IE 8 Team Nearly Finished Copying Safari 10.3 Feature Set

Apple’s Safari browser has offered “private browsing” since 2005, Firefox since 2006 (via the Stealther extension), and Microsoft’s Internet Explorer may soon offer it as well. Earlier this week, Natya Nadella, senior VP of Microsoft’s search, portal and advertising platform group, said the company is planning to give IE 8 a privacy feature for erasing search histories and the other data that browsers often log automatically. Now iStartedSomething has discovered two trademark filings that may apply to the new feature. The first, for “Cleartracks,” describes a program for deleting search history after accessing Web sites. The second, “InPrivate,” disables a browser’s history and file-caching features, notifies users when their browsing is being monitored and controls access to the details of their browsing sessions.

Handy tools for when you’re researching a medical condition at work, shopping online for family Christmas presents, or you know, SURFING PORN, which is, after all, what the Internet was designed for. …