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But since Internet Explorer (IE) 8, every browser has a private mode. In IE it is called "InPrivate", in Mozilla calls it "Private Browsing", in Chrome it is the "Incognito browsing" and Opera even has "Private Tabs" (what about Safari? I don't know).
But why do they have it? This is just a pseudo security, because malware just could enter your browser as like as in times without this mode. So, in my opinion, the name "private" is bad, because for me, private with a browser starts with a private mode and a program like "sandboxie". The browser also deletes trace on your computer, not on the servers you are visting. So, other people who could see the visiters (so, the ID) on these servers, could find you. The result is that many people call this mode "Porn mode", because you can visit them and (maybe) don't have to get ashamed.
But is this unofficial name correct? In my opinion it is not correct. Sure, this private modes are only pseudo security features, but if you have a look into deeper details, you can see one small positive aspect: The deleting of traces, even cookies. You know, many (ok, every) sites are saving cookies on your PC, so they could identify you better, when visiting the site again. Some malware-making people use these cookies for getting nice informations about the user who has their malware. So, when visitng personal sites, like the ones of your bank, your email or of your social network, you make it harder to these guys to get informations. Well, short-dated. Because if you are thinking about how many different types of malware you can find on the Internet, the ones, looking for cookies is nearly (!) nothing.
But there are some people using this mode for visiting sites with naked peoples and they don't want other people to see this (just thinkj about it: How many people are looking through a nearly endless list of cache, cookies and all these things, just to see that another person is going to these sites? What a crazy thought). But there must be more than one or two persons doing or thinking that, because the name "Porn mode" is not really unpopular.

The question about sense and non-sense of the private mode is a stupid question. Many people use it for these things, others for these things. In my opinion, the private mode makes sense, if you are just visiting sites with really important and personal informations (especially the site of your bank). Other people think different and the rest don't cares, because they don't know anything or they don't want to think about it. But it is a pity that this gets such a big trend that some (some, not really much) people are changing the browser for the simple reason of the missing private mode. Hey, there are aspects in life which are more importat than a private mode. You can have privacy everywhere, if you want to.