Google criticizes automatic login for Chrome users
Google is under fire for automatically logging users into Chrome when they log in to a Google service. According to Google, there are no privacy implications, because synchronization is separate from logging in.
Google automatically logs users who are logged into one of its services into Chrome from version 69. The change received little publicity, although the first complaints appeared on Hackernews. Cryptography expert Matthew Green now lists the problems with the introduction of automatic login.
The way for users to notice the change is through the profile picture in the top right corner of the browser. According to Green, Google cannot provide a satisfactory explanation for the introduction of auto-login. A Google developer tells him that the feature is supposed to fix an issue where Person A logs into Chrome, while Person B wants to sync their data, but then uploads their cookies to Person A’s account. According to Green, this reason makes no sense, since this is an issue related to a person logged into Chrome, while the “fix” affects users who choose not to log in.
The Google developers set furthermore that synchronization is off by default and must be explicitly enabled. Green argues that this is unclear to users, partly because of the interface, and that they should now worry about it, while this was not the case before. Moreover, it is unclear whether data from before logging in is synchronized after activation and what other implications the login has.
Furthermore, Green points out that Google makes a clear distinction in its privacy policy between Chrome’s basic mode, where users are not logged in, and the mode where they are. In basic mode, Chrome only stores content locally, while the terms state that logged-in users’ personal browsing data is stored on Google’s servers, and Chrome syncs it with their account. On Sunday, Chrome developers informed Green that Google is adjusting its privacy policy to indicate the opt-in for Sync, among other things.