Google has started blocking third-party cookies by default in Chrome's incognito mode and may have to continue doing so for five years. The company has reached a settlement over the tracking of users who were browsing incognito.
The default blocking of third-party cookies in incognito mode is enabled in the stable version of the browser. According to a lawsuit settlement, Google must continue to do so for five years. A judge in the American state of California must still approve that settlement.
The incognito mode has now also been given a new window that should make it clearer what exactly is private about the mode. The lawsuit was about the fact that it was not clear to users that Google and visited websites could still track them. That lawsuit came from 2020, the settlement was reached at the end of 2023 and the result only came out this week. The new disclaimer was already noticed when it appeared in the test version Canary.
Google must also destroy the collected data of users in incognito mode. According to the company, this data has never been traceable to individuals. The settlement states that destroying the data and blocking third-party cookies will be worth $5 billion to Google over the next five years.
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Incognito window Chrome, April 2024
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