DuckDuckGo Privacy Research

DuckDuckGo Discovers That You’re Still Being Tracked Even In Incognito Mode

You think you’re safe if you’re using the incognito mode when browsing? It turns out that you’re still being tracked by Google, according to the recent test conducted by DuckDuckGo.

Earlier this year, privacy-focused company DuckDuckGo has conducted a research to test if the users using the private or incognito mode are still being tracked. Surprisingly, it seems like most of the participants saw results that are unique to them, suggesting that personalization of results still exists.

Chrome Incognito Mode
Chrome Incognito Mode

While the research has a small result, DuckDuckGo also revealed that during the test, no accounts have been logged in. DuckDuckGo wants to use the research to test Google’s filter bubble. This bubble is the activity where Google tracks your every move for better and personalized search results. While this is good for logged in users to get a personalized result, it’s a bit worrying to know that even in an incognito mode, users are still getting personalized search results.

“We saw that when randomly comparing people’s private modes to each other, there was more than double the variation than when comparing someone’s private mode to their normal mode,” DuckDuckGo said.

“We often hear of confusion that private browsing mode enables anonymity on the web, but this finding demonstrates that Google tailors search results regardless of browsing mode. People should not be lulled into a false sense of security that so-called “incognito” mode makes them anonymous,”

You can read the full research result from here.

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