Understanding how people use private browsing

[freemexy]

Understanding how people use private browsing
This post looks at how and why people are using the private browsing mode.

Private Browsing, also known as InPrivate in Internet Explorer and Incognito mode in Google Chrome, is a special mode where the browser doesn’t record the browsing activity on the local device. The promise made to the user is that when the private windows are closed, no trace will be left on the computer. Technically, this is achieved by storing everything related to browsing, including the cache and history, in the RAM and wiping it out when the private browsing windows is closed.

However, having a feature that works as intended does not necessarily mean that users actually know about it, understand what it does, or use it correctly. Making sure that users understand what they are getting out of private browsing has become increasingly important, as a few browsers, such as Firefox, Brave, and Opera, have decided to add features to private browsing to mitigate web tracking. These additional features, for better or worse, blur the limitations of private browsing and potentially shift users’ expectations.

Expanding private browsing functionality

Preventing web tracking is a notoriously difficult if not an impossible task, which is why browsers generally do not try to address it initially to avoid giving the user a false sense of security.
However, Firefox, Brave, and Opera have recently decided to try to meet users’ expectations by adding features that help reduce website tracking. Firefox, as shown in the screenshot above, disables third-party cookies while using private browsing, whereas Opera offers a free VPN service to mask the IP address, and Brave attempts to prevent fingerprinting.
While these features indeed reduce website’s ability to track users, they are far from being foolproof, which leaves us with private browsing modes that only partially do what users want. I am not sure whether this is better than not doing it at all, but it certainly offers users a choice, which is always good. We in the security community should be careful to clarify the limitations of each approach so users can make informed decisions. @qwer!#$123
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