Your company may not be a fan of a new Microsoft feature that helps Web surfers hide their online activity.

Early this week, the software giant confirmed that it will include “private browsing” as a feature in the next version of its Web browser, Internet Explorer 8.

Also known as “porn mode,” the ability to cover one’s online tracks is a capability other browsers have featured in past releases. Now MS seems to be climbing on the band wagon.

The updated browser is expected to go to testers later this week.

The private browsing feature, called “InPrivate,” lets users hide their online visits. According to reports, Microsoft is taking this functionality to new levels.

IE 8 lets users to delete selected cookies — not just all of them. This means a user can ditch evidence of some visited sites, but hang onto the cookies of other favorite sites. (For example, a user could delete cookies from a kiddie porn site, but not have to get rid of the ones that make it easy to log into their bank statement or buy movie tickets via a Web page.)

This from the official IE blog:

“Have you ever wanted to take your web browsing ‘off the record’? Perhaps you’re using someone else’s computer and you don’t want them to know which sites you visited. Maybe you need to buy a gift for a loved one without ruining the surprise. Maybe you’re at an Internet kiosk and don’t want the next person using it to know at which website you bank.

“What if you want to delete your browsing history after the fact, but you don’t want to lose your preferences at websites that you use frequently?

“When we began planning IE8, we took a hard look at our customers’ concerns about privacy on the Web. As evidenced by some of the comments on this blog during the IE7 days, many users are concerned about so-called ‘over-the-shoulder privacy’, or the ability to control what their spouses, friends, kids, and co-workers might see.”

The IE blog touts some more privacy features, including:

• “InPrivate Blocking informs you about content that is in a position to observe your browsing history, and allows you to block it,” and
• “InPrivate Subscriptions allow you to augment the capability of InPrivate Blocking by subscribing to lists of websites to block or allow.”

Tags: Internet Explorer, policy, private browsing