Private Browsing

Private Browsing What It Is & What It Isn’t All browsers provide you with a way for a so-called private browsing experience, and the descriptions are also in the same vein. Chrome named the option Incognito Mode, Firefox and Safari call it Private Browsing, while IE calls it InPrivate. The descriptions give you the impression that if you don’t want your browsing to be recorded, you should switch to this mode and you should be safe. However, any software is only as safe as the person who’s using it. The purpose of this article is to explain what private browsing actually helps with (you might be surprised by some of the revelations) and how you can expand the security possibilities.

Private Browsing Defined¡ Before I start describing what your private browser does not do, let’s quickly review what the regular browsers actually do when you’re surfing. Record what websites you visited to help you find the same URLs again and recall previously visited sites. Manage cookies to personalize your browsing experience, let you stay logged in, help you with auto-completed forms. Let installed extensions modify and record what shows when and how. Allow search engines to record your search history. Allow ad engines to record your browsing details and to store information on which ads you click on. Allow social engines to record which sites you visit while staying logged on at their site. Allow your internet service provider to track pages you visit. Allow anyone with proper access to your hard drive or cloud storage to find and do whatever with your files. Now, let’s take a look at what to expect from private browsing, no matter which browser you use: Private browsing discards browsing history while in incognito mode, so your movement will not be recorded in your browser history. Your cookies, although created, will be deleted as soon as you close a private window, so you’ll be able to utilize the possibility of those cookies only while the original window/tab is still open. Some extensions/plugins will be disabled if their developer decided on that on your behalf. Private browser windows have access to previously stored data like saved passwords, browsing history that are acquired though non-private browsing. The data is still accessible in private mode. That’s about it. Now, if you compare the list to the one before about who stores data on your online activity, you’ll see that a lot of tracking points are still active.

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