Mozilla become the latest developer to add an optional “privacy” feature to its web browser, Firefox, the private mode will feature in the new Firefox version, it prevent the browser from downloading cookies or storing searches in the user’s web history, this means other people using the same PC/notebook can’t see which site a user has viewed.

The feature is also said to tighten security on public computer as the setting can be used to prevent others from seeing bank web site and log-in details. The option is already available in apple’s safari and Google chrome, Google, meanwhile is under pressure from the European Union (EU) to do more to protect people’s search details.

Google said it would retain data logs of user’s search detail for nine months rather than the previous 18 months, the decision follow the article 29 working party report drawn up by national privacy commissioners from all 27 EU members states in April, it found that search companies have no need to retain personal data for more than six months, Google’s announcement was a good step in the right direction, the search giant should cut the time further to six month, the report added that if Google and other search engines failed to adopt the recommendation, the EU would consider pushing to adopt legislation to restrict search data retention to its recommended level.