[clue-talk] IE8 "hidden history" will rat on you, Mozilla to follow suit

[Sean LeBlanc]

On 08-29 19:39, Jed S. Baer wrote:
> Hey all you privacy mavens, this one's interesting.
> 
> http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,412161,00.html
> 
> [pasteage]
> automatically conceals sites visited by wiping clean browsing and search
> history, cookies, form data and passwords. It also clears the browser
> cache at the end of each session.
> [snip]
> Although casual users cannot see the previous user???s search history,
> authorities such as the police will be able to access it if necessary.
> Rival developer Mozilla said it is working to add similiar features to
> its Firefox browser, the New York Times reported.
> [/pasteage]
> 
> So I guess if you're a Chinese dissident, or activist in some other
> fashion somewhere -- where the authorities frown on that, or maybe a
> Christian in hostile territory, you'll want to be looking for something
> else to use. I'm wondering if Mozilla will embed that into the Gecko
> engine, or if it'll be just Firefox doing it.
> 
> I hope they get plenty of backlash over it.
> 
> Yeah, I know. The authorities can spy on you in myriad ways if they want
> to. I fail to see any need to just roll over for them.


Well, call me skeptical, but has anyone  found any other sources on the
Mozilla part of that? I tried to do a bit of googling, and haven't had much
luck. If Faux News tells me the sun is coming up tomorrow, I find I pretty
much have to check myself... ;) And just about every MSM outlet reporting on
technical things seem to bungle something... 

I certainly hope this is wrong, anyway.

My thinking is: what's the value-add for a user for a "feature" like this?
Mozilla is free, yes, but one of the alleged advantages to open source is
that you don't have a blob of binary doing who knows what behind your back.
Now, as to what percentage of people go over the source with a fine-tooth
comb actually looking for nefarious things like the above, who knows.


As to why MS would do this - again, not sure what their angle is, but then,
what was AT&T's, other than being good bootlickers for tyrants?

I no longer sub to computer privacy digest (CPD); I'm not sure it even
exists anymore. That was a great mailing list. I got my newsgroups situation
sorted; I might have to sub to comp.society.privacy.

-- 
Sean LeBlanc:seanleblanc at comcast.net
http://sean-leblanc.blogspot.com
Serocki's Stricture:
	Marriage is always a bachelor's last option.