Monday, May 03, 2010
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We've all seen the adverts and there has been a lot of talk about this nifty new feature Internet Explorer and Google Chrome. Apparently, you can surf the web anonymously, without leaving a trace of your presence anywhere. This new feature it called "Privacy Mode" (each browser has it own name for it, but it's all essentially the same), and it sounds like the greatest thing since sliced bread.
Unfortunately, it is not as great as you might think. Sure, it does do what it's supposed to, but once you know what it's supposed to do you may not be quite as interested. First, I'll tell you what this new mode does. Then, I'll tell you the many things I - as well as you, most likely - can only wish it did.
Right, then. It does allow you to cover your tracks locally. What this means is that, if you enable privacy mode and proceed to visit all sorts of websites with delicious, naughty content on the web, no evidence is left on that computer. So when your parent, significant other, children, roommate, or nosy guest gets on, they cannot find any evidence of your less than noble pursuits while on the web. This mode allows for complete privacy on a shared computer in that nobody else in your house will ever know what you were up to.
That is all it does, though. Any website you visit will know who you are and where you come from - relatively speaking, anyway. The owner of that site still could, if he or she had a mind to, track your computer down using its IP address. You do not gain any privacy at the remote level, also known as where quite a few of us want to be completely anonymous anyway.
The danger comes from a lot of people thinking that they are completely anonymous in every way with this new mode here, and that anything they do will never, ever be tracked. Well, I'm sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but the RIAA will still be able to get you if you illegally download your music. So don't do it, silly.
This new privacy mode is great for what it does and can really come in handy for anyone using a computer that is shared quite a bit, but it does not nor cannot hide you from prying eyes around the world. There are quite a few ways to do that, though, if you really want to be completely unanimous on the web. This just isn't one of them.
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