With the release of Chrome v.70, you now have the option to stop Chrome from signing you in automatically. But regardless, that’s where the Allow Chrome Sign-in feature comes into the picture. Google may have realized the potential security and privacy implications of this move, or maybe they haven’t. Tip: What are dark patterns? To learn more about them, read this interesting post Not to mention the fact that Google can then track your activity without too much effort afterward.
#Google chrome sign in download#
What happens then? You not only download your data to some unprotected shared desktop but also upload a bunch of locally stored data to your Google Account. And in this case, although Chrome needs your explicit consent to start syncing, the fact that you are already signed in, combined with the provision of an overly large and shiny Turn on Sync button, might cause enough confusion to click it by accident. Dark patterns push people into doing stuff that they don’t really mean to. The above quote makes a great deal of sense.
Cryptographer Matthew Green, in his blog post ‘ Why I’m done with Chrome,’ went in great detail to explain what he believed Chrome’s newest feature to be a ‘dark pattern.’ Here’s a snippet:ĭoes that big blue button indicate that I’m already synchronizing my data to Google? That’s scary! Wait, maybe it’s an invitation to synchronize! If so, what happens to my data if I click it by accident? Of course, Google’s attempt to sign you into Chrome automatically didn’t exactly gel with users. A stranger only needs to click on that Turn on Sync button to download all of your synced stuff locally. What if you actually forget to sign out of the web app altogether? Now that you are also signed in automatically at the browser level, that means your personal data is even in greater danger. Forcibly signing users into the browser seems like an imperfect solution to protect personal data on a shared desktop or device. The new implementation is supposed to help you stay secure in a shared environmentīut sorry, Google - no one’s going to buy that.
The portrait menu notifies you of the fact that you’ve logged into a Google Account on some tab and serves as a reminder to sign out of everything whenever you wish to close the browser. To sum up those tweets, the new implementation is supposed to help you stay secure in a shared environment.
#Google chrome sign in series#
So why did Google implement this change in the first place? You need to click that big blue Turn on Sync button if you want to sync your data.Īn engineering manager on Chrome’s development team somewhat attempted to explain the whole thing in a meandering series of tweets. At least Google got that part correct, but the whole thing still doesn’t make sense. But even though Chrome signs you in forcibly, your data won’t start syncing locally unless you explicitly specify that. Well, the questions are many and provide ample cause for concern. Sign in to a Google web app, be it Gmail, Drive, or YouTube, and you are now also signed in at browser level automatically Why would you want to sign in to Chrome just because you wish to use any of the Google products? Isn’t that risky on shared devices? Wouldn’t that compromise your data by syncing everything locally? That sounds ridiculous and entirely unnecessary. You can view that upon clicking the newly implemented portrait icon next to the address bar. Sign in to a Google web app, be it Gmail, Drive, or YouTube, and you are now also signed in at browser level automatically. But it’s not just the aesthetics that changed. Starting with Chrome version 69, Google ushered a completely revamped user interface.