Microsoft's new Internet Explorer browser - privacy protector or 'porn mode'?
Updated on 28 August 2008
It could be a blow for Google, but is Microsoft's browser really aimed at people who want to view dodgy websites without being caught?
It's being dubbed "porn mode" by some - Microsoft's new version of Internet Explorer includes an option which allows you to search the internet without leaving a trail, or disclosing any browsing habits, as Apple's Safari and Mozilla's Firefox browsers both currently do.
It means even people in the same household can't see what you've been up to at the computer.
If popular, it could mean an end to targeted advertising, favoured by the world's biggest internet company, Google.
Joining us to talk about this was the internet journalist Rupert Goodwins, who is editor of the site ZDNet.co.uk, and was at the launch of Microsoft's new browser last night:
Screenshots
- This is the screen you'll see when you have decided to use the search engine in the new "in private mode" - which appeals to increasing number of people worried about privacy on the internet.
- Here's the option you select to activate browsing (top right menu) which will delete search history, temporary internet files and cookies.
- And just beneath that in the same menu is where you can choose to block other sites tracking your online presence.
Effectively meaning that advertising programmes which use search criteria to target users don't work - and that type of advertising is the backbone of the Google search model.
