Flash Cookies!
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Posted: 01 December 2007 10:46 AM   [ Ignore ]  
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Have you ever heard of Flash cookies? I hadn’t either until a couple of days ago when I listened to Leo Laporte’s internet stream of “Security Now! with Steve Gibson.”

It turns out that web developers have figured a way of using Flash, which resides on almost every computer, for storing cookies about which most users are completely unaware. I was! Furthermore there’s no way currently of editing those cookies from within the user’s computer environment. You can’t even access them. All is not lost, however. There is web access through the Adobe Flash site to these sneaky cookies. There you can establish permissons for future acceptance and delete current cookies. Do it today… you’ll be amazed by this hidden sneakery.

http://www.macromedia.com/support/documentation/en/flashplayer/help/settings_manager03.html

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Posted: 01 December 2007 11:21 AM   [ Ignore ]   [ # 1 ]  
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This is all a bit confusing, other than Adobe and Flash developers trying to figure out a way to control our computers. That’s just typical. Both are evil.

How does one obtain a standalone Adobe Flash player for the Mac? Where are the ‘Flash cookies’ stored?

This Link shows a Flash control panel which can be used right inside the browser window, but I am not sure if this is what is needed to control Flash Wickedness.

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Posted: 01 December 2007 11:25 AM   [ Ignore ]   [ # 2 ]  
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Insidious. Devious.

I know about Cookies and at least the browser offers some control over what gets accepted, what doesn’t, etc. But this is more insidious as it could give someone else control over your Mac’s iSight camera.

Adobe’s Flash Player Help screens offer some details. I cannot tell whether the control panel affects my Mac or not. Adobe should be ashamed. They’ve become as corrupt and evil as Microsoft.

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Posted: 01 December 2007 11:32 AM   [ Ignore ]   [ # 3 ]  
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Hi Danny Boy,

I wouldn’t go so far to proclaim it evil although it could be used for pernicious ends. The link you provided is the overall global settings site. I provided one of the menu items on the right “Website Privacy Settings Panel” which is the panel to deal with the cookies. While it is confusing at first, it is just another bit of technology and as I suggested, you can set permissions, delete cookies, etc. This is an issue which people need to know about so they can deal with it. When I edited the Flash Cookies of my computer I found about 85 of them. I kept six and denied future use of all the rest. Those six were from my Bank and other important personal connections.

If you go to the link which I provided (also accessible from the link you provided), click on the fourth tab from the left and you will arrive at “Website Privacy Settings” which is where you can deal with editing permissions and deletion of those Flash cookies.

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Posted: 01 December 2007 11:46 AM   [ Ignore ]   [ # 4 ]  
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Interesting. I was not aware of Flash cookies, and I doubt seriously if most Mac users know of them. It would be interesting to see what functionality Flash cookies provide that is different from browser cookies.

From what I can tell regarding the links above, Flash cookies CAN be dangerous, which, as I understand it, is not the case with standrd browser cookies.

I see an article shaping up on this.

smile

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Posted: 01 December 2007 12:18 PM   [ Ignore ]   [ # 5 ]  
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Kate MacKenzie - 01 December 2007 11:46 AM

I see an article shaping up on this.

smile

I think that’s a great idea, Kate. I fancy myself a fairly astute computer user and I’d never heard of them until this webcast…

http://www.twit.tv/sn120

(Note that the entire cast is not about these but as I remember they were discussed in the first fifteen minutes or so. Toward the end the security discussion went into such arcane details that the my eyes rolled into the back of my head and I lapsed into digital catatonia!)

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