I've been doing some research on #privacymode in browsers. (THREAD)
Use cases:
- To protect you from
• the next person to use your browser
• the network snooping
• the site knowing too much about your prior browsing
- For a fresh browsing context (no cookies/fingerprinting)
I then looked at the ways browsers implement their own #privacymode.
TL;DR: they're all different.
Do you know what your browser's privacy mode protects you from?
Web features affected:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/10kulKoA6b_EWXDjzlg2DXS2vKL1NbW0NvPbcnWo5v0s/edit?usp=sharing
2/5
Sheet1 Chrome, Chrome, Firefox, Firefox, Safari, Microsoft Edge, Brave, Brave, TOR browser, Opera, Samsung Web feature, Incognito mode, guest mode( and multiple users— user associated with windows), Private Browsing, Tracking protection in private browsing, Private browsing windows, InPrivate...
To note: I did this research on publicly available documentation. One of the things I learned: a number of browsers aren't saying much about how they operate in private mode.
(Hence the empty spots in the spreadsheet)
3/5
I worry that this variety of behaviours makes it hard for users to understand what changes when they flip that switch into #privacymode. It's hard to know what info it's safe to type into which form, for example — if you aren't clear on who might read it.
4/5
We also can't write specs for other features of the web platform with normative references on #privacymode.
In other words, we can't currently say "When in #privacymode, this feature should change in $theseWays."
I worry that's a missed opportunity for the web.
5/5 #privacy
Hadley Beeman