Microsoft presents Porn Explorer

Just a quick post today.  So if you haven't heard, and there's really no reason why you would have, Microsoft is close to releasing the new version of their browser, Internet Explorer 8, and has released the public beta, meaning anyone can download and test it.  Going over the list of changes and improvements, most are pretty dull, just routine security improvements, speed enhancements, and other small features designed to win back users who have switched over to Firefox.

There is one new feature, however, which is being largely overlooked by the tech sites, but it's the one which will likely get the most use.  It's called "In Private" browsing.  When activated, the computer will not record any search, history, form, or password data and will not store any cookies or temp files.  According to Microsoft, it's designed to be used on public computers when checking your e-mail or other tasks with sensitive information (why anyone would still be stupid enough to use sensitive info on a public computer, I have no idea) or for when you're buying gifts for family members at home and don't want the website to show up in the history list, so the family member can't accidentally find out about it.  I suppose these are both legitimate reasons to use the feature, and many people will likely find it very useful for this purpose.  There's another use for this feature, though, which will likely find much higher adoption: porn.

That's right, teenage boys and bashful husbands the world over should be rejoicing.  With a single click of a button, it's now possible to surf for all the porn you can handle without leaving any trace for those nosey parents/spouses to find.  Sure, before this you could always go into the internet files and manually delete all the cookies, history, search records, and temp files, but that was more work, there was always the chance that you'd miss something, and the savvy snoop could notice that browser history always seemed to disappear after you used the computer.  Now that's all taken care of in one simple fix.

So, while it appears no one in the media has figured this out yet, don't be surprised if you hear a news story in the near future about advocacy groups attacking Microsoft for making a tool which makes it so easy for minors to access porn behind their parent's backs.

Microsoft Porn Explorer.  Until then...

Sleep well,

DTE