Apple Inc. is reportedly adding a privacy feature, called "do-not-track" to its in-development Safari web browser in Mac OS X 10.7 Lion.

Privacy feature "do-not-track" prevents online advertising networks and other tracking tools from monitoring a user’s Web surfing habits.

According to a report published in the Wall Street Journal, Apple has added the privacy feature to latest test version of its Mac OS X operating system that is slated for release this summer.

The US Federal Trade Commission has long been pressurizing browser companies to allow users to have more control over the degree to which advertising companies are able to pursue them online.

But, as usual, Apple declined to comment on unreleased product.

Security researchers, lawyers as well as politicians have also been pressing Apple for information on how Mac OS X and iOS handle users’ data.

Each of the Microsoft Corp., Mozilla and Google Inc. have already announced different sorts of online tracking protection tools for their respective Web browsers.