In the realm of PC-or-Mac, Coke-or-Pepsi debates, I know computer users who argue regularly about Internet browsers, an argument that tends to focus on this choice: Internet Explorer or Firefox.
If you’re a fan of Firefox, which is what I use at home much of the time, it may seem like a silly debate. Firefox users tend to be rapid fans of that browser.
But Microsoft’s Internet Explorer (which I use at work) is still the dominant browser, and the debut of Internet Explorer 8 is coming in the next couple months.
The New York Times focuses on the new browser’s privacy tools. One allows the user to browse without saving a history or cookies. It’s perfect for browsing those sites you don’t want anyone else to know you look at. It’s already been nicknamed “porn mode,” in a nod to a likely use of the tool.
The moral implications of this can be debated elsewhere, but that type of technology is worrisome to online advertisers. Allowing “stealthy” browsing that leaves no real data trail would seem to interfere with the type of data tracking used to target online ads at specific computer users.
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