Many Internet browsers facilitate ad-free browsing, but Microsoft’s upcoming Internet Explorer 8 will incorporate a full-fledged new set of privacy features designed to give users more control over personal information, to the delight of privacy advocates and the consternation of advertisers, the company has revealed.
Among the new privacy attributes announced in a blog post, explaining the new and improved privacy aspect of the upcoming Internet Explorer 8 are “InPrivate Browsing” and “InPrivate Blocking”.
Internet Explorer 8’s new feature, in particular called “InPrivate Blocking,” which has build in options for turning off history and cookie collection and was designed to allow users to anonymously browse websites and keep their surfing activities private. In addition, the “InPrivate Blocking” feature also has the potential to block some advertisements.
“The new feature will prevent the browser from saving any browsing or search history, will erase your IE8 browser cache at the end of every session and will also disable saving of cookies, data, passwords and other offline data.”
The tools share the “InPrivate” name, which Microsoft registered with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office several weeks ago.
The new beta 2 browser offers significantly improved standards support and developer platform investments with enhanced user experience, Microsoft explained, and hopefully it will crash a lot less too, we might add. Bill Gates is expected to release it this month.
“Users should be in control of their information. That is at the core of privacy,” wrote IE 8 program manager Andy Zeigler in a blog post Monday. Ziegler used the post to confirm that IE 8 will include four new privacy features when it ships later this year.
The move is attracting mixed reactions: While privacy advocates are cheering the easily implemented controls, advertisers are expressing concern the feature could create a significant roadblock to effective online ads, since many of them use data tracking technology.
The upcoming features are bundled into four categories. The first, “InPrivate Browsing,” will enable users with an on-off button to control whether IE 8 saves their browsing history, cookies, and temporary files created during your surfing.
The second feature is: “Delete Browsing History,” takes the idea a step further and gives users control over their browsing history after visiting a Web site. It has a customizable control panel to specify that certain data be kept and other data be discarded.
The third and fourth categories are the ones drawing more debate: “InPrivate Blocking” and “InPrivate Subscriptions.” InPrivate Blocking informs users about sites that can track their browsing history, and will allow them to block such activity. InPrivate Subscriptions will let users choose which Web sites to subscribe to or block.
“Privacy has two aspects: disclosure and choice,” wrote Zeigler. “Disclosure means informing users in plain language about the data collected about them and how it is used. Choice means putting users in control of their data and giving them tools to protect it.”
“There is so-called ‘third-party’ content on Web sites, some of which can gather data about how you browse the Web. How do you know what that is; or how to control it?” Zeigler writes in the IEBlog.
“The only way to ensure that your data is not disclosed is to block content and prevent communication to sites,” he proposes.
Privacy Praised
For privacy advocates, the question is a simple one: The consumer has the right to decide, even if it ultimately hurts the advertiser.
A privacy advocate applauded the move, calling it a “great step forward,” while rival browser builder Mozilla Corp. said it is working to add similar features to a future Firefox.
“Look, it is the user’s computer. Users should have the right to make those decisions,” Mark Rotenberg, executive director of the Electronic Privacy Information Center, said in a statement. “If the user wants to block advertising, they certainly should have the right to do so,” he said.
EPIC has been fighting for these types of controls for some time, Rotenberg indicated. The organization sees the ease-of-use — the very issue at the heart of the advertisers’ concern — as the biggest asset from a user rights perspective.
Additionally, the new browser also include significant security upgrades, such as the SmartScreen Filter, an upgraded version of the phishing filter found in Internet Explorer 7; a set of cross-site scripting defenses to protect the browser against the so-called “reflection” attacks; a number of anti-social engineering features; improvements to ActiveX dialogues and control, and more.
Advertising Issue
Mike Zaneis, vice president of the Interactive Advertising Bureau, told The Washington Post: “It has the potential to undermine the economies of the Internet.”
“I think that with regard to anything that has to do with consumers perceiving that their privacy is being invaded, the marketer or the organization is going to suffer,” Deborah Moscardelli-Gray, associate professor of marketing at Central Michigan University, said in a statement.
The question, then, is how to find the balance between consumer interest and advertiser interest.
“Most consumers are extremely uncomfortable with data being collected about them when they do not know it is being done or for what purpose,” Moscardelli-Gray noted.
A spokesperson told The Washington Post the “InPrivate” features were not intended for ad blocking, though he conceded they could have that effect. The company did, however, point out that ads on many major publications — including the Post — still functioned normally, even with InPrivate Blocking enabled.