Porn mode

Porn mode is an informal 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, porn mode can be enabled so that the browser does not store this information for selected browsing sessions. This allows a person to browse the internet (e.g. internet pornography) without storing data that could be retrieved at a later date to incriminate that person.

The earliest reference to porn mode was in May 2005 and used to discuss the privacy features in the Safari browser bundled with Mac OS X Tiger. [cite web | url = http://lifehacker.com/software/mac-os-x/safaris-private-porn-browsing-mode-102146.php | title = Safari's private (porn) browsing mode | author = Gina Trapani | accessdate = 2008-10-04] 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. [cite web | url = http://blogs.zdnet.com/microsoft/?p=1550 | title = Microsoft to roll out more granular 'porn mode' with IE 8 | author = Mary Jo Foley | accessdate = 2008-10-04] [cite web | url = http://www.redherring.com/Home/24763 | title = Microsoft's Internet Explorer 8 Goes 'Porn Mode' | author = Lalee Sadighi | accessdate = 2008-10-04] [cite web | url = http://apcmag.com/microsoft_releases_ie8_beta_2.htm | title = Microsoft releases IE8 beta 2: MS porn mode included | author = Angus Kidman | accessdate = 2008-10-04]

As of October 2008, porn mode is known by different names in different browsers:

*"Incognito", Google Chrome's private browsing feature, see Google Chrome#Security
*"InPrivate", a privacy feature introduced in Internet Explorer 8, see Internet Explorer 8#InPrivate
*"Private Browsing", a privacy feature included in Safari
*A new and as yet unnamed privacy feature which will be included in Mozilla Firefox version 3.1

References