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Firefox To Block Non-Essential Flash Content In August 2016, Require Click-To-Activate In 2017 (mozilla.org)

Mozilla has announced that it plans to discontinue support for Flash in Firefox. Starting next month, Firefox will block Flash content "that is not essential to the user experience." Also, starting sometime in 2017, the browser will require click-to-activate approval from users before a website activates the Flash plugin for any content. In a blogpost, the company writes:Mozilla and the Web as a whole have been taking steps to reduce the need for Flash content in everyday browsing. Over the past few years, Firefox has implemented Web APIs to replace functionality that was formerly provided only by plugins. This includes audio/video playback and streaming capabilities, clipboard integration, fast 2D and 3D graphics, WebSocket networking, and microphone/camera access. As websites have switched from Flash to other web technologies, the plugin crash rate in Firefox has dropped significantly. [...] We continue to work closely with Adobe to deliver the best possible Flash experience for our users.

30 of 156 comments (clear)

  1. And this is why my primary browser isn't Firefox by HBI · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Too much trying to think for me, without being able to turn the behavior off. Firefox and PKI is an absolute abortion. Now they are going to make people's lives more difficult vis a vis Flash because of some religious reason.

    Way to grow that market share!!

    --
    HBI's Law: Frequency of calling others Nazis is directly correlated with the likelihood of the accuser being Communist.
  2. Re:And this is why my primary browser isn't Firefo by gQuigs · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Chrome has done the first part of this for over a year...

  3. Too damned late. by Sable+Drakon · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Mozilla should have made 'Click to Activate' the default behavior years ago. I've been running with that option toggled on for a few years, and it's never been an issue. If it's running Flash, I don't fucking want it turning on all by itself.

    --
    The Amarri pray for god, the Caldari pray for profit. the Gallente pray for peace, but the Minmatar pray their ships hol
    1. Re:Too damned late. by chipschap · · Score: 2

      I hate Flash too, but some sites that I rely upon still use it, for instance, when you upload your book to CreateSpace, the file picker is Flash.

  4. Yay! by gQuigs · · Score: 2

    I've been pushing for this for quite a while. Especially for us Linux/Firefox users, the EOL of Flash is coming up fast and we need to be ready for it.

    1. Re:Yay! by HBI · · Score: 2

      The EOL date for technology is controlled by the users, not the manufacturer.

      --
      HBI's Law: Frequency of calling others Nazis is directly correlated with the likelihood of the accuser being Communist.
  5. Click2Run should be standard... by OfficeLackey · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Click to run should be the standard for all browsers and multimedia plugins. It's just safer that way. (Though advertisers will hate it...)

    1. Re:Click2Run should be standard... by Sable+Drakon · · Score: 2

      Fuck advertisers. If their ads weren't vehicles of lag, viruses, and obnoxious shit we wouldn't need to restrict them with Flash blocking or ad-blocking.

      --
      The Amarri pray for god, the Caldari pray for profit. the Gallente pray for peace, but the Minmatar pray their ships hol
  6. Re:And this is why my primary browser isn't Firefo by Sable+Drakon · · Score: 2

    And what browser are you going to end up on? Because every sane modern browser is moving to 'Click to Activate' for Flash at the very least, and many other plug-ins as well.

    --
    The Amarri pray for god, the Caldari pray for profit. the Gallente pray for peace, but the Minmatar pray their ships hol
  7. Re:And this is why my primary browser isn't Firefo by HBI · · Score: 2

    OK, you enable "accept any certificate" in about:config, right now. I'll be waiting...while Firefox denies connection to old devices, with not a thing to be done about it.

    Knowing what you're talking about is a prerequisite for being snide.

    --
    HBI's Law: Frequency of calling others Nazis is directly correlated with the likelihood of the accuser being Communist.
  8. Re:And this is why my primary browser isn't Firefo by HBI · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Pale Moon with Noscript. When they decide to start thinking for me, i'll look for another browser...

    --
    HBI's Law: Frequency of calling others Nazis is directly correlated with the likelihood of the accuser being Communist.
  9. Re:Why? by LichtSpektren · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Believe it or not, there's a lot of people who just run Firefox or Chrome fresh from the install without any tinkering or extensions. There's a reason why ads are still the biggest vector for malware.

  10. Re:And this is why my primary browser isn't Firefo by HBI · · Score: 2

    No it isn't. Windows failure to segment "Administrator" from "General Purpose User" for most of the last 25 years is. Flash is way down on the list. And besides which, this is a shitty way to enforce security. Click through access does nothing for security whatsoever except make people feel good. The user gets used to clicking through without thinking and you have the same vulnerability anyway.

