Despite the name, private browsing doesn't give you much privacy

In Firefox, private browsing means that passwords, user history and cookies aren't saved, and downloads aren't shown in Firefox's download manager. — Andrej Sokolow/dpa

Private browsing may on the surface seem secretive and similar to anonymous surfing, but in reality, this special setting is mostly to hide your activities from others using the same computer.

Your online activities are in no way disguised for those beyond the computer, explains Firefox developer Mozilla. Websites and online services can still collect information about the pages that you visited while in private mode, even if you are not logged in.