Mozilla is testing a new private browsing mode on its browser, Firefox. The new feature is set to make the current incognito mode, a thing of yesterday's private browsing technology. The web browser's own private browsing mode has first been announced on Friday, August 14. Mozilla Firefox's version has combined existing privacy features to make the browser even more private than it already is.
The Firefox team wrote on a post on Friday that, "Our hypothesis is that when you open a Private Browsing window on Firefox, you're sending a signal that you want more control over your privacy than current private settings actually provide." Thus, the team has incorporated technologies that are similar to Privacy Badger and Ghostery. They are plug-ins used to keep one's browsing habits to himself.
According to Tech Crunch, Mozilla Firefox, with its own incognito mode, will allow users to keep online services from tracking their online activities and browsing habits. The browser will also not keep a record of its users' browsing history. The existing incognito mode for websites such as Safari and Google Chrome only has the no history feature. The websites visited, apart from online services, can still trace views from the user who clicked on such sites. Firefox also has this incognito mode.
The new private browsing mode can also block other means of recording a particular user's browsing habits. This includes content and analytics services among others. The users may opt to unblock such services if they want to. Mozilla's official blog post on the experimental private browsing mode indicated that some sites may appear broken if the services are blocked. The testing of Firefox's incognito mode has also begun on Friday, August 14, using Firefox Developer Edition on Windows, Mac and Linux.
Apart from Firefox's incognito mode being tested, Mozilla has also added on the same post that it is currently working with developers to make add-ons safer. The company has set standards and created a process which are all set to verify the safety of the add-ons.
Last week, Firefox has been plagued by a vulnerability that steals computer files from the site's visitors. Mozilla has issued a bug fix for the flaw, which is available to the latest version of Mozilla Firefox.