    --
    HBI's Law: Frequency of calling others Nazis is directly correlated with the likelihood of the accuser being Communist.
  11. Re:Imagine a car that doesn't drive to Walmart... by LichtSpektren · · Score: 2

    Imagine a car that doesn't drive to Walmart... because it disagrees with Walmart policies. Browser is a vehicle, it has no value on its own. And if that vehicle will start telling me where I should and shouldn't go, I will just ditch it. "Click to activate" is fine. Making user aware that flash may not be safe is fine. But "discontinue support for Flash in Firefox" is not OK, regardless of what I think about Flash as a technology. While it remains on many sites, it must be supported for browser to be of any use.

    Bad analogy. A car is like your keyboard and mouse. Discontinuing Flash in the browser is like the city preventing pipe builders from connecting people's drinking water pipes to the radioactive waste dump.

  12. Re:And this is why my primary browser isn't Firefo by LichtSpektren · · Score: 3

    Pale Moon with Noscript. When they decide to start thinking for me, i'll look for another browser...

    Explain how the browser is "thinking for you" by discontinuing support for something. Firefox is free software. Fork it and support Flash yourself if you care so much. Mozilla doesn't want to waste the resources on a plugin that causes problems for millions of people.

  13. Re:And this is why my primary browser isn't Firefo by lgw · · Score: 4, Funny

    IE just won't play flash unless you have the latest, as far as I can tell.

    Edge will, well, no matter what it does you're still doing it on Edge.

    Lynx has successfully blocked Flash since 1992 - everyone else is that far behind.

    --
    Socialism: a lie told by totalitarians and believed by fools.
  14. Control Javascript by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    I agree with "Click2Run should be standard", but that's not enough.

    Mozilla writes:

    But plugins often introduce stability, performance, and security issues for browsers. This is not a trade-off users should have to accept.

    Well Javascript is the single biggest factor which "often introduces stability, performance, and security issues for browsers" . And to use Mozilla's words, this is not a trade-off which users should have to accept either. Why Mozilla does nothing to control and limit the impact of the primary enemy and instead leaves it to add-ons is incomprehensible.

    At the very least, the Javascript engine should be frozen on out-of-focus tabs unless specifically enabled to run continuously on that tab. Without that, Firefox with tabs will continue to run like molasses because web designers are universally myopic and unwilling to limit their abuse of users' CPU.

  15. Re:And this is why my primary browser isn't Firefo by HBI · · Score: 2

    The fact that you drank the kool-aid and think Flash is the problem is why you aren't seeing what's wrong with a browser discontinuing support for something that is still a presence on the Web.

    --
    HBI's Law: Frequency of calling others Nazis is directly correlated with the likelihood of the accuser being Communist.
  16. That's OK, my flash is outdated anyway by drinkypoo · · Score: 2

    The last two flash installers have just hung forever on my system, so I'm not even watching anything that requires it right now. Maybe later, if Adobe figures out how to lay some files down on a Windows box. I'm not holding my breath. They become less competent with every passing hour.

    --
    "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
  17. Flash deprecation by whoozwah · · Score: 5, Informative

    Good. Maybe next people will stop requiring javascript too. Too many sites require javascript to be enabled just to click on a damn link.

  18. Re:And this is why my primary browser isn't Firefo by Aaden42 · · Score: 2

    The fact you drank the kool-aid and think Flash is anything other than a problem seems to be the problem here.

  19. Re:And this is why my primary browser isn't Firefo by Anonymous+Brave+Guy · · Score: 2

    I don't see HBI saying anything of the sort. They're saying that browsers discontinuing support and thus making content on the Web inaccessible to their users is a bad thing.

    And they're absolutely right.

    The trend for modern browsers to drop support for any standard more than five minutes old, and in doing so cut off huge amounts of valuable content developed over multiple decades, is exactly the opposite of what the Web is supposed to be about.

    --
    If you disagree, post your argument. (-1, Overrated) isn't your personal censorship tool for views you don't like.
  20. Re:And this is why my primary browser isn't Firefo by HBI · · Score: 2

    For that matter, what do you mean "breaking compatibility with any Firefox addon"? Haven't found one yet (that I would want) that I haven't been able to run in Pale Moon. Whatever the "breakage", it must not be very significant.

    --
    HBI's Law: Frequency of calling others Nazis is directly correlated with the likelihood of the accuser being Communist.
  21. Re:And this is why my primary browser isn't Firefo by operagost · · Score: 2

    Indeed. Firefox has had the ability to "Ask to activate" a plugin for a long time. I have had Flash set to this for years now. They could have made this the default for Flash, when either Firefox or Flash is first installed.

