Privacy mode
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Privacy mode, sometimes informally referred to as "porn mode"[1], is a term that refers to privacy features in some web browsers. Historically speaking, web browsers store information such as browsing history, images, videos and text within cache. In contrast, privacy mode can be enabled so that the browser does not store this information for selected browsing sessions. This allows a person to browse the Internet without storing data that could be retrieved at a later date to incriminate that person.
The earliest reference to the term was in May 2005 and used to discuss the privacy features in the Safari browser bundled with Mac OS X Tiger.[1] The feature has since been adopted in other browsers, and led to popularisation of the term in 2008 by mainstream news outlets and computing websites when discussing beta versions of Internet Explorer 8.[2][3][4] However, privacy modes operate as shields, since browsers typically do not remove all data from the cache after the session. Plugins, like Silverlight, are able to set cookies that will not be removed after the session. Internet Explorer 8 also contains a feature called InPrivate Subscriptions, an RSS web feed with sites approved for use with InPrivate browsing.[5]
With the release of Adobe Flash Player 10.1 supports privacy mode in Firefox, Chrome, and Internet Explorer.[6]
[edit] Supported browsers
Privacy mode is known by different names in different browsers:
| Date | Browser | Synonym | Latest stable |
|---|---|---|---|
| 29 April 2005 | Safari 2.0 | Private Browsing | 4.0.5
(March 11, 2010) |
| 11 December 2008 | Google Chrome 1.0 | Incognito | 4.1.249.1036 (Windows)
(March 17, 2010) |
| 20 February 2009 | Arora 0.5[7] | privacy mode | 0.10.2[8]
(December 6, 2009) |
| 19 March 2009 | Internet Explorer 8 | InPrivate | 8.0
(March 19, 2009) |
| 30 June 2009 | Mozilla Firefox 3.5[9] | Private Browsing | 3.6
(January 21, 2010) |
| 02 March 2010 | Opera 10.50[10] | Private Tab / Private Window | 10.50 (Windows), 10.10 (MacOSX, Linux)
(March 2, 2010[11]) |
| not yet released | Maxthon 2.5.12.4200 beta [12] | Private Browsing | 2.5.11.3390
(December 7, 2009) |
| released | Shiira | Private Browsing | 2.3
(February 21, 2010) |
[edit] References
- ^ a b Gina Trapani. "Safari's private (porn) browsing mode". Lifehacker.com. http://lifehacker.com/software/mac-os-x/safaris-private-porn-browsing-mode-102146.php. Retrieved 2008-10-04.
- ^ Mary Jo Foley. "Microsoft to roll out more granular 'porn mode' with IE 8". ZDNet. http://blogs.zdnet.com/microsoft/?p=1550. Retrieved 2008-10-04.
- ^ Lalee Sadighi. "Microsoft's Internet Explorer 8 Goes 'Porn Mode'". Red Herring. http://www.redherring.com/Home/24763. Retrieved 2008-10-04.
- ^ Angus Kidman. "Microsoft releases IE8 beta 2: MS porn mode included". APC. http://apcmag.com/microsoft_releases_ie8_beta_2.htm. Retrieved 2008-10-04.
- ^ "IE8 and Privacy". Microsoft. 2008-08-25. http://blogs.msdn.com/ie/archive/2008/08/25/ie8-and-privacy.aspx. Retrieved 2009-07-06.
- ^ Jennifer Chang (2009-11-17). "Flash Player 10.1 Beta Release Notes". Adobe Labs. http://labs.adobe.com/technologies/flashplayer10/releasenotes.pdf. Retrieved 2009-11-18.
- ^ Meyer, Benjamin. "0.5!". http://arorabrowser.blogspot.com/2009/02/05.html. Retrieved 2009-12-24.
- ^ "Arora development: Arora 0.10.2!". 2009. http://arorabrowser.blogspot.com/2009/12/arora-0102.html. Retrieved 2009-12-23.
- ^ "Mozilla Cross-Reference mozilla1.9.1". mozilla. http://mxr.mozilla.org/mozilla1.9.1/source/browser/locales/en-US/chrome/browser/aboutPrivateBrowsing.dtd#1. Retrieved 2009-05-26.
- ^ Mateu, Roberto. "Opera 10.5 pre-alpha for Labs". Opera Software. http://labs.opera.com/news/2009/12/22/. Retrieved 2009-12-22.
- ^ Opera: Opera 10.50 for Windows changelog
- ^ "Changelog". Maxthon. http://www.maxthon.com/changelog.htm. Retrieved 2010-02-08.