Consumer Report: Google to pay $5 billion in settlement over ‘Incognito’ mode

Google to pay $5 billion in privacy settlement

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Google has agreed to pay $5 billion for invading your privacy.

It involves tracking folks who thought they were privately browsing the web.

Users thought the name said it all: Incognito mode. When you open Google Chrome on your computer, there are three dots in the upper right-hand corner. (They’re in the lower right-hand corner on your phone.) There, you can click on “New Incognito Window,” allowing you to browse without your history being recorded on your device.

But plaintiffs say that Google continued to track them while they thought they were browsing in private — collecting a treasure trove of information and selling it to third parties. The plaintiffs say the third parties then placed targeted ads. And those ads were sometimes embarrassing — indicating the kind of material the user had been browsing.

Terms on the settlement will be presented next month.