shared scripts over the past year and expanded support for non-Chrome browsers, such as Firefox and Safari, allowing sites across the board to block users in incognito mode. Currently, there is no time limit for a new Chrome update to block incognito mode interruptions, however, today, Google may be more interested than ever in fixing this issue.
On Tuesday, the company has been named in a class-action lawsuit, where its advertising department has been accused of secretly tracking users, even as they navigate the web in incognito mode. Advertisers like Google have a large number of indicators to track users in both normal and incognito mode. Blocking incognito mode detection will not prevent advertisers from tracking users in incognito mode, as both website operators and advertisers will still see information such as IP addresses and other traffic data. However, it will help Google earn some good faith with its users, many of whom care about their privacy and prefer not to be denied service by websites because they are in incognito mode.
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