Microsoft unveiled increased privacy options for the upcoming version of its popular web browser Internet Explorer 9 including the ability to prevent tracking by third-party websites.

The US software giant said that the new feature, “Tracking Protection,” is designed to “help consumers be in control of potential online tracking as they move around the web”.

“Tracking Protection is the new privacy feature in Internet Explorer 9 designed to help keep third-party websites from tracking your web behaviour,” Microsoft said in a press release.

Microsoft said it will be built into a test version of IE9 being released early next year.

The default will be for Tracking Protection to be off, Microsoft said, and IE9 users will have to create lists of the third-party websites that they do not want to track their behaviour.

Microsoft’s privacy announcement comes amid moves in Washington to create “Do Not Track” mechanisms that would signal to online services not to collect web surfing or ad-targeting data.

The US Federal Trade Commission last week proposed an online Do Not Track option and a US congressman announced plans to introduce legislation that would bar companies from tracking the behavior of children online.

“Some consumers today have been very clear that they have privacy concerns, like being unclear about what information is being shared and how it is used as they browse,” said Peter Cullen, Microsoft’s chief privacy strategist.

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