Microsoft Quashed Effort to Boost Online Privacy

[SecularMotion]

By NICK WINGFIELD

The online habits of most people who use the world's dominant Web browser are an open book to advertisers. That wasn't the plan at first.

In early 2008, Microsoft Corp.'s product planners for the Internet Explorer 8.0 browser intended to give users a simple, effective way to avoid being tracked online. They wanted to design the software to automatically thwart common tracking tools, unless a user deliberately switched to settings affording less privacy.

That triggered heated debate inside Microsoft. As the leading maker of Web browsers, the gateway software to the Internet, Microsoft must balance conflicting interests: helping people surf the Web with its browser to keep their mouse clicks private, and helping advertisers who want to see those clicks.

In the end, the product planners lost a key part of the debate. The winners: executives who argued that giving automatic privacy to consumers would make it tougher for Microsoft to profit from selling online ads. Microsoft built its browser so that users must deliberately turn on privacy settings every time they start up the software.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703467304575383530439838568.html

[hobbit709]

1. Surprise, surprise, surprise!

[SecularMotion]

2. kick

:kick:

[Jeffersons Ghost]

3. K&R

[no limit]

4. Bullshit. How exactly did they want to protect privacy? By disabling cookies?

Yeah, what a great fucking idea that would have been by rendering websites such as democraticunderground.com useless (ok not useless but a pain in the ass having to log in all the damn time).

Anyone can disable cookies on their own free will. Internet explorer is no different in these regards than any other browser. But oh noes, it's microsoft, lets all loose our shit over nothing.

[SecularMotion]

7. There is a big difference

From the article

"Microsoft built its browser so that users must deliberately turn on privacy settings every time they start up the software."

"Only one major browser, Apple's Safari, is preset to block all third-party cookies, in the interest of user privacy."

In Firefox, you only have to check the privacy settings once and you're good to go.

[no limit]

8. I don't follow you. These settings only have to be set once in IE too.

You want to turn off third party cookies? Knock yourself, it's a setting in IE you only have to set once. You also have the inprivate browser mode.

[SecularMotion]

9. Did you read the article?

As it states -

"Microsoft built its browser so that users must deliberately turn on privacy settings EVERY TIME they start up the software."


InPrivate Browsing

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/internet-explorer/features/safer.aspx

[no limit]

10. Then the article is total bullshit.

Tools > Internet Options > Privacy tab

There ya go.

[w4rma]

5. Firefox has no conflicting interests and both serves and is supported by the community. (nt)

[hvn_nbr_2]

6. Greed trumps everything, as usual. nt