Internet Explorer 8 Released: "Porn Mode!"
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- Terp
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...wish the Internet Destroyer team would spend as much time fixing the other issues as it did on this so-called "porn mode."
When what many observers are calling "porn mode" is turned on, IE8 doesn't store history, cookies, form data, passwords, URLs, search queries or visited links.
Porn Mode?
Ziegler suggested the need for such privacy is completely on the up-and-up. "Maybe you need to buy a gift for a loved one without ruining the surprise," he wrote. "Maybe you're at an Internet kiosk and don't want the next person using it to know at which Web site you bank."
While the problem of clearing sensitive passwords on public machines is real, observers say the hands-down, number-one reason most people would want to clear history, URLs and search queries is to erase signs of pornography viewing. "The most likely situation is the obvious one. Nudge nudge, wink wink, say no more," said Ars Technica. "Microsoft dishes dirt on IE8 'prOn mode,'" British Web site the Register smirked.
People can do what they want at home, but enterprises need to know where people are surfing at work. Porn surfing can expose a corporation to liability for sexual harassment, and managers obviously need to know employees are working.
Blocking Third-Party Tracking
"The enterprise is more concerned with keeping user information guarded from untrusted Web sites than making sure your off-business Internet habits are kept secret," said Andrew Storms, director of security operations at nCircle Network Security, in an e-mail. "The features so far described by Microsoft seem to fall more squarely into the paranoid spouse category, aka what has been coined porn mode."
Microsoft's InPrivate Blocking mode appears designed to tackle that concern, but it may be more of a sneak attack at Google. The security mode tracks sites that track users across numerous sites.
"If you happen to browse to sites that refer to the same third-party resource, i.e., a script, image, stylesheet, information is sent to that third party," Ziegler wrote. "Over time, the third party can create a profile of which Web sites you go to, what links you click on, etc."
With InPrivate Blocking on, IE8 automatically blocks third parties that have seen you across more than 10 sites. One obvious target of the feature is Google Analytics; every site that uses Analytics refers to the same Google domain. Presumably, IE8 will block Google Analytics' access to users' Web trails.
You Are Being Tracked
In any case, enterprise employees can expect Microsoft to allow IT to disable InPrivate browsing. "Historically, Microsoft has done a good job of giving enterprise security teams a fair amount of configuration control of applications from within Active Directory," Storms said. "Essentially, if written policy states that all browsing history is kept, then more than likely the enterprise will be given the ability to disable the InPrivate mode."
And one more word of caution for at-work surfers: "Most companies monitor all your network activity. So despite your browser history being deleted, your browsing history is still being kept somewhere on an IT server," Storms advised.
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- Rudolf Ernenputsch
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"porn" mode is especially useful when setting up a browser in an internet cafe, it allows your visitors to surf to their webmail service and wipes everything after the browser is closed down.
Theres a nice review of the beta2 here:
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080828-ie8-beta-2-shows-microsoft-is-serious-about-playing-catch-up.html
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- CG Icon
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This is a kick in the gOOgles!!!!
so now google ads can be turned off automatically with the viewer having to "give permission" per ad,, by name of advertiser before any ads appear on my site??.............
I dont think so!!!!!
Google legal had better be ramping up a fight or the goog need to find a work around...
or
forget the goog all together,,, and just start selling ad space out right myself
OR
WE get the 70 percent of the people in the world using IE to stop and switch to Firefox
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- Rudolf Ernenputsch
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who's talking about blocking google ads? All the quote from above is saying that google analytics will be affected. Which I seriously doubt will be a problem for google to handle...
all the rest is basically deleting the tracking google cookie after each session of using the browser...nothing affects your adds, click throughs or anything.
it's basically the same as firefox' and opera's "delete private data" feature + blocking requests to tracking domains, ie. analytics.google.com or something. - Last Edit: 16 years 3 months ago by Rudolf Ernenputsch.
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- LiEs
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- Firefox can do that with the addon extension Stealther. addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/1306 ; I think it does a bit more than the default privacy clearing that comes with firefox.
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- CG Icon
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not from what I am seeing and reading ,,, if while in porn mode,, all google ads will be blocked and will appear in a side display as source information and can only be viewed if the person browsing the page chooses to click on that source to then view that ad..
while safari has had something like this nativelly and a similar feature can be added to firefox,, those can clearly be seen for what they are,,, erasing your browsing trail,,, but what MS IE has done here is to blantantly go after google.
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- Rudolf Ernenputsch
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- right, tell me where you're reading it, as it's not in the quote from above or the review I posted.
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- slogen123
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Google's response:Screw them, we'll just release our own web browser
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- Terp
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I say that...hope it slays the Internet Destroyer:
SAN FRANCISCO - Google Inc. is releasing its own Web browser in a long-anticipated move aimed at countering the dominance of Microsoft Corp.'s Internet Explorer and ensuring easy access to its market-leading search engine
The Mountain View-based company took the unusual step of announcing its latest product on the Labor Day holiday after it prematurely sent out a comic book drawn up to herald the new browser's arrival.
The free browser, called "Chrome," is supposed to be available for downloading Tuesday in more than 100 countries for computers running on Microsoft's Windows operating system. Google said it's still working on versions compatible with Apple Inc.'s Mac computer and the Linux operating system.
Google's browser is expected to hit the market a week after Microsoft's unveiling of a test version of its latest browser update, Internet Explorer 8. The tweaks include more tools for Web surfers to cloak their online preferences, creating a shield that could make it more difficult for Google and other marketing networks to figure out which ads are most likely to appeal to which individuals.
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- Nick Norris
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- I will bet money that Google will somehow integrate adsense directly into the browser, watch. I want to try this browser. Personally, I love mozilla and everything it has to offer, but IE needs to be sent to pasture. It is a virus in itself.
- Nick Norris and the Pursuit of Awesomeness
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