Are "Private" browsing browsers really private?

[Nepal4me]

Yahoo, Chrome, Firefox etc have incognito, in-private browsing or private browsing. These windows are touted as all pages you visit will not be recorded on your computer. Obviously files downloaded will be stored on the computer but is there any way for somebody to really and truly find out what pages you have viewed?

And for the sleuths out there that think maybe I've visited some naughty sites. You are correct. Nothing illegal, just fun consenting adult sites.

Just wondering if "private" is really "private" even to the computer geek that knows his way around the non-obvious internal computer destinations.

[farang000999]

lol

[h90]

"Nothing illegal, just fun consenting adult sites."

These sides are illegal in Thailand

[NeverSure]

Yes a computer geek can find most anything, even if you deleted it.

If the web page is displayed in your monitor, it is on your hard disk, period. It was downloaded. There no such thing as real security from that unless you're expert in this area and are willing to do a lot of work after you view the page.

[Costas2008]

Why do you care?

Does your wife/gf checks your computer after being on the "fun" sites?

You are in biiiiiiiiig trouble, mate.

[Rooo]

Moved to internet forum.

[Beetlejuice]

It is a fact that everything we do on our computers online ends up in a database somewhere. Especially facebook and Google, whose business is all about people business that is big business.

We can never be guaranteed absolute anonymity online and whatever we do on there is going to be stored somewhere in the system for all eternity. Another example is that our ISP`s log everything we do online and our data could be accessible to the police and other authorities under the issue of a court order.

If for another example a poster on Thai visa creates a thread regarding dating sites, than you will see lots of pop up ads for dating sites. This is not a coincidence, it is because the smart system is automatically logging the details and knows how to give the appropriate responses, a method where certain companies pay billions of dollars for a means to follow people activities online and target the users for advertising, including junk mail we receive in our emails, or in other words they want all that is possible to know about us and what we do.

The Internet could be regarded as the most significant invention of the age, but with good also comes the dark side. The Internet could be described as a 21st century technological big brother, especially considering how much of our personal, private business and public affairs have now been manipulated by Governments and companies to be carried out online.

Although not a solution to absolute anonymity, we can only practice caution and discretion with our online activities and the message is; be careful out there.

Here is an example of how our online privacy can be breached by law:

http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-28055909

[Kudel]

The net needs to be regulated,just about every bullshitter can start a website or blog and post crap online.

[YeahSiam]

 

Yes a computer geek can find most anything, even if you deleted it.

If the web page is displayed in your monitor, it is on your hard disk, period. It was downloaded. There no such thing as real security from that unless you're expert in this area and are willing to do a lot of work after you view the page.

 

Don't need to be an expert.

A VPN service with a provider that doesn't log your IP and something like CCleaner which deep cleans temporary files off your computer works really well.

[Beetlejuice]

Try this test:

Each time you open a website take a look at the bottom left hand side of your screens. You will see a lot of www addresses battling to get in for a piece of the action, which means once into certain websites the viewer is sharing these with a multitude of companies that are logging all the activities. There are ways and means to block these companies for those who are quick enough to make note of the www addresses, but for each one that is blocked, will be replaced by a hundred more, plus these companies can automatically metamorphose their web addresses if not given access at a click, so they will just hit back with a slight variations.

This will also significantly slow down the opening of websites because these companies have paid the ISPs and other bodies for access into the online activities of the customers meaning the website will not fully complete it`s download until all gate crashers are in and settled. Similar applies with porn or political sites or what may be considered as illegal surfing on the net, where Government agencies may be spying on us and sharing our viewing online.

[Deserted]

The service provider will have a list of what you have been looking at. If you stay logged into stuff like gmail, then google will too. All search terms are stored and tracking cookies can help reveal your browsing habits. Going in cognito only helps if you are sharing a computer with someone and don't want them to see them.

[Deserted]

This may help

http://vimeo.com/73079834

[Somtamnication]

Well, I use Epic for browsing and sometimes I use a vpn. It is no one's business to see what I do. So the next time I want to download a video of Barbie doing some stuff with the Toy Story characters, I am safe.

[AyG]

Of course, you could always look at the help information for your browser, rather than ask here.

