Privacy mode, sometimes informally referred to as "porn mode",[1] or "private browsing" 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 Web without storing local data that could be retrieved at a later date. It is of note that this offers virtually no privacy protection beyond the local level. For example, it is still possible to identify frequented websites by associating the IP address with the user on the server end. Privacy mode will also disable the storage of data in cookies or Flash cookies.
The Mozilla Foundation made a study about the user behavior when the feature is switched on and how long the session lasts. The results were that most sessions last only about 10 minutes, though there are periods where activation increases; usually around 11am to 2pm, 5pm, between 9pm and 10pm, and a minor peak about an hour or two after midnight.[2]
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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.[3][4][5] However, privacy modes operate as shields because 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.[6]
The release of Adobe Flash Player 10.1 supports privacy mode in Chrome, Firefox, Internet Explorer and Safari.[7]
Privacy mode is known by different names in different browsers:
| Date | Browser | Synonym | Latest stable |
|---|---|---|---|
| April 29, 2005 | Safari 2.0 | Private Browsing | 5.1.2 (November 29, 2011) |
| December 11, 2008 | Google Chrome 1.0 | Incognito | 16.0.912.63 (December 13, 2011) |
| February 20, 2009 | Arora 0.5[8] | Privacy Mode | 0.11.0[9] (September 27, 2010) |
| March 19, 2009[10] | Internet Explorer 8 | InPrivate Browsing | 9.0.2 (August 11, 2011) |
| June 30, 2009 | Mozilla Firefox 3.5[11] | Private Browsing | 9.0.1 (December 21, 2011)[12] |
| February 21, 2010 | Shiira 2.3 | Private Browsing | 2.3 (August 11, 2009) |
| March 2, 2010 | Opera 10.50[13] | Private Tab / Private Window | 11.60 (Build 1185) (December 6, 2011) |
| March 23, 2010 | Maxthon 2.5.12.4534[14] | Private Browsing | 3.3.2.2000 (29 December 2011[15]) |
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