Airing date: 07/10/2018

How Safe Is Browser Incognito Mode

Craig Peterson:[00:00:00] Hey, Craig Peterson here, this morning we discussed incognito mode. You get to listen in on Jim and I talking about it. But do you fall into the category of people based on this survey who think that the browser incognito mode helps protect their identity? Well, it doesn’t. In fact, most people really don’t understand it at all.

[00:00:25] So, here we go with Mr.Jim, I forgot to wish him Happy Canada Day.

[00:00:32] But, he’s not holding it against me. And he’s back again with more great information.

[00:00:37] I’m talking about our Tech Talk, Craig Peterson. Good morning, sir.

[00:00:43] Hey, Good Morning. What a great morning! This isn’t so bad. I’m getting used to the air conditioning and staying inside.

[00:00:55] Yeah, you know yeah avoiding the sun, that’s Canadians, avoiding the sand any more than six hours of daylight is too much for a Canadian. to much. My daughter, my daughters, my eldest daughter, in fact, she just got a job over in Norway.

[00:01:10] She’s only the lead on THE LEAD project managers with a company Kongsberg. They’re making the world’s first completely autonomous ship.

[00:01:21] So, she’s telling me about how, it’s like light, the whole day over there and night and then during the winter time, of course, it’s just dark all the time. Yeah. I could take that, I think it’s like two weeks or something where she is in Norway and the sun basically doesn’t rise.

[00:01:43] I couldn’t take that. I mean I would love to be over there now. I couldn’t take it. As a kid.

[00:01:51] You know we used to go we used to run around we’d leave in the morning and Mom and Dad would have no clue where we were. And I remember one-night playing kick the can and it was like 10-10 30 at night. And

[00:02:04] This is we’ve all grown up there in northern Canada and it never really got darker than Twilight. And, so I have no clue what time it was, such a different world out there, AHH, definitely a different world.

[00:02:21] Well look, we’ve got it speaking of hiding in the dark. So, when you go on your web browser and you want to go into Incognito mode, I always kind of feel like is this for real. Are they really not tracking, where I’m going? Or, is it just a scam? First of all, explain incognito mode and exactly what it really does.

[00:02:53] Sure. Well, all web browsers have something kind of similar to this incognito mode. They might call it a private window, for instance, if you’re using Safari, Google Chrome calls incognito mode. And, the basic idea behind this is that you can remain anonymous. At least that’s what most people think, Jim. That if you use Incognito mode online, you are somehow completely anonymous and I think you can guess where I’m going with this.

[00:03:25] Yeah, you’re not. OK. So, there you go. Folks, Craig Peterson solved it for you right there.

[00:03:36] Exactly. Incognito mode is kind of nice. What it does do is, it does clear cookies when you leave your session. So, for instance, you might go online now, incognito mode is great. Like, if you are shopping for a present for your spouse or kids or whatever. So, you go into Incognito mode, and then once you’re in that mode you do a little bit of shopping and poking around and then you exit incognito mode. Now, why this is nice for buying the present is, if that computer is now used by your husband or wife, for you know the other person, they won’t see ads, for what you just were searching for online. So, if I know my wife, for instance, wants a brand new table saw for her birthday.

[00:04:32] Know I don’t think Mrs., I don’t think Mrs. Peterson wants a table saw. I think Mr. Peterson does. But I get it. So, the ads don’t pop up, because you know what I find especially if I buy a big ticket item or research a big ticket item online or Amazon, I buy one, and then Amazon sends me an ad for another one. Like Hey Amazon, I just bought one. Why would I need two?

[00:05:01] What you can return them on Amazon. Maybe that’s what it is and make the money and the turn, right.

[00:05:08] So, that is what it is good for, is good for, getting rid of cookies. But, even then, you’re not anonymous as far as the websites go because the Web sites can track you based on how you have configured your web browser. Yeah exactly. Never ends does it are plugins you have the extensions set. OK. So if you really want to have the best somewhat anonymous while you’re online browsing experience, the easiest thing to do is use Firefox. Firefox has added some new features so that when you’re in incognito mode on Firefox, it does more than Google Chrome does to kind of keep your information private. Again you know because you don’t want to be tracked you don’t want cookies you don’t want more ads for that new sports car or table saw, right. So, it’s a good way to do it and the other one to consider seriously consider and this is the one I use quite frequently is the epic browser now. I’ve had the guy who founded this on my radio show before and we’ve talked about it but it is E-P-I-C. I see browser and what it does is it goes far beyond any other browsers in trying to keep your information safe. It does not let them set COOK tracking cookies most cookies are completely ignored. It has all of the features of Google Chrome, and yet no tracking which frankly is I think kind of nice. It’s a little bit of a relief to know that and then there’s another quick trick. That you can do if you want to do a google search and you’re tired of Google coming up with all this information about you and everything else. You can go in you can force all of your cookies and doing that is not only going to get rid of the ads that are targeted at you but flush cookies you’re going to lose access to certain Web sites that you might have signed into. You’re going to have to re-sign in and stuff

[00:07:19] Yeah. Yeah, I do. I do mine. I don’t mind that too much though

[00:07:25] Right. And you know as we’ve found out in this last week. Well you know, Jim, you and I talked about this months and months ago. I had a secret service briefing about an extortion attempt against Mitt Romney and the Yeah, Yeah I remember that. And you know so they’re using technology they thought would make them anonymous. The guy was caught. He was just convicted this last week and he’s facing 20 years in prison. So, you know that bottom line even if you think that you are going to be anonymous, there’s nothing anonymous online. Bottom line if you’re shopping for a present go ahead and use Incognito mode makes a lot of sense or use the epic browser or Firefox.

[00:08:10] It’s great stuff. Now listen, folks. That’s just a sampling of the stuff you can get from Craig Peterson. He does it for free, for my listeners. All you have to do is text my name, Jim. to this number

[00:08:26] 8 5 5 3 8 5 55 53. That’s 8 5 5 3 8 5 55 53.

[00:08:36] Now, standard data and tax rates apply. You’ll get the information on Incognito. Plus this one a 30-second change to your computer settings. The easiest way to stop hackers. This is all great stuff Craig won’t bother, won’t annoy you. He’s a nice guy and when there’s big stuff going on like a hack he’ll send you an alert. So, you want to do this to the man from the Great White North, Craig Peterson. Craig thanks so much and best for your daughter in Norway. Tell her to enjoy it while she can.

[00:09:14] Yeah, I absolutely will have a Beauty-day, eh?

[00:09:19] Thanks, Craig. We’ll see. Bye.

[00:09:22] And for those who ask why we call him Craig Peterson because that’s how they pronounce it in Canada. It’s not Peterson. Hey, we got a final word. Don’t go anywhere.

[00:09:33] You’re listening to the Jim Polito show, your safe space.