Chrome Privacy Setting Malfunctions, Fails To Delete Data About Activity On Google

Google's Chrome browser retains data about users' activity on Google.com and YouTube even after users activate a privacy setting that's supposed to clear all cookies and data, an outside developer has discovered.

Chrome's failure to clear Google cookies upon command, reported this week in The Register, was first uncovered by developer Jeff Johnson, who conducted tests of the tool and posted his results.

Johnson said users could still prevent the Google-owned YouTube from storing cookies -- just not through the "Clear cookies and site data when you quit Chrome" setting. Instead, users must add YouTube to their “Sites that can never use cookies" section of the Chrome privacy settings.

A Google spokesperson said the failure to automatically delete the data was a bug.

“We are aware of a bug in Chrome that is impacting how cookies are cleared on some first-party Google websites,” the spokesperson stated. “We are investigating the issue, and plan to roll out a fix in the coming days.” 

Johnson noted in his post that the deletion failure might be unintentional.

Google is currently operating under a Federal Trade Commission consent decree that prohibits the company from misrepresenting the extent to which consumers control the collection of information about them.

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