Internet Security and Privacy

Purpose

Web users are increasingly concerned that websites can locate them in the physical world, profile them in the virtual world, and correlate this information to form a "complete" identity. Web users also express concerns over websites sharing their personal data with other parties, such as marketing contacts, for unexpected purposes like online behavior analysis. The problem is exacerbated by the fact that many users are often unaware of such data collection practices. Learn how to develop technologies that help protect your user's privacy and help enhance the safety and security of their computing experience.

In this section

Topic Description

Antivirus

The Antivirus API enables software vendors to design and implement antivirus applications that interface with host applications such as Microsoft Office 2000 and Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.

Authenticode

Microsoft Authenticode, which is based on industry standards, allows developers to include information about themselves and their code with their programs through the use of digital signatures.

Internet privacy

This section contains reference information for the API elements exposed by Microsoft Internet Explorer 6 privacy features.

Internet ratings

This section covers the Internet Ratings API used to support ratings on the Windows Internet Explorer platform.

Personal settings and extensions

This section describes interfaces that manage individual Internet Explorer settings for users and provide extensibility features, such as WebDriver support.

Protected mode and enhanced protected mode reference

This section describes the API for Internet Explorer Protected Mode and Enhanced Protected Mode (EPM).

Rights-managed HTML SDK

The Rights Management Add-on for Internet Explorer allows users to read MIME Encapsulation of Aggregate HTML Documents (MHTML) content that has been protected with Windows Rights Management (RM) technology. This software development kit (SDK) describes the format of rights-managed HTML which can be viewed with the Rights Management Add-on. The sections included in this SDK describe this format primarily for the benefit of developers of content publishing software, so that their applications can include functionality to create content with restricted permission.

Security zones

URL security zones enable administrators to divide URL namespaces according to their respective levels of trust and to manage each level with an appropriate URL policy. A supplied API enables developers to interact with the default URL security zone manager, or to create a custom URL security zone manager.

Tracking protection lists

Tracking Protection Lists (TPLs) help give consumers more control over their privacy. This information is for developers, information technology professionals (IT pros), or anyone who wants to create Tracking Protection Lists and host them on their own or a central website