Dennis Faucher 
Today's reason to switch from #Google #Chrome to #Firefox
Google settles $5bn lawsuit for 'private mode' tracking - BBC News
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-67838384?at_medium=RSS&at_campaign=KARANGA
MW1CFNIt's a large sum, but if they get away with this sort of stuff for a few years, the cost:benefit ratio probably works out in the positive for them. They only have to avoid being pursued more than once every several years to prevent any real hit on their share value.
In other words, what's $5 billion to a company making several times that amount every *quarter*?
Hud@dennisfaucher I’ve been using Edge for years. If open a PDF it does so in Edge. I can then highlight on that PDF in five colors and add text if desired, then save it. Re-open the same PDF and erase the highlights I had saved. If Firefox could do that, I would switch, but the highlighting is critical.
Tim AidleyIt's not clear to me whether or not this is something specific to Chrome or whether it's Google using non-history and non-cookie techniques to track users.
llanciawn@dennisfaucher Never used Chrome, but I may swap back to Firefox from Edge.
WesDym@dennisfaucher The much greater cost is the loss of trust, which no amount of money can buy back.
Chris Ford 
@dennisfaucher Wouldn't this tracking happen just as readily if you were using Firefox?
@cford Hard to say. I'll need to read more.
"Incognito mode within Google's Chrome browser gives users the choice to search the internet without their activity being saved to the browser or device. But the websites visited can use tools such as Google Analytics to track usage."
@dennisfaucher My reading is that "incognito" creates unfulfillable expectations because the server and elements on the page can still be used to track. "Amnesia mode" would be more accurate.
Jason Petersen (he)@dennisfaucher @cford that also applies to anything else.
This is Google paying $5B for users not understanding what this mode does, I’m sorry to say. I’m not on their side (the sole product of theirs I use is YouTube, not maps, chrome, Gmail, search, or anything else), but this suit seems more about bad messaging than anything else.
isbjørn@dennisfaucher
Well, consider using „librewolf“ which is based on Firefox but has many privacy aware addons enabled / preset
And if you mistrust google and chrome so do with browsers using the chromium engine.
Ellie@dennisfaucher "Google decided doing 'private mode' tracking in Chrome was worth more than the $5bn it cost, making a tidy profit by exploiting people"
Bruce Heerssen 
@dennisfaucher
Private mode prevents people from seeing your browsing history if they should gain access to your computer. That's it. It does not, never has, and was never intended to prevent online tracking by websites.
That said, don't use Chrome.
stiffelman@dennisfaucher absolutely. Longtime Firefox guy.