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Lawsuit Hits Companies Using 'Zombie' Flash Cookies
A privacy activist has filed a lawsuit targeting eight corporate users of Quantcast's "zombie" Flash cookies, in addition to Quantcast itself. The suit alleges that MTV, ESPN, MySpace, Hulu, ABC, Scribd, and others used Quancast's Flash-based cookies to recreate browser tracking cookies that users had taken the trouble to delete. "At issue is technology from Quantcast, also targeted in the lawsuit. Quantcast created Flash cookies that track users across the web, and used them to re-create traditional browser cookies that users deleted from their computers. These 'zombie' cookies came to light last year, after researchers at UC Berkeley documented deleted browser cookies returning to life. Quantcast quickly fixed the issue, calling it an unintended consequence of trying to measure web traffic accurately. ... The lawsuit (PDF)... asks the court to find that the practice violated eavesdropping and hacking laws, and that the practice of secretly tracking users also violated state and federal fair trade laws. The lawsuit alleges a 'pattern of covert online surveillance' and seeks status as a class action lawsuit."
I hate how Slashdot uses zombie flash cookies to try to keep from getting what the Italians call il primo post.
And forgot to delete those cookies from that porn site I didn't go to.
You can't change the !@#$%^& Flash settings on your own computer. You have to go to a Flash website. And you can't manage your flash cookies without going to some obscure website.
It would be the easiest programming thing in the world to let people manage all the Flash settings and cookies right on the computer (no internet).
But noooo... that isn't the way the snoopy Flash people want things to be.
Zombie Flash Cookies. I'm sure they're bad for you, but you have to admit they sound like they'd be tasty.
At least for the Flash cookies on Wintel, the BetterPrivacy plug-in seems to be doing a good job of deleting them for me.
sPh
http://www.macromedia.com/support/documentation/en/flashplayer/help/settings_manager07.html
Noscript users must temporarily allow adobe.com as well. (But at least you don't need to allow real cookies for either domain.)
You can set the flash plugin to not store any data, but it sure gets annoying on some sites when the volume controls don't work. You can also set it to ask, but it's even more annoying to try and hit the "cancel" button 15 times with choppy video behind it.
rm -rf ~/.adobe/Flash_Player/* ~/.macromedia/Flash_Player/* /dev/null ~/.adobe/Flash_Player/AssetCache /dev/null ~/.macromedia/Flash_Player/#SharedObjects /dev/null ~/.macromedia/Flash_Player/macromedia.com
ln -s
ln -s
ln -s
Or just get rid of Adobe Flash entirely.
Warning: this article may contain humor, sarcasm, parody, and perhaps even irony. Read at your own risk.
You logic is flawed. If I kill a human with a Samurai sword, would you blame the maker of the sword?
Do you mean Dell computers with Windows? Maybe, but no version of Windows ever came with Flash.
You're kidding, right?
You are welcome on my lawn.
On Windows, in an elevated command prompt: /setowner SYSTEM /inheritance:r /deny everyone:F
/inheritance:d /deny everyone:(WD,AD)
icacls "%APPDATA%\Macromedia\Flash Player"
icacls "%APPDATA%\Macromedia\Flash Player"
Though I'd recommend a simple:
icacls "%APPDATA%\Macromedia\Flash Player"
If your theory holds, the French could sue the Germans under the DMCA for circumventing the Maginot line. Here's a pro tip: there are some circumventions which have jack all to do with copyright law.
Want to improve your Karma? Instead of "Post Anonymously", try the "Post Humously" option.
CCleaner behaves badly? I beg to differ. CCleaner cleans trash. It ASKS you if you want to clean trash, then it TELLS you about the trash it finds, then ASKS again if you want to delete the trash.
Those who are to stupid to follow directions and/or to examine the results before taking out the trash deserve what they get.
As for those flash game files - big deal if all of them are deleted. The wife plays online flash games. Her files have been deleted by one or another privacy software. She logs back in to the site, and all her "important" saved stuff is loaded back onto her computer. Geez - that's a real burden isnt' it?
After the first time, she learned how to delete those super cookies without deleting the files she wanted saved.
Terrible learning curve, that. It took her all of 30 seconds of cussing and bitching, plus another 90 seconds of reading, and then ten more seconds to change the settings.
Meanwhile, Better Privacy routinely deletes all the asshattery of flash cookies that she didn't specifically authorize on her machine, and everyone is happy. Except the asshats, of course.
As for the lawsuit - yes, Super Cookies are a hack, and should be subject to hacking laws that are meant to protect the average user. Burn Quantcast for developing and using it, and burn everyone who has bought the damned thing. I don't care WHAT business you are in - you have no right to track people unless they specifically opt-in to a tracking program, with full knowledge and understanding of what they are doing.
"Windows is like the faint smell of piss in a subway: it's there, and there's nothing you can do about it." - Charlie Br
Yes, lawyers are interested in getting money. It's not about justice, or consumer rights, or privacy. It's about greedy lawyers always and forever.
Currently hooked on AMP
Don't blame Quantcast. They're using the technology as Macromedia intended - to violate your privacy.
So, as you say they are purposely using software designed to violate your privacy. Why exactly shouldn't we blame them for that again?
OS X can use this program to delete flash cookies http://machacks.tv/2009/01/27/flushapp-flash-cookie-removal-tool-for-os-x/
No program necessary to do this. Just remove ~/Library/Preferences/Macromedia/Flash Player/#SharedObjects. Set up a cron job or an Automator script to do it hourly.
Holy sudos, quick robin to the bat terminal!
Are we on Apple's side again for being anti-Flash? (I lose track so easily)
6.8SPC TR of 550, l xwind at 6, drift rt at 26" drops 77". AT has 503 ft-lbs at 1403 fps. FT 0.86
Actually this is not a troll. Take a look in the C:\windows\help\tours\mmtour folder of a new windows XP 32-bit installation and you will find that the tour is SWF based.
Among other dlls pre-installed on the system is a flash 3 or flash 4, or some similar early version dll (I forget the version or exact file name, but a search for 'flash' or 'swf' in file names on a brand new XP install (you might need to run the tour first to have it appear) should probably find it. I don't believe the browser plug-in ever came pre-installed, but the core DLL most definitely did.
Stylish sheet to fix many problems in Slashdot's D3: https://gist.github.com/801524
I think it would have been funnier if you had said "bash terminal".
Sure I'm paranoid, but am I paranoid enough?