Arr, me hearties! Google's mighty ship be havin' a new secret mode! Chrome be keepin' yer watchin' hidden, yarrr!
2023-09-14
Avast ye scurvy landlubbers! Set yer eyes on Chrome's experimental media privacy treasure in Incognito mode! It be hidin' vital metadata and enhancin' secrecy, makin' it a fine addition to an upcomin' Chrome update. Arrr, sail the digital seas with confidence, me hearties!
Users testing out features on the Canary version of Google Chrome have discovered a new hidden feature that allows them to hide their viewing of media content while in Incognito mode. This feature, called "Hide media metadata when in Incognito," prevents titles, artists, artwork, and other details from being displayed in the media control window or taskbar. Instead, it shows the Google Incognito logo and the text "A site is playing video."This feature is intended to address a privacy loophole that previously displayed information about opened media content, even in minimized or preview modes. The new feature is made possible by a newly created MediaSession Client API, which masks media metadata and replaces it with placeholder information. This API is specifically activated while in Chrome's Incognito mode.
If you have Chrome Canary and would like to try out this feature, you can enable it by going to chrome://flags and changing the setting for "Hide media metadata in the flags menu when in Incognito" to "Enabled." It's worth noting that this feature may also be included in a future Chrome update.
Incognito mode, also known as "Private Browsing" in other browsers, allows users to browse online without leaving a trace of their activity on their local computer. It offers enhanced privacy measures, increased security by not saving passwords, no suggestions in search engines or the address bar, no saved sessions, and no preserved bookmarks after closing a session.
This new feature will likely be welcomed by those who enjoy viewing certain types of adult media in Incognito mode and desire an extra level of secrecy. It demonstrates Google's commitment to improving user privacy and ensuring a more enjoyable browsing experience for all.