IE8 and the privacy dilemma

28-08-2008

by Ralph Averbuch

OK, so the next flavour of Internet Explorer, IE8, will provide lots of 'protection' for the humble surfer. In no particular order this includes, InPrivate Browsing, InPrivate Blocking, InPrivate Subscription and Delete Browser History. Now here's the problem. Whilst this might appear to be a good thing on the surface, it removes any sense of responsibility on the part of the user for ensuring that they remain conscious and cautious of all suspect sites or services. It is a difficult balance. After all, do you offer lots of protective measures and further dumb down the need for a web user to do or understand anything about the threats they face, or not? Certainly for a mass market the answer has to be that you do, but how can you also ensure that these same people remain aware and vigilant of new threats to their privacy? Take, for example, InPrivate Browsing. This is supposed to mask the user's details and notionally ensure their anonymity. The reality is, whilst this may work at the browser level, those with an interest in determining a traffic source will find other means of tracking user activity. A balance, as ever, needs to be struck between making it easy and safe for web users, whilst ensuring that all these new features do not create a false sense of security. That's because there quite simply isn't any and to imply that a user is therefore 'safe' is just plain dangerous.