Google & FB Are Tracking the Adult Sites You’ve Been to Even When You’re on Incognito Mode

Now, let’s not be shy about it. We’re all humans; we all have needs.

So naturally, there’ll be times when we get led astray. On the net.

But here’s the thing. If you’ve always surfed these unchartered waters with the sole use of Incognito mode, here’s a heads up.

You might not be as private as you’ve always perceived yourself to be.

So get off that shady website on your Incognito mode asap, because trust me;

You’re not gonna be able to swallow it when the news comes out.

Google & FB Are Tracking the Adult Sites You’ve Been to Even When You’re on Incognito Mode

According to the authors of a recent study on privacy standards of porn websites, Tech giants Google and Facebook could potentially be tracking your visits to adult sites, even when you set your browser to private or incognito mode.

Yeah, life-changing stuff.

The study, titled ‘Tracking sex: The Implications Of Widespread Sexual Data Leakage And Tracking On Porn Websites”, examined 22,484 pornography websites and discovered that 93% leaked user data to third parties.

Apparently, Google (as well as its subsidiaries) had trackers on 74% of the porn sites, Facebook on 10% and Oracle on 24%.

Google’s your best friend? Yeah, it’s that best friend who knows a little too much, alright.

Clarification

A Google spokeswoman has since told The New York Times that it does not use the information to construct advertising profiles.

“We don’t allow Google Ads on websites with adult content and we prohibit personalised advertising and advertising profiles based on a user’s sexual interests or related activities online. Additionally, tags for our ad services are never allowed to transmit personally identifiable information,” said the spokeswoman.

According to NYT, Facebook made a similar-sounding statement, though Oracle reportedly did not mention it.

While it’s not clear what the data are utilised for, the authors have warned of the danger that might come with the collection of this type of data. A prime example? The utilisation to damage the reputation of a public figure.

“These risks are heightened for vulnerable populations whose porn usage might be classified as non-normative or contrary to their public life,” said the authors.

Additionally, 44.97% of porn site web addresses (or URLs) supposedly reveal the nature of the content, a notion that could give way to a person’s sexual preferences.

The fact that you’re into MILFs and all? Your Aunt May might just find out about it.

There are also security concerns, as hackers have previously retrieved private information such as email addresses, passwords and credit card information from some of the sites.

“Porn sites currently operate with an unethical definition of sexual consent considering the sensitive sexual data they hold. We contend the overwhelming leakiness and sexual exposure revealed in our results mean porn sites ought to better account for user security as well as adopt policies based on affirmative consent,” said the authors.

So… what now?

According to the authors, regulatory intervention could potentially provide ‘better protection’, as the European Union’s GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) for online tracking matches norms for sexual consent more closely, such as the emphasis on free-willed, affirmative consent.

But until that happens, we would all do well to watch where we’re going on the Net.

Really, you have no idea who’s watching you.

At all.