MOUNTAIN VIEW (California) – Google chief executive Sundar Pichai in 2019 was warned that describing the firm’s Incognito browsing mode as “private” is problematic, and yet, it stayed the course because he did not want the feature “under the spotlight”, according to a new court filing.
Company spokesman José Castañeda told Reuters that the filing “mischaracterises emails referencing unrelated second- and third-hand accounts”.
The Alphabet Inc unit’s privacy disclosures have generated regulatory and legal scrutiny in recent years amid growing public concerns about online surveillance.
Users in June said in a suit Google unlawfully tracks their internet use when they browse Incognito in the Chrome browser.
Google has said it makes clear that Incognito only stops data from being saved to a user’s device, and is fighting the suit.
In a written update on trial preparations filed on Thursday in a United States district court, lawyers for the users said they “anticipate seeking to depose” Pichai and Google chief marketing officer Lorraine Twohill.
The lawyers, citing Google documents, said Pichai “was informed in 2019 as part of a project driven by Twohill that Incognito should not be referred to as ‘private’ because that ran ‘the risk of exacerbating known misconceptions about protections that Incognito mode provides’.”
The filing continued: “As part of those discussions, Pichai decided that he ‘didn’t want to put Incognito under the spotlight’, and Google continued without addressing those known issues.”
Castañeda said teams “routinely discuss ways to improve the privacy controls built into our services”.
Google’s attorneys said they will oppose efforts to depose Pichai and Twohill.
Last month, plaintiffs deposed Google vice-president Brian Rakowski, described in the filing as “the ‘father’ of Incognito mode”.
He testified that though the company states Incognito enables browsing “privately”, what users expect “may not match” up with the reality, according to the plaintiffs’ write-up.
Google’s legal team rejected the summary, saying Rakowski also said terms including “private”, “anonymous” and “invisible”, with proper context, “can be super helpful” in explaining Incognito. – Reuters, September 25, 2021
