Google Chrome Saves Your Data Even if You Want to Delete It

A setting in Google Chrome that is meant to make it so that the average user would be able to obtain a lot more control over how their data ends up being used involves an option that would delete all data from a particular session after the browser has been closed. However, in spite of the fact that this is the case an independent software engineer Jeff Johnson has discovered that Chrome still saves user data even if they have toggled this setting on, further indicating that Google might not take the needs of its users all that seriously.

While Chrome might delete all data from sites that aren’t owned by Google, Google owned sites use cookies to store data regardless of what preferences you may have chosen to implement. This isn’t just about Google’s illicit collection of user data either, it might also be making it so that Google would have the advantage when it comes to user data over other companies including competitors, something that could further implicate Google after it has been accused by the US department of justice of stifling competition in the interests of increasing its own monopoly.

Now, it’s not necessary that Chrome has this feature due to Google’s bad intentions. This could very well be some kind of a bug that was left in the code by accident. Still, users are not going to feel safe until and unless Google starts to take their privacy seriously. If a user wants all data from a browser session deleted after the browser is closed, this means that Google sites should not be storing this data either. Most people are going to consider this to be a betrayal of their trust, and chances are that Google will have their work cut out for them when it comes to rebuilding that trust.

Read next: Google Chrome Will Now Shut Down Closed Profiles Completely to Reduce Memory Usage