Internet Explorer 9 gets tracking protection lists

Microsoft have announced a new feature which will appeal to a large audience. A block to the online tracking that pollutes the net and can be used to control advertising. The new Microsoft code will tell the browser which third part content can be allowed, and which to block.

The new ‘Tracking Protection Lists' are an opt in feature, not forced on the user and Microsoft have stated that they will not be supplying any lists themselves. Other sources can provide these lists which can also be automatically updated by the creators.

InPrivate Filtering is already offered in the browser, which is a heuristic based filtering algorithm which attempts to block some third party scripting and tracking techniques. The problem is that quite often it gets things wrong and can completely block a site from loading. Tracking Protection lists should be a much simplier system which will block the nasty stuff, but leave the content available.

The FTC recently asked for a ‘do not track' button to be added to the main browsers to help people maintain higher levels of security. Microsoft have yet to confirm when the Tracking Protection Lists will be available, but likely it will be sometime in Q1 2011.

KitGuru says: We are all for finely tuned security measures, especially online.

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