Is Private Browsing in Modern Web Browsers Really Private?

TL;DR

This paper argues that private browsing modes in modern web browsers do not provide true privacy, based on experimental data, case studies, and existing research, challenging their commonly claimed privacy guarantees.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive critique of private browsing modes, combining personal case studies, experimental data, and review of prior research to demonstrate their privacy limitations.

Findings

Private mode does not hide all browsing activity from system or network observers.

Experimental data shows residual data persists after private sessions.

Existing research confirms private mode's inability to guarantee complete privacy.

Abstract

Web browsers are the most common tool to perform various activities over the internet. Along with normal mode, all modern browsers have private browsing mode. The name of the mode varies from browser to browser but the purpose of the private mode remains same in every browser. In normal browsing mode, the browser keeps track of users' activity and related data such as browsing histories, cookies, auto-filled fields, temporary internet files, etc. In private mode, it is said that no information is stored while browsing or all information is destroyed after closing the current private session. However, some researchers have already disproved this claim by performing various tests in most popular browsers. I have also some personal experience where private mode browsing fails to keep all browsing information as private. In this position paper, I take the position against private browsing. By examining various facts, it is proved that the private browsing mode is not really private as it is claimed; it does not keep everything private. In following sections, I will present the proof to justify my argument. Along with some other already performed research work, I will show my personal case studies and experimental data as well.