Hi

If you use firefox's private surfing mode or chrome's incognito mode, is it really private browsing? My guess is it's probably not, but if I'm wrong let me know why...

Depends on what you mean by "private" ... do you mean nobody anywhere can see what you are doing ? In that case, definitely they can see you. NSA is never not watching.

Does it mean that it will make it harder for companies to track you ? Yes, it will.

I sometimes like to search on medical information for my condition or information my doctor gives me.

I think stuff like that should be personal without having nosy corporate/companies tracking your medical health.

Thanks metaschima for your input.

Firefox explains that what it means by private browsing is that the browser won't save any history information, and that other parties, such as your ISP, employer, and others, can see what sites you're visiting. The only way to prevent that is to use some sort of VPN.

"Private" or incognito mode does not access any existing cookies or store any new cookies after you close the browser.

So, while companies can still 'track' your session, they cant easily 'fingerprint' your browser to match that data with you.
But keep in mind that they can still track your IP address. Dynamic IP addresses can change, but often don't change regularly. So private browsing has fairly limited uses.

What it does do is it doesn't keep a browser history, so someone who has access to your PC can't snoop on what you were doing online. (note: a forensic expert could possibly still find traces on your hardrive that aren't overwritten.)

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That's not too much of a concern because of IP sharing, which is quite common.

In private browsing mode and with a few other tweaks, they won't be able to recover anything, except from RAM.

Private browsing forces the browser to not store history and cookies, which help to track you. I would also recommend using NoScript and Ghostery, as they can track you using javascript and web bugs.

Just a thought;
Using a memory resident, non persistent distro like Puppy, together with a few extra cautions like doing only one thing online per session and not logging into any social networks during that session, can be an answer for the paranoid.

I'm not concerned enough to go that far myself. But if extreme privacy is desired, Puppy together with a vpn is a good combo. Shutdown completely and reboot from a cold start between each specific function and it becomes virtually impossible to be tracked. (short of a hardwire tap on your home network, I don't see how you could be tracked when you do this)

That expectation is a false one in this day and age, on "nosy Corporate" networks. Check with your HR department.
Research your personal medical information at home and you won't have this to worry about. </opinion>

I'd also recommend https://www.eff.org/https-everywhere as well as noscript as above.

The short version, No.
As has been pointed out, "private browsing" only keeps those using your computer from seeing where you have been on the Internet.
If you want to keep your ISP and other organizations from tracking your travels on the 'Net you will need, as pointed out, a VPN or a proxy like Tor.

https://www.torproject.org/

I don't recommend Tor. VPN would work, but do you actually need it ? I think simpler measures work well enough.

https://www.spi.dod.mil/lipose.htm

just to add this to the mix.

Why not?

See:
http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...3/#post5096325
http://beta.slashdot.org/story/197163

It is also associated with the criminal underworld.

It isn't good at doing at doing what it does, and it isn't the right solution to this problem, IMO.

Just that, your opinion.