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Private browsing displaying Gmail accounts

  • 9 replies
  • 1 has this problem
  • 9 views
  • Last reply by Mace2

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While in private browsing mode I noticed when I log in to gmail then log out and then log into another Gmail account I noticed that the gmail message "choose an account" shows up with the Gmail user names displayed.

How would Gmail get the user account name of both acoounts if I am operating in Private mode? I also opened another private mode tab entered www.gmail.com and the "choose account" message again appears with my 2 user name accounts.

When in Private browser mode none of the following should be saved cookies, history and temporary files, so how is this occurring?

While in private browsing mode I noticed when I log in to gmail then log out and then log into another Gmail account I noticed that the gmail message "choose an account" shows up with the Gmail user names displayed. How would Gmail get the user account name of both acoounts if I am operating in Private mode? I also opened another private mode tab entered www.gmail.com and the "choose account" message again appears with my 2 user name accounts. When in Private browser mode none of the following should be saved cookies, history and temporary files, so how is this occurring?

All Replies (9)

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No idea. But think it is time for this please : If you have a bug, file a bug report. https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/ Bug Writing Guidelines : https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Mozilla/QA/Bug_writing_guidelines

Please let us know if this solved your issue or if need further assistance.

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PB mode only means that no data is stored to the profile folder on the hard drive.

There is a separate in memory cookie jar used in Private Browsing mode instead of the cookie storage in the profile folder. Apart from that there is no difference when it comes to cookies and cookie allow/block exceptions, so Google cookies that were created earlier in the PB mode session are still present and send to the server when you open a tab to this website. Only if you close all private browsing mode windows then these cookies are purged and are no longer present when you open a new PB mode window. On Mac there is also that you can keep Firefox running with all windows closed and having the menu bar present. When you are in permanent Private Browsing mode (Always use Private Browsing mode; Never Remember History) then this probably means that you would have to quit Firefox to purge all cookies.

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Cor-el I am using permanent private mode and when a window is opened it states "When you browse in a Private Window, Firefox does not save:" and one of the items is cookies

Clearly Google is receiving this information and the only place is cookies. Google is queering my browser and from the cookies determines that I have logged into Gmail with 2 accounts. I have also noticed the same effect with Youtube where it remembers preferences I viewed while in Permanent private browsing mode. How would you explain this?

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As I wrote above, as long as any PB mode windows are open or when you haven't closed Firefox when you run Firefox in permanent Private Browsing mode then you keep all cookies that have been set during this session. Only when you quit Firefox then all cookies created in the PB mode session are cleared. It will only be an error if these Google cookies still exist when you quit Firefox and restart Firefox.

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My understanding is that no cookies should be kept in Permanent private browsing.

If this is not the case this is a major error as it states that cookies shal not be saved and since I started in Private browsing mode this issue should not of occurred.

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Cookies work the same in PB mode as in regular mode. Otherwise most websites that require cookies wouldn't be working properly. PB mode cookies are shared among all PB mode windows. On Mac you need to quit Firefox to end the PB mode session and clear all PB mode data including the cookies.

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I would think most people would not mind having a web site not work if it requires cookies as they have the option to dispable private browsing mode.

There are sites that will work without any cookies so clearly this is a problem with Private browsing in Firefox. It should perform as it states and not save any cookies.

Also in non private browser mode you have the option of clearing history. Firefox should have the option of clearly cookies instead of closing the browser.

Modified by Mace2

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If you do not want to use cookies then disable cookies globally (Block is the default) and create an allow exception for website that need cookies (Tools -> Page Info -> Permissions or Options/Preferences -> Privacy & Security). Keep in mind that PB mode only means that no data is stored in the profile folder. In every other way is PB mode the same as normal mode except that Tracking Protection is enabled by default in Private Browsing mode.

You can set this pref to true on the about:config page to see more Tracking Protection choices in "Options/Preferences -> Privacy & Security".

  • privacy.trackingprotection.ui.enabled
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Does someone have the definition for private browsing?

When I go to youtube.com and check Firefox debugger and go to network and select the "storage" tab it shows me values for cookies.

So it appears private browsing stores some or all cookies and I can't determine if private browsing rejects any cookies.