“We are limited in how strongly we can market Incognito because it’s not truly private, thus requiring really fuzzy, hedging language that is almost more damaging.”
That’s Google’s own marketing chief, writing to Sundar Pichai. A Chrome engineer said in 2018 that they needed to stop calling it Incognito and drop the spy icon. Another suggested Guy Incognito, Homer Simpson in a bad disguise, as the honest logo. Google’s defense in court is that users consented to the tracking. Its own staff didn’t believe the name.