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Microsoft confirms 'InPrivate' IE 8

By | August 25, 2008, 6:14pm PDT

Summary: When Microsoft’s Internet Explorer 8 browser makeover ships later this year, it will feature several nifty privacy features aimed at giving surfers control over their Web footprints. One week after bloggers discovered clues that IE 8 will include a private browsing (ahem, porn mode), Microsoft used the official IE blog to discuss four new granular controls [...]

Microsoft confirms IE 8 private browsing modeWhen Microsoft’s Internet Explorer 8 browser makeover ships later this year, it will feature several nifty privacy features aimed at giving surfers control over their Web footprints.

One week after bloggers discovered clues that IE 8 will include a private browsing (ahem, porn mode), Microsoft used the official IE blog to discuss four new granular controls in the browser.

They include:

  • InPrivate Browsing: This lets you control whether or not IE saves your browsing history, cookies, and other data.
  • Delete Browsing History: This helps you control your browsing history after you’ve visited Web sites.
  • InPrivate Blocking: This informs you about content that is in a position to observe your browsing history, and allows you to block it.
  • InPrivate Subscriptions:  This feature allow you to augment the capability of InPrivate Blocking by subscribing to lists of Web sites to block or allow.

[ SEE: Anti-malware blocker, cross-site scripting protections coming in IE 8 ]

Microsoft program manager Andy Zeigler provides all the details on the new features and my colleague Mary Jo Foley has some additional commentary.

The new beta refresh will also include support for safer Web 2.0-type mashups, DEP (data execution protection) turned on by default in Windows Vista SP 1, domain highlighting to help flag phishing attacks and changes to the way ActiveX controls are handled.

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Web, Microsoft Internet Explorer, Microsoft Corp., Web Browsers, Internet, Ryan Naraine

Ryan Naraine is a journalist and social media enthusiast specializing in Internet and computer security issues.

Disclosure

Ryan Naraine

The most important disclosure is of my employment with Kaspersky Lab as a member of the global research and analysis team. Kaspersky Lab is a global company specializing in anti-malware and secure content management technologies. I do not own stocks or other investments in any technology company.

Biography

Ryan Naraine

Ryan Naraine is a journalist and social media enthusiast specializing in Internet and computer security issues. He is currently security evangelist at Kaspersky Lab, an anti-malware company with operations around the globe. He is taking a leadership role in developing the company's online community initiative around secure content management technologies.

Prior to joining Kaspersky Lab, Ryan was Editor-at-Large/Security at eWEEK, leading the magazine's and Web site's coverage of Internet and computer security issues and managing the popular SecurityWatch blog, covering the daily threats, vulnerabilities and IT security technologies. He also covered IT security, hacker attacks and secure content management topics for Jupiter Media's internetnetnews.com.

Ryan can be reached at naraine SHIFT 2 gmail.com. For daily updates on Ryan's activities, follow him on Twitter.

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RE: Microsoft confirms 'InPrivate' IE 8
lovedong 13th Sep
Thanks for the heads up! happy replica watches
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thanks, Ryan
Narr vi 25th Aug 2008
Sounds some quite useful things coming, and appreciated hearing clearly about them.

Regards,
Narr Vi
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Useful?
Apples&Oranges 25th Aug 2008
Hello? Maybe it should of been "INPRIVATE" to begin with - by default. Who said your privacy was open for exploitation and usage by Microsoft or others? It seems the new generations of user expect open-privacy (oxymoron) to be a NORMAL practice. No, its not and its was always been UNETHICAL and WRONG.

By you accepting this new "feature" you are telling Microsoft and others that "Yes, it was ok to use our privacy for your benefit. Thanks for the option to turn it off." The fact is, most software developers know the DEFAULT is the most common usage.
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RE: Microsoft confirms 'InPrivate' IE 8
lovedong 13th Sep
Thanks for the heads up! happy replica watches
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RE: Microsoft confirms 'InPrivate' IE 8
Apples&Oranges 25th Aug 2008
Since when was safe guardng Privacy an option? Geez, now its patented or trademarked idea! How stupid can your new generation web users be! NO - IT IS NOT NORMAL TO VIOLATE YOUR PRIVACY!
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Actually it's quite normal
Michael Kelly 26th Aug 2008
Whether or not it is right is another question.

And anyway, at least in theory your information already is protected, unless you allow someone physical access to your computer. So it's not as if you never had a privacy option, it's just now you have the option to have more than an all or nothing approach when it comes to allowing someone access to your personal property.

And are you sure it's patented? Trademarked is one thing, that doesn't prevent other browsers from offering similar protection. But an outright patent would be yet another absurd example of the patent office's incompetence.
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Yes, not knowing has been patented
Anton Philidor 26th Aug 2008
Having access to what you do in public has long been permitted. The Supreme Court has had to deal with questions like whether the heat emanations from activities in your home should be available to law enforcement. The decision, I'm pleased to say, is that your warmth is your own property in those limited circumstances.

However, not knowing anything about you has never been litigated. People never thought about the value of ignorance. Now Microsoft has patented the concept, and everyone who doesn't know anything about you is providing you with a service to which the company owns rights.

I'm sure that some people not knowing you or your activities has great value to you. Because one of the rules of patents is that you must be notified of a violation, I suggest not even thinking about how glad you are certain people don't know you or at least know little about you. Microsoft is of course monitoring continuously to observe such situations in order to charge you an appropriate fee.


You wrote:

So it's not as if you never had a privacy option, it's just now you have the option to have more than an all or nothing approach when it comes to allowing someone access to your personal property [information about you].

And are you sure it's patented? Trademarked is one thing, that doesn't prevent other browsers from offering similar protection.

[End quote]

Sorry, Michael; I think I know what you meant. But the phrasing had (unintended) implications.
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Yeah I could have phrased that better
Michael Kelly 26th Aug 2008
Basically what I was saying is that if you don't want people reading your cookies or looking at your history, all you have to do was not let them on your computer or your account. And that all this feature does is allow you to share your computer with others without changing accounts.

It's a nice feature, mind you, but hardly necessary if you have other security features and policies in place. I find that an encrypted home folder and a guest account gives me all the privacy I need.
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What will this do to C(rap)Cleaner...
Anton Philidor 26th Aug 2008
... and all the other software programs now available which do the same thing? Will Microsoft be deleting all the index.dat files as of the next reboot?

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