Puppy Linux Discussion Forum

[Flash]

http://blogs.techrepublic.com.com/security/?p=2299&tag=nl.e036

[OlddogNewtricks]

Hi Flash, it's a hidden folder in root generated by flash player named .macromedia. If you haven't got one already just play a youtube video then have a look. You can delete the folder manually, create a script to delete the folder with one click i.e.
rm -rf /root/.macromedia
or there is a firefox addon for dealing with it, the name of which escapes me at the moment.

It's just more spyware.

[OlddogNewtricks]

Just remembered the addon it's called Better Privacy.

[dogone]

[Billwho?]

I went for a slightly different fix that is always in operation but does not require a script.
See This post for details.

[aarf]

http://www.macromedia.com/support/documentation/en/flashplayer/help/settings_manager07.html

[puppyite]

Before you make your choices in the Flash Settings Manager you may delete all files with the .sol extension in both Puppy and / or Windows.

After you make your choices in the Flash Settings Manager make note of the settings.sol file date and then periodically do a search for it and all .sol files to satisfy yourself that nothing has been changed or added.

On my PC's after I deleted all the .sol files in Windows I checked Puppy and found none but settings.sol which (as the name implies) stores the setting choices.

Note: I don't visit You(Boob)Tube.com. If I want to watch something moronic on video I turn on my 35" RCA CRT TV. YMMV.

[rupert589]

Web site hosts and advertisers do not like relying on HTTP cookies. Users have figured out how to avoid them. According to Bruce Schneier, Web site developers now have a better way. It’s still considered a cookie, yet it’s different.
* Flash cookies can hold a lot more data, up to 100 Kilobytes. A standard HTTP cookie is only 4 Kilobytes.
* Flash cookies have no expiration date by default.
* Flash cookies are stored in different locations, making them difficult to find.

[johnjudd]

Flash cookies can also back up the data that is stored in a regular cookie. When you delete cookies using your browser controls, your Flash cookies are not affected. So a website that served a cookie to you may recognise you on your next visit if it backed up its now-deleted cookie data to a Flash cookie.

[benali72]

Thanks for this excellent thread. I also learned a lot by reading the users' Reviews of the Firefox BetterPrivacy Add-on.

It makes me angry that companies use their greater technological expertise to violate the privacy of their users and customers in this way.

Thank goodness for free tools like BetterPrivacy.

[smokey01]

Is there a way to read the contents of a flash cookie?

I tried to open it as text and that didn't work.

[DavidMcCann]

One poster mentioned the online Flash settings manager. It doesn't work, at least for me. It creates a file in .adobe that sets the size of the cookie cash, so theoretically setting it to zero should solve the problem. But I found that cookies were still being stored, in either of

~/macromedia/Flash_Player/#SharedObjects
~/macromedia/Flash_Player/macromedia.com/support/flashplayer/sys

If you make these directories read-only, that stops the cookies, but a few sites no longer work.

The settings manager also enables you to deactivate Flash's ability to turn on your webcam and microphone. They are watching: be afraid, be very afraid ...

[snowshaker]

[nooby]

Very interesting thread.

They are that determined to know what youtube video one look at.

What about the coming thing? HTLM5 which should be able to play everything Flash without a Flash player?

Will they have an even more clever way to collect data on my habit to listen to Johnny Cash "I walk the Line"