IE8 Will Contain an Accidental Ad Blocker

JagsLive sends in a Washington Post blog post reflecting on one privacy-enhancing feature of the upcoming Internet Explorer 8, the so-called "InPrivate Blocking" that has privacy advocates quietly cheering, and advertisers seriously worrying. Here is Microsoft's description of the feature. From the Post: "The advertising industry is bracing for trouble from the next version of Microsoft's Internet Explorer, details of which were announced today, because it will offer a feature that blocks some ads and other content from third-parties that shows up on Web pages. A Microsoft spokesman said that the feature, to be known as 'InPrivate Blocking,' was never designed to be an ad blocker, though 'there may be ads that get blocked.' Instead, it was designed to stop tracking 'pixels' or pieces of code that could allow third-party sites to track users as they move around the Web."

Comments

Adblockers = theft

[Anonymous Coward]

Using AdBlockers is theft anyway. Ever wondered why those internet services are free?

Maybe it's just the minority that doesn't know how to dose ads on their page or the ones that blow up pages to serveral megs with their ads that forces some people to use those adblockers

Re:They just don't get it do they

[SerpentMage]

If IE has a better adblocker, why would I use firefox?

I am using FireFox right now... I like Firefox, but if IE had a really good adblock I would be VERY tempted to move to IE.

Re:They just don't get it do they

[Anonymous Coward]

If Opera had an option to block that and the other analytics/advert script sites I'd be happy.

It does, troll.

Microsoft = aggression

[je ne sais quoi]

It does seem like a pretty good feature. Given Microsoft's fairly aggressive philosophy towards its competitors though, it's reasonable to be suspicious of their motives however and also suspicious they will misuse it. Yeah sure, it's a bit of damned if you and damned it you don't, but that's their reputation.