Is Private Browsing Really Private?
What is incognito mode? It’s a setting in your web browser that doesn’t keep a record of visited web pages.
Every browser has a private browsing mode, though the privacy offered is way more limited than might be assumed to be the case. It’s important to understand what private browsing hides and erases from a device and what it doesn’t, so you know when it would be useful and when it wouldn’t be.
Every browser has a different name for the setting: Incognito mode in Google Chrome, Private Mode in Opera and Firefox, Private Browsing in Safari, and InPrivate Mode in Microsoft Edge.
When in incognito or private mode, as soon as the browser window is closed, the web browser forgets the session ever happened. Cookies, cached pages, data entered into forms, search data, and anything else that gives a hint of past online activity are promptly wiped. Whenever the browser is launched again, it’s like starting on a blank slate, and a user would need to log in to the site or platform every time.
This can be advantageous in that, in case someone forgets to log out of a site, their information is secured because any other user who accesses the device will need credentials to log in to previously logged-in sites. This is particularly useful on shared machines and devices.
It can also be advantageous in ensuring privacy when searching sensitive personal topics like health issues, which you would prefer to keep private and untraceable from the browser.
Apart from being a privacy measure, incognito mode can sometimes be used to access free articles or resources from paywalled sites as they might not be able to identify you as a previous visitor, though many such sites have methods to figure out and prevent such actions.
It’s not as private as you might think.
While browsing in incognito mode keeps your local browsing private, your online data trail is still visible to your Internet Service Provider, employer, or IT department of an institution on whose network you’re connected. Private browsing doesn’t hide your IP or encrypt traffic, so third parties like ISPs, IT departments, or hackers that want to peek at your online activity can still do so unbridled.
Browsers even include this bit of information when opening a browser in incognito mode, i.e., warning that while cookies and browsing history won’t be saved, online activity might still be visible to others like employers, schools, or ISPs.
When a URL is typed into the browser, a DNS server finds the IP address of the requested website so that it can be accessed. This information is stored in the DNS cache, whether or not browsing is done incognito. Anyone with a little technical know-how can still find this information since it’s stored on the device.
Downloaded files aren’t wiped out and can still be accessed unless extra measures are taken to hide them.
The browser won’t keep a record of browsing activity, but that doesn’t mean the record doesn’t exist. For many visited sites, even in private or incognito mode browsing, analytics record site access activity like time and location from where the site was accessed, particularly those with accounts that require a user to sign in.
Important to note is also that the ISP (Internet Service Provider) also keeps records of all online activity, whether or not private or incognito mode browsing is being used.
For enhanced privacy…
One popular way of hiding your trail might be through using a VPN (Virtual Private Network), which works by routing traffic through remote servers, so your location can be hard to pinpoint. Then again, VPNs can track your online data, so it’s about finding a trusted VPN.
Another way might be to use a Tor browser to mask online activity and enable anonymous communication. A Tor browser, short for The Onion Router, works by bouncing traffic through multiple servers around the globe, making it almost impossible to track the traffic.
Other simpler but less effective ways can be found by adding browser extensions that block ads, scripts, or third-party cookies that would make it hard for advertisers to track you across different platforms.
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