Mozilla Adds "Privacy" Mode to Firefox 3.1 Plans
September 15, 2008
From ComputerWorld: Mozilla Corp. will respond to rivals Google Inc. and Microsoft Corp. with a private-browsing mode in Firefox, according to notes posted on its Web site, and is on track to deliver one in 3.1, the version that will likely go beta next month.
Sometimes pegged with the catchy moniker of “porn mode” in a nod to the most obvious use, browser privacy modes limit or entirely eliminate what the application records of its travels across the Internet. Typically, URLs are not recorded in the browser history, cookies are not saved and other evidence is purged from the computer at the end of the session.
It’s not like Firefox didn’t already have some controls or plugins to help people clean up their web browsing tracks, it’s just that this addition is supposed to make it simpler and be more fine grained.
Firefox’s “Privacy Mode” is also similar to Safari’s “Private Browsing” feature, which has been around for quite a while now.
