$5 Billion Court Case – Should you worry about gambling online using Google Incognito?

Is using Incognito safe when playing live casino games online? Yes. However, Google is still settling a $5 Billion court case for recording private data! (Photo by Carrie Borden on Unsplash)

The dust surrounding the Google court case in which the company was using search and clicks by Chrome internet surfers has settled. It has caused somewhat of an uproar, but to answer the title of this new piece – no, you should not be worried about using Chrome’s Incognito mode. It still does exactly what it says on the tin!

If you use Incognito mode on your desktop, smartphone, or tablet to play online casinos via the web browser, it does not log the websites you visited in your Chrome history.

Therefore, you might be asking why this court case has so much significance on privacy. After all, Incognito does not record your search history, whether Google is using the data or not. Yet, the fact that the tech giant also included Incognito searches as part of its research to improve search results and understand how people use its search engine landed the company in hot water.

My feeling on the topic is this. ISPs record the websites you visit regardless of whether you use Incognito mode. Therefore, if you have an IT-savvy individual with access to your router, that person can see which websites you visited. Why Google is fined if ISPs are already recording this data confuses me. But we live in a confusing world, and many disagree, which includes millions of people making a claim against Google.

What is Incognito: Many online casino players use it, so the browser does not record the websites they visit. Maybe you want to keep your casino gambling private, so you use Incognito mode so anyone who uses the device will not see the gambling platform’s URL in the browser’s history.

Why is Google Paying Out for Breach of Incognito Mode?

Currently, Google has only tentatively agreed to pay people who claim they have been affected by Google’s misleading Chrome web surfer about Incognito mode. Moreover, this isn’t just a company or a few individuals versus the tech giant Google. It is a collaboration of millions of users. The argument is Google claims that Incognito mode is an untracked web surfing tool. Therefore, the operative words here are ‘misleading’ and ‘privacy’. The claimants say the company has misled users into believing that even Google has no right to track web surfers’ data as this is an option to surf in ‘privacy’, which is what users believed.

Somewhere along the line, there is an insider whistleblower because inside emails from the company revealed in the legal arena prove Google does, in fact, track Incognito web surfing activity. The reason Google tracks this data is apparently to collect data for targeted advertising, a huge source of revenue for search and advertising firms.

At this point, the claim was for $5 billion. Yet, an official figure is not out there. However, if the full settlement figure is reached, each claimant will receive a $5,000 payoff. I know that the plaintiff and claimant have come to a settlement agreement, and I am sure Google isn’t paying the full amount. Agreements such as these tend to be a lower amount.

Growing public concern: While the details remain confidential, the tentative settlement represents an acknowledgement by Google of the complex privacy issues raised by services like Incognito Mode.

Why play casino games using incognito mode?

Incognito mode allows players to try their luck secretly without nosy friends and family finding out. This is if there is a stigma within the player’s group when it comes to gambling.

Now, there is a catch here, and I already mentioned it. A common misconception is that if you use your work computer to gamble online using Incognito mode, you won’t get found out. On the contrary, if there are mechanisms to prevent you from gambling while at work, then the IT personnel will detect a connection from your computer to a gambling site. Why? Incognito mode is only a local privacy tool. I.e., local to your computer. The router will still record the connection!

If you want to bypass the router detection, you also need a VPN. However, be careful how you use the VPN. Only use a VPN server from inside your country. For example, if you are in the UK and want to connect to LeoVegas, use a UK VPN + Incognito mode. LeoVegas and pretty much all UK live dealer online casinos, for that matter, are not VPN-friendly live casinos online. You don’t want to connect to your account using a VPN server outside the UK, which could mean the casino bans access.

The same applies to New Zealand, South Africa, and other countries. You can disguise your connection to an online gambling site from the internet router by using a VPN, but use a server inside your country.

If you are from Australia and want to gamble online, you’ll need a VPN and a VPN-friendly casino, as live casino gambling online is not permitted, as per our news report ‘Aussie ISPs Ordered to Block Online Gambling IPs’.