Brown v. Google — 60s explainer (B05)

01 / 08 · Setup

INCOGNITO MODE

what is it, really?

02 / 08 · Tension

PRIVATE ? IT ISN'T.

since 2008

03 / 08 · Reveal

BROWN v. GOOGLE

ND California · June 2020 · class action

04 / 08 · Mechanism

incognito ≠ invisibility · Google still tracks

Chrome Incognito

"private" per the UI

millions of sites with GA/Ads

Google Analytics/Ads

tracks via 3rd-party cookies

Firebase · DoubleClick · all Google products

05 / 08 · Scale

BILLIONS OF SESSIONS DAILY. 10 YEARS OF MARKETING.

2008 launch Jun 2020 lawsuit Dec 2023 settlement

136 mn

Americans reg.

10 years

of misleading users

$5 bn

value of data

06 / 08 · Evidence

INTERNAL DOCUMENTS

"we cannot let"

users think it is private

"but we cannot"

tell them so directly

NDA engineers

witnesses in the trial

documents disclosed at trial — communication strategy

07 / 08 · Settlement

$5,000,000,000

2023 settlement — NOT money, but data destruction

Plus: Google must change the incognito notice. It did — subtly, without admitting fault.

08 / 08

INCOGNITO

For 10 years sold as a privacy that didn't exist. The market noticed after $5 bn of destroyed data.
Card B05 in Big Tech Files.