On Monday 02 November 2009 10:16:33 pm Anders Johansson wrote:
On Tuesday 03 November 2009 03:58:21 Richard Creighton wrote:
In my case, there is a hell of a lot more than my User ID and settings in the files that I can decipher,
READ the article
I did, and I still see nothing that the larger file storage could do to me that a simple user ID couldn't. And the tracking still means that they keep track of the web sites from which you loaded their ad - install an ad blocking plugin in firefox, and your problem is solved. No ads, no tracking
Anders
Anders, I do and instantly if not sooner install ad blockers such as Ad Block Plus, which does a great job of blocking unwanted ads. However, these 3rd party LOS files (*.sol) are NOT required to be embedded in a viewable FLASH file. Many are executed without the knowledge or permission of the owner of the machine and as they are able to open and gather data stored in other LOS files on your system, over a period of time, a huge amount of information is accumulated and distributable to anyone who knows they are there. Advertising firms have 'stables' of clients that want and share this information, one 'flookie' at a time, accumulating into a 'mega flookie' maintained not on the server but on your own computer in a cookie the server can retrieve anytime it wishes simply by your visiting *any* of the cooperating sites. ...and IF a simple user ID was sufficient, why the need for 100K - 1M and more in the 'flookies'? It is hard to block what I don't know exists and it is even harder to erase it if I can't find it because it is well hidden. Also, some servers will maintain a copy of the 'flookie' on their site, add to it when other information is gathered from whatever source, and even if you erase your copy, they can and do 'regenerate' the data on your machine the next time you visit a cooperating site. They are not *supposed* to be executable, but there is nothing to prevent executable code from being uploaded to your machine, stored in a 'flookie' and with the cooperation of a reader like Adobe, launch the code. No, it isn't supposed to happen, but neither are worms and viruses supposed to happen. Giving hackers a way to infiltrate your machine, unimpeded and unquestioned is giving them the keys to the machine. It is inevitable that one will use it to start their destructo mechanisms. bin.clearspring.com is one of the big ad data collection sites....I never ever went there for any reason, yet the biggest file on my machine has their name on it as the 'owning domain'. To the best of my knowledge, ABP blocks that site directly...so how did it get there? It got there because of the code in Adobe doing what a 'flash' snippet said to do, even if it was invisible and not part of a regular flash presentation. If you have Adobe Flash, go visit Whitehouse.Gov....then check your ~/.macromedia and see if you didn't get a little present. I did.... Got a few from my bank(s) too. Now, again, my question isn't whether or not 'flookies' are good or safe or valuable or desirable or whatever, I am asking for an alternative to ADOBE versions which are closed source and can and probably do have code in them that could be used to exploit machine and because it is closed source, no one would be the wiser. OPEN SOURCE code at least gives us a fighting chance to discover and eliminate code that improperly uses our computer system resources. If you wish your computer resources to be used to the benefit of advertisers or government agencies, or whomever, then be my guest, I don't and Adobe is handing out keys IMO to anyone that wants to hack into almost 98% of the installed desktop computer base, Windoze and Linux alike. I am only asking what OPEN SOURCE alternatives exist that allow the positive aspects of Flash to be used without opening the door to the trojans, worms, spyware, and data mining of personal information to occur without control. Richard -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse+help@opensuse.org