Thursday, August 28, 2008

Technology Review: Microsoft's newest browser may block ads

I've already seen some press and blogosphere speculation that this is an anti-Google feature of some type; keep in mind 1) like many features in IE8, InPrivate mode is about improving user control and visibility (e.g., optionally blocking what might otherwise be happening without their permission/expectation/agreement), and 2) Google isn't the only company investing $B in Internet advertising -- so is Microsoft...

Companies that sell advertisements online -- including Microsoft -- can electronically gather tidbits about Web surfers' habits, and then use that information to help decide what kinds of ads to show. However, in the newest "beta" test version of Microsoft's forthcoming Internet Explorer 8, which was made available Wednesday, a mode called InPrivateBrowsing lets users surf without having a list of sites they visit get stored on their computers.
The program also covers other footprints, including temporary Internet files and cookies, the small data files that Web sites put on visitors' computers to track their activities.

Technology Review: Microsoft's newest browser may block ads

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