Chrome's Site Data Linger Problem Resurfaces with Version 152
Google Chrome version 152 has been found to retain site data from Google.com even after a single search and despite disabling sign-in, raising concerns about user privacy. This issue was first reported by Jeff Johnson, a software developer for Mac and iOS, who noticed that site data remained on his device even after closing and restarting the browser.
Johnson tested this on two different Macs with Chrome 152 installed, changing the default search engine to DuckDuckGo, disabling sign-in, and confirming that saved site data was zero bytes before starting the test. After performing a single Google search, he found that 1216KB of data for google.com had been saved.
Johnson also observed that even after deleting the data manually, it reappeared upon repeating the process. This phenomenon is reminiscent of a similar issue reported in 2020, where site data related to Google Search and YouTube remained despite setting Chrome to clear cookies and site data when closed.
The exact cause of this problem remains unknown, but Johnson suggested that it might be due to a simple mistake rather than an intentional action. He recommended that Google improve its quality control and introduce unit testing to prevent such issues in the future.