Thread: New Firefox 3.1 to Get 'Privacy' Mode

THE WEB BROWSER, which is still under construction, features 'Private Browsing' (often monikered as 'porn mode'), said developer Ehsan Akhgari in a blog post. Akhgari has been the primary programmer work¬ing on the new feature.

In the blog, Akhgari outlined the mode's operation. He explained that it lets Firefox first memorize the current tabs so that it can reopen them at the end of the private-browsing session, and then slip a small notice at the top of the window to indicate that the next moves won't be recorded. "After all, if you're doing something online that you don't want your coworkers to know about, you don't want to raise their attention with a big sign saying Pri¬vate as they pass by and glance over your shoulder," said Akhgari.

As long as the mode is enabled, Firefox refuses to store traces of where the browser went and what it was asked to do. While in Private Browsing, Firefox will not record the browser history, search history, download history or form history, or save cookies or temporary files. Saved downloads and pages that are bookmarked, however, are not deleted.



The move was largely in response to competitive pressure from other browser makers, which were adding similar features to their software. Less than two weeks before Mozilla announced the privacy mode addition, for example, Google had released Chrome and touted its 'incognito' mode. Microsoft's Internet Explorer 8 will also include a private-browsing feature, dubbed 'In Private'.

Mozilla is set to pull the plug on version 2.0 of the browser. Mozilla's policy is to support a browser for six months after it's been superseded by a new version. The company unveiled Firefox 3.0 in mid-June; shortly after that, Mozilla announced that it would stop patching Firefox 2.0 later in the year.

The company said a majority of Firefox 2.0 users have taken advantage of an upgrade offer to Firefox 3.0 that Mozilla triggered two months ago. Presently two-thirds of users are using Firefox 3, with more than 50 percent accepting the first major upgrade offer back in late August. Clearing speculation of the state of the Thunderbird 2.0 email clinet, Mozil¬la said that it is considerably behind Firefox in its shift toward version 3.0, which is based on the Gecko 1.9 tree. So, users can expect support for Thurnderbird to continue.