(RightWing.org) – Liberal tech company Google faces a new privacy scandal after allegations its CEO helped hide the company’s data-collection activities from users. A new court filing says the Google boss was warned about misdirection but went ahead anyway.
On September 23, new evidence in a case brought by a group of Google users showed the company’s chief marketing officer warned CEO Sundar Pichai calling Google Chrome’s Incognito mode “private” was misleading. However, according to internal company documents, Pichai ignored the warning because he didn’t want Incognito “under the spotlight.”
#Google CEO Sundar Pichai in 2019 was warned that describing the company’s Incognito browsing mode as “private” was problematic, yet it stayed the course because he did not want the feature “under the spotlight,” according to a new court filing. https://t.co/uF7VlbvOuR
— The Epoch Times (@EpochTimes) September 26, 2021
It’s not surprising Pichai felt that way because while Incognito doesn’t store cookies on users’ devices, Google can – and does – still track their online activity. The lawsuit, launched last June, alleges the company unlawfully tracked users’ activity after marketing Incognito as a private browser.
Google denies this allegation, claiming they’re open about the fact Incognito isn’t a private browser. Yet, as of September 28, their help page says, “Browse in private. If you don’t want Google Chrome to remember your activity, you can browse the web privately in Incognito mode” (emphasis added).
Last month, the plaintiffs deposed Google VP Brian Rakowski, who admitted although Google advertises Incognito as private, user expectations of what privacy means “may not match” with what they’re actually getting.
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