    --

    Gamingmuseum.com: Give your 3D accelerator a rest.
  22. Re:Not using flash... by AF_Cheddar_Head · · Score: 2

    vSphere vCenter Web Client requires Flash. You read that right a tool essential to managing today's server environment requires you to install Flash on your management workstation. Even better the newest version has features that can only be accessed through the Web Client.

    Much fun explaining to your security guys that you have to have the security-challenged Flash plug-ins on that machine.

  23. sites by enthusiasts for enthusiasts by Thud457 · · Score: 2

    Some of us liked the internet before the Crisis of Infinite Septembers.

    The rest of you whippersnappers can get off my lawn and take your damn billboards with you.

    --

    the preceding comment is my own and in no way reflects the opinion of the Joint Chiefs of Staff

  24. Re:And this is why my primary browser isn't Firefo by bheerssen · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Flash isn't any sort of standard except in the limited sense that it is used on a lot of web sites. It's a proprietary, closed source plugin and application; the precise opposite of a standard. This so-called "standard" exists solely at the whim of one company, Adobe, and they can do whatever they wish with it without regard to its users or anyone else. For instance, they dropped Linux support a few years ago without any input from the community.

    In my opinion, Flash is an abomination that can't die soon enough. The same goes for Microsoft's Silverlight.

    --
    (Score: -1, Stupid)
  25. Re:And this is why my primary browser isn't Firefo by bhcompy · · Score: 2

    I use it for work, just like Java. And by that I mean I have customers that use these plugins for essential tasks and without a browser to run the plugins, these customers are left out on their ass. For instance, I'm currently logged in to a customer's system through a browser based Java RDP client. They do not have other options. They don't have the resources to purchase other options. They don't have the IT staff to implement other options. What they have works. In order to make it continue working, I need to have a browser that can use the plugin or create a VM with the supported browser and plugin installed and auto-update disabled on the browser. I have other customers that use Flash similarly.

    And, of course, this doesn't save us from anything. HTML5 is just as much a vector as Flash or Java.

  26. Re:And this is why my primary browser isn't Firefo by Anonymous+Brave+Guy · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Flash isn't any sort of standard except in the limited sense that it is used on a lot of web sites.

    And, until recently, more widely available and consistent across platforms than just about any official web standards other than HTML 4, CSS 2.1 and HTTP. In other words, Flash was a standard in the only way that really matters: it worked the same almost everywhere. Which, by the way, is far more than can be said for many of the new shiny toys that are supposed to replace it.

    It's a proprietary, closed source plugin and application; the precise opposite of a standard.

    Well, for one thing, that isn't anything like the precise opposite of a standard.

    As for proprietary, closed source, and running as a separate process, have you looked at how HTML5 video works on iOS lately? Or the uses of EME, which is now a W3C standard? Or the number of different encodings you need to create to do something as simple as playing a video across most browsers in 2016, compared to the exactly one you needed with any number of Flash video players before?

    This so-called "standard" exists solely at the whim of one company, Adobe, and they can do whatever they wish with it without regard to its users or anyone else.

    How is that fundamentally different to all the major browsers pushing substandard HTML5 features instead because Google decides Chrome will do so and everyone else apparently feels the need to emulate them? Meet the new boss, same as the old boss (except that now you can't even see what the old boss was like any more because all the records are inaccessible).

    --
    If you disagree, post your argument. (-1, Overrated) isn't your personal censorship tool for views you don't like.
  27. Re:And this is why my primary browser isn't Firefo by hairyfeet · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I am because those "flash Exploits" are damned near all executing JavaScript which is the REAL threat here, you get rid of that stinking pile of offal that is JavaScript? I seriously doubt flash or any other plugin would be a problem.

    Oh and lets not kid ourselves about Flash being dropped, mmkay? It didn't have shit to do with security it had to do with Apple not wanting games running outside the iStore and because all the content creators kiss the iAss for fear of not getting a shot at the iMoney they went along with it.

    And what did we get to replace it, A proprietary as fuck DRM filled mess that is HTML V5 which is practically a love letter to Apple and MSFT...yeah because THAT is progress. say what you want about Adobe but 1.- they let anyone bundle flash into any OS, be it FOSS or proprietary, 2.- They even allowed FOSS alternatives like gnash to be developed...you think MPEG-LA is gonna tolerate that shit with H.265?

    Lets face it the whole thing is a giant clusterfuck right now, with the corps racing to see who can make HTML V5 the most nasty and content creators cheering all the way because God forbid they offend the great and mighty Apple. Mark my words in 5 years you'll be BEGGING for something like Flash because all we will have is paywalled DRM content with unskippable malware ridden ads and none of it will play unless you are on the latest corporate approved OS.

    --
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