Get all your news in one place.
100’s of premium titles.
One app.
Start reading
Benzinga
Benzinga
National
Shivdeep Dhaliwal

Is Chrome's 'Incognito' Mode Really Private? Question Now Before Texas Court

Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ: GOOGL) (NASDAQ: GOOG) subsidiary Google was sued in Texas by Attorney General Ken Paxton over its private web browsing feature on Thursday.

What Happened: Paxton filed an amended privacy lawsuit against the search engine giant, adding to a lawsuit filed in January, reported Reuters.

Texas, Indiana, Washington State, and the District of Columbia reportedly filed separate cases against Google in state courts over its location-tracking practices as well in January.

The amended lawsuit filed by Texas alleges that Google deceptively collects personal data even when a user has turned on “incognito mode.”

Google said Paxton’s filing is “based on inaccurate claims and outdated assertions about our settings,” according to Reuters.

The search engine giant said it will “strongly dispute these claims” and “vigorously” defend itself to “set the record straight.”

See Also: How To Buy Apple (AAPL) Shares

Why It Matters: Paxton previously alleged Google continued to track the location of its users even though it sought to prevent it, reported Reuters.

On Google’s support pages, the company says that while incognito mode stops Chrome from saving browser activity to local history, it may still be visible to external parties such as websites you visit, your employer, network administrators, and search engines.

In April, rival Apple Inc (NASDAQ: AAPL) left an industry-friendly privacy lobbying group, which counts Google as a member, saying the State Privacy and Security Coalition lobbied for weak privacy laws that benefit the industry instead of users.

Price Action: On Thursday, Alphabet Class A shares closed 1.35% lower at $2,207.68 in the regular session and fell 0.2% in extended trading. On the same day, the company’s Class C shares declined 1.5% in regular trading to $2,214.91, according to data from Benzinga Pro.

 Read Next: Google's Pixel Watch Is Reportedly Using Outdated Chip

Sign up to read this article
Read news from 100’s of titles, curated specifically for you.
Already a member? Sign in here
Related Stories
Top stories on inkl right now
One subscription that gives you access to news from hundreds of sites
Already a member? Sign in here
Our Picks
Fourteen days free
Download the app
One app. One membership.
100+ trusted global sources.