'Private' Browsing Sessions Not As Private As You Think

Surfing the Internet with a web browser's "private mode" enabled may not keep users' information as safe as they think, Switched reports, citing research conducted at Carnegie Mellon University.

Carnegie Mellon's Collin Jackson told New Scientist that some sites may leave data on a computer's hard drive, even if they were accessed while private browsing was enabled, effectively providing traces of what sites you've visited.

As Jackson and his team note, "sites visited while browsing in private mode should leave no trace on the user's computer." And yet, Jackson tells New Scientist that a hacker could "guess what sites you've been to based on traces left behind." Switched summarizes the dilemma: "when your average surfer turns on the private mode in a browser, they expect their tracks to be erased, and erased they're not."

For example, an online banking website may store users' personal security keys on their PCs. By leaving information--even during a "private" visit--websites violate safety criteria established by Jackson and his research partners in their report.

While the research sheds new light on the limits of "private browsing," Rik Ferguson a UK-based security researcher at Trend Micro Internet Security counters that, "If someone is capable of tracking your browsing habits in this way, then they are probably also tech-savvy enough to know about commercial spyware which could much more effectively track your computer use."

Comments

[markopolio]

12:06 AM on 08/02/2010

Oh god, think of the porn!

[Knowledgeseeker]

01:15 PM on 07/31/2010

use the internet wisely

[RobertFromMN]

06:05 AM on 08/02/2010

no

[Knowledgeseeker]

01:12 PM on 07/31/2010

what about porn ? will it save your private info

[Migo Pod]

04:12 PM on 07/30/2010

Waaait... Are we talking about browser cookies? Seriously? Cookie-paranoia is so 1990's.

[cybersense]

12:26 PM on 08/01/2010

um, this is not 1990's cookie tracking.

[jayes]

10:09 AM on 07/30/2010

I've never heard of "private mode", but it sounds nice.

Your ISP knows everything.

[RedDogBear]

01:41 PM on 08/01/2010

It was first available on Safari now its on Firefox. I haven't used IE in a long time so don't know if they have it. But essentially all it does are the standard things you would do after a session to cover your tracks: erase (or in this case don't keep) a history, clear the cache, etc.

And if you use an anonmymizer, something that bounces your requests off of different servers, its possible to even stay private from your ISP. I've never used one, no reason to, but this was suggested by another user in an earlier comment: http://www.torproject.org/

[crystal kitty]

09:50 AM on 07/30/2010

This makes me sad, as usual. How is it that we can sit back and discuss our lost freedom?
It is because WE are so divided. No one plan, person or party can rise above the muck enough to inspire us all..... Heros? Humanity (globally) needs to come together and stand for the utopian vision that we as a civilization have been dreaming of for sometime but fail to give life to..... It is time not for revolution but for EVOLUTION...... Can we pull ourselves out of the nightmare of oppression, greed and ignorance to save this planet and each other?

[PenguinLinux]

09:59 AM on 07/30/2010

Faved and fanned.

[CptKendrick]

09:41 AM on 07/30/2010

Nobody turns on "Private Browsing" to protect their banking or personal info.

The only people who use it are guys who need to hide their porn surfing from their wives and girlfriends.

[Mnangagwa]

11:06 AM on 07/30/2010

Thus it is called the pron mode

[SilentSolidarity]

03:26 AM on 08/01/2010

Ssshhh!! Don't tell anyone. LOL. In fact, the term originally meant "private." So it kind of fits, eh?

[mombabytiger]

08:14 AM on 07/30/2010

I guess we just need to obey the old admonition, "Never do anything you wouldn't want your grandmother to see."

[Gibbon2010]

08:20 AM on 07/30/2010

So, we are to live like children?

[mombabytiger]

08:28 AM on 07/30/2010

Most of already do. :)

[RedDogBear]

01:43 PM on 08/01/2010

I think its never get caught doing...

[jeffrey678]

08:02 AM on 07/30/2010

THERE IS NO PRIVACY ON-LINE ! Repeat after me. THERE IS NO PRIVACY ON-LINE !

[barts]

09:21 AM on 07/30/2010

...There's no privacy on line... can I close my eyes now?

[gx5000]

10:31 AM on 07/30/2010

You forgot the You're born to debt and taxes too...

[Uggg]

07:46 AM on 07/30/2010

No such thing as private on the net the federal government made sure of that a long time ago

[doneit]

07:19 AM on 07/30/2010

Non of the major websites respect the privacy any individual. They are all seeking information to make a profit. www.digitalundivide.com

[Asmodeus]

06:13 AM on 07/30/2010

Imagine that. Our right to privacy has become a lie. I hate to burst the bubble, but hasn't this disgusting hypocrisy been established already? It is far from news that corporations in particular, are lying, thieving, revolting conglomerations of human greed and lust for power with no real strictures, who would eat their own young if it made them a buck.

[breakingpoint]

03:32 AM on 07/30/2010

everyone should keep clinking on a Hello Kitty site

[cvbnm67]

03:27 AM on 07/30/2010

I'm so tired of hearing "Privacy is an Illusion." Yes someone can track what you do on your PC, the sites you visit, the purchases you make and the words you say to others. However, to what end? The real fight will come when all of this so called personal data that is being gathered gets used against a citizen to tarnish or compel them to do or not do something. The cyber world will experience a rude awakening. Privacy may not exist in cyberspace, however it does exist in the court room.

So what, someone can grab bank account information, pin numbers, social security numbers, family addresses. Go ahead, try and do something with them. If someone tries to utilize this information, the fight will leave cyberspace and enters the real world. The world where people get prosecuted, sentenced and go to jail. Human beings will have privacy as long as we have a constitution. The banks are obligated to protect our information from hackers, and criminals therefore cyber privacy is possible. Just let there be a rash of bank data breaches, were personal account transaction histories and made public and see what happens. Remember people, the internet can be shut down if it becomes too harmful to our constitutional rights.

Bank privacy will become the model for enforcing all privacy on the net. This is the only path.

[Shozen]

06:06 AM on 07/30/2010

It's when crooks that grab your pin number and SSN and Family addresses and names thats when the pain comes. It's called ID theft. Not only could you loose your money in your current accounts, you could also have to go to court to prove you did not open that brokerage account which lost ten grand, you did not borrow $2,000 to take a trip to Bermuda.......

[RedDogBear]

01:46 PM on 08/01/2010

All true but the thing is you don't want to deal with identity theft AFTER the fact. Trust me its a nightmare and it can go on for months or years.

[cvbnm67]

02:22 PM on 08/02/2010

I would rather deal with hounding down some criminal degenerate rather than cowering in fear of some looming information blackmailer. We make our choices based on our needs, and my need is the right to privacy.

[Higgs Boson]

03:12 AM on 07/30/2010

what has happened to my inalienable right to privacy ?

[Shozen]

06:07 AM on 07/30/2010

It only applies to the Government.

[RedDogBear]

01:49 PM on 08/01/2010

First of all there is nothing in the constitution about a right to privacy. I think there should be. It would make things a lot better for individuals. The right is one of those implied rights that judges interpret from things like the right to happines, free association, etc.

But second its not a case of either/or. No rights are absolute. Its always a trade off. Once you go online you are risking a loss of some privacy. But there are things you can do, beyond what is described here, to get a lot more privacy. For example use a software tool that makes all your browsing anonymous, even from your ISP. Here is an example tool: http://www.torproject.org/ I've never used that, I don't have a need for that level of anonymity. But another user posted the URL and from my initial look it seems an interesting tool if you feel that you do.