Chrome's relevant help page is at https://support.google.com/chrome/answer/95464?hl=en

One interesting snippet there that I hadn't thought about: "if you sign into your Google Account while in incognito mode, your Google searches will be recorded in your Google Web History"

[JSixpack]

There are various levels of privacy, which you may research. But sounds like you're not in the Snowden category and needn't worry about a forensic examination of your hard drive.

So, first a few useful extensions:

https://www.eff.org/https-everywhere

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/self-destructing-cookies/

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/disconnect/

Then the cleaners you may run after you know you've been naughty:

http://bleachbit.sourceforge.net/

http://www.wikihow.com/Clear-Google-Search-History

http://privazer.com/

Edited June 29, 2014 by JSixpack

[AyG]

There are various levels of privacy, which you may research. But sounds like you're not in the Snowden category and needn't worry about a forensic examination of your hard drive.

The hard drive is irrelevant to "incognito mode" or "private browsing". In these modes nothing is written to the hard disk, so there's no history, no cookies, no local storage.

[JSixpack]

There are various levels of privacy, which you may research. But sounds like you're not in the Snowden category and needn't worry about a forensic examination of your hard drive.

The hard drive is irrelevant to "incognito mode" or "private browsing". In these modes nothing is written to the hard disk, so there's no history, no cookies, no local storage.

I definitely wouldn't rely on that assurance. But you go ahead. BTW, Firefox has a nice extension for toggling private browsing: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/toggle-private-browsing/

Edited June 29, 2014 by JSixpack

[phuketrichard]

use TOR for browsing and following the instructions.

CCleaner

[USNret]

Be careful of your vocabulary -- there is a difference between "private" and "anonymous".

Private mode will ensure that your spouse cannot see where you have been on the internet. As someone mentioned above, history & files are not saved on your machine. Short of a key logger, she will not know what you have done.

However, this does not mean you are anonymous: ISPs, and thus the government, can or may know what you are doing. Private mode does not mask your computer's IP address while browsing.

For this purpose, download & install TOR as suggested above. This keeps your ISP from knowing what sites you visit. I'm in the States & most adult porn is legal. However, our own government here is so intrusive these days that I assume everything I do online is being monitored & recorded. So I use TOR here in the States. It works good, but I find it to be very, very slow. Alas, the price of privacy/anonymity.

[arjunadawn]

Private browsing tells others you don't want to be tracked; yea, ok. Data retrieval/storage is local, cloud, and remote servers you've visited in and thru. How you manage your effort to limit footprint will depend on your goals. Personally, I see zero reason to give any data. Locally I use Firefox private, Ccleaner at shutdown; files/history cleaned using multiple passes of 0s and 1s- otherwise, even deleted data remains. You can select normal write over or secure. Secure option has increasing levels up to Gutman NSA method.

Using dod/gutman method choice for how you erase your data at shutdown decreases anything remaining. I also clean with Glary utilities- both! Everyday. Once a week I use the Ccleaner disk wipe method (after ensuring no disc fragmentation). Takes hours but not only does it ensure noting remains it nearly returns hd to pristine state. I think of it as Teflon costing the HD. It sure seems so. Why keep shadow data that you've willfully deleted on your hard drive? Be cautioned that you'd better be certain you'll not want to later recover data- files, photos, music. You cannot. Volume shadow history not only makes hard drive sluggish it pollutes your system over time.

I use Steganos Anonym VPN for encrypted traffic and as an additional option, TOR. It's advised to learn TOR, and not complicated. Yes, you can still be tracked but only if a team was dedicated to you. There's virtually no way an average person would leave digital paper trail following the above. Daily, your history is wiped and intermittently also scrubbed from forensic recovery- locally. VPN ensures safety "out there," and tor enables further anonymous travels- mostly.

[Maestro]

Removed a troll post.

[mikecat]

The best you can do is use a good VPN, clean your computer after browsing with CCleaner and a good registry cleaner. Even then if you look through C: users you will find bits of crap left everywhere particularly from old uninstalled programs, browsers and of course Google. You can delete these manually but be careful what you delete. Only delete folders and files that you are sure you are no longer using. I.e if you uninstall Firefox then you can delete the Firefox folder. Depending on permissions and security you may need to do this in safe mode. Following this go to regedit and go through the same procedure. Next run Ccleaner again. Whilst still in Ccleaner go to tools and click on drive wiper, click the free space option Important and then complex 35 times. This will wipe all the hidden data that is supposedly deleted ( I stress be careful, make sure you chose the free space option only.

It goes without saying be sure before you uninstal or delete anything.

Even after this, it only means your computer is clean but Google and the rest have plenty of info about you which has already been accessed by various security agencies within the U.S and probably others.

[lineofentry]

Don't give your name and pay in cash when you buy your device, don't give your name and pay cash when you buy Internet time. Hide your face from cameras. Park your car miles away. Take an indirect route. Change your appearance frequently. Don't be a creature of habit.

[loumaripol]

Only one. The TOR browser which is an easy to use package which combines the proxy network, encryption, and a proprietary version of Firefox.

Go to https://www.torproject.org/ and download the package for your operating system. There are version for Windows, OS X, and Linux.

The NSA has admited they can only track individuals that they have identified through other means first. Ironic - the project is open source partly funded by the US State Department.

[AyG]

use TOR for browsing and following the instructions.

Except TOR has been pretty comprehensively compromised by Uncle Sam's spymasters.

[loumaripol]

Not to start a flame war here but please check your facts before asserting that TOR is compromised. The number of nodes, hops, encryption enroute with no previous IP number forwarded makes your concerns a bit over blown. The weak spot is from the sender's machine to the wire. The origin IP is in the clear unless you also use DNSCrypt. The NSA has stated that if they have a targeted origin IP they can follow you. In other words you already have to be known target. There are exit nodes operated by various intelligence agencies which also represents a high entropy (low) risk of exposure.

Edited June 29, 2014 by loumaripol

[phuketrichard]

use TOR for browsing and following the instructions.

Except TOR has been pretty comprehensively compromised by Uncle Sam's spymasters.

not true

BUT if you were referring to Silk roads than

Yes

[jjablonsky]

First let me start by saying “Never write, say, post or go anywhere on a computer that you wouldn’t want someone to see”

That being said there some things that you can do to minimize eavesdropping or leaving tracks.

1. To avoid leaving any traces on you computer of your internet activity you could browse the web using a bootable CD or flaxh drive, CD is recomended because nothing can be written to it accidentaly. There are way to many for me to list here but here ate 2 links that should help you.
   1. Hirems Boot CD a diagnostic boot cd but allows you to boot into a version of Windows. It has Opera and TOR browser built in and picks up most network card and many standard wireless adapters
   2. Linux Live CD’s They also boot to a version of Linux and let you run the OS from the CD. This page lists five of the best live CD’s
   3. Now that being said though it will not leave any traces on your actual computer, but if the computer were to be seized while the power was still on your tracks can be discovered by reading the RAM. The traces would not be deleted until the power was removed from the computer. For a desktop that should mean actually unplugging it for a minute or two, for a laptop remove the power source and battery for a minute or two.
2. If it’s eavesdropping from an entity that concerns you (hint hint) use the TOR browser bundle, (that is again built into the Hirems Boot CD) c. from above still applies. The tor browser bundle uses a secure proxy connection to the internet to spoof your IP address and keep entities from being able to read the data even if it is intercepted. There are rumors that the NSA has set up TOR relay servers around the world to intercept TOR traffic but have only met with very limited success in being able to read the data and almost zero success in determining the origin of the user. The TOR developers and maintainers are constantly updating the code, so keep it up to date. The TOR browser will also enable you to get to sites that may be blocked or banned such as www.dailymail.co.uk
3. Though both these methods especially number 1 should keep you fairly secure nothing is 100%. Remember “Never write, say, post or go anywhere on a computer that you wouldn’t want someone to see” The three words “Internet” “computer” and “Privacy” are like oil and water, they will never come together.
4. Last but not least never use a mobile device such as a mobile phone with internet capabilities or a tablet.

Edited June 29, 2014 by jjablonsky

[recycler]

The net needs to be regulated,just about every bullshitter can start a website or blog and post crap online.

That's nothing new, people, governments and companies have been able to convince fools of the most absurd ideas for thousands of years!

Internet makes it only easier to unmask them.

[jimbeam1]

Private Browsing

Firefox won't remember any history for this window.

In a Private Browsing window, Firefox won't keep any browser history, search history, download history, web form history, cookies, or temporary internet files. However, files you download and bookmarks you make will be kept.

To stop Private Browsing, you can close this window.

While this computer won't have a record of your browsing history, your internet service provider or employer can still track the pages you visit.

This text copied from Firefox.

jb1