Adobe FlashPlayer Sucks!

Discussion in 'privacy problems' started by itman, Oct 18, 2012.

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  1. itman

    itman Registered Member

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    Recently, I started noticing these constant connects to clouldfront.net domains. These start the minute the home page displays.

    Research shows cloudfront.net is a Amazon content provider like Akamai. You cannot block it in your browser directly.

    Cloudfront.net has a checkered past. Strangely WOT rates it OK.

    IE9 privacy tracking protection immediately blocks a rum.js script in it so it's definitely tracking you.

    There is a malware version of cloudfront.net but my PC is clean of that one.

    So where did this sucker come from? A lot more research shows Flash bundles the turkey in it's update download. OK .............. My Flashplayer settings block everything and nothing is allowed to run.

    :argh: Forgot FlashPlayer updates always sets on the options to allow Flash to store its various components "to speed up" things.

    So I set off all those options and delete everything.

    Whalla, no more cloudfront.net connections. Adobe - you suck mega time!
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Oct 18, 2012
  2. LockBox

    LockBox Registered Member

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    I fail to see the problem with CloudFront. If you're concerned because you think you're seeing it more than you should - enable your router logging for a couple of days and take a look. Trace routes, do some of the obvious things to see if there's anything nefarious. I really doubt it. If you don't trust WOT, are we going to need a truster to tell us whether WOT can be trusted? And then something to tell us if the truster of WOT needs a truster itself? Ad infinitum. Good luck!
     
  3. hogndog

    hogndog Registered Member

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    Are you talking about the settings in your control panel or the Adobe global control panel? I've tried setting mine to block but it won't save my settings.. o_O

    Thanks..
    Hogndog
     
  4. itman

    itman Registered Member

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    Here's the scoop on cloudfront.net.

    I never saw it in my connections till a week or so ago. ATT is my ISP and its home page appears to be the primary culprit. Connect to that home page and I have a clouldfront.net redirect connection. Sometimes multiple ones. I could live that that but the connections tend to tag along as I browse. This is tracking activity plain and simple.

    I have switched home page and so far no cloudfront.net connections.
     
    Last edited: Oct 19, 2012
  5. hogndog

    hogndog Registered Member

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  6. itman

    itman Registered Member

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    The settings I referred to about FlashPlayer component saving etc. are in the Abode global control panel. I love how Adobe does that; not showing the allow component and cache settings on the desktop control panel.
     
  7. itman

    itman Registered Member

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    Yes without a doubt, this clouldfront.net is related to the new att.net homepage.

    Dslreports.com has some choice comments on the new web page; all bad. Someone did post there how to get the old att.net home page back. Change you browser home page to the old http://my.yahoo.com sign-on page. After logging on, the old ATT home page will be displayed minus the clould crap.
     
  8. focus

    focus Registered Member

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    I sometimes have Tcpview (from Sysinternals) running while I am browsing and am frequently startled by how many connections are made to places like cloudfront, akami or amazon while just looking at the news or update sites, like Filehippo. I don't know if it is connected to Flashplayer or not, more likely these places are big players in the "cloud" and websites contract with them for the services the provide. I have wondered about the privacy implications of this but that is probably moving beyond the scope of this thread.
     
  9. itman

    itman Registered Member

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    I guess I should close out this discussion with the statement that use of content providers is per se not is overt tracking but the potential certainly exists. You are being redirected at the server level and there is no way to block that.

    I am attaching an article that is directed to users of content providers. Pay close attention to paragraph no. 7. It shows how web site developers can use their access logs to exam web traffic.

    http://www.explainthatstuff.com/blocking-cloudfront-hotlinks.html
     
  10. Sir paranoids

    Sir paranoids Registered Member

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    yip tell me something i dont know.
    thing it total malware ~ spyware

    btw VLC player can play all most all flash content ;) depends on the site though.
    you-tube no problem VLC player link
     
  11. mant

    mant Registered Member

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    Yeah, I stick with the latest v.10 released some weeks ago. v10 is non double separate process plugin-container when watching videos. The new Flash Player plugin seems too bloating with many unnecessary experimental code, be careful.






    :ninja:
     
    Last edited: Nov 6, 2012
  12. Sir paranoids

    Sir paranoids Registered Member

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    and then theirs the Flashback "fake flash player" tojan that did the rounds at one point.
    its a fake flash player installer that gives someone full control over the affected pc as well as turns your computer in to a botnat zonbie or worse.
    as well its not just for mac computers nm how i know ^^.

    that one was nasty.

    as well even if you disable everything you can in flash player it still collects LOS regardless yay.

    and ya ill have to try out version 10 Mant at some point,the newer ones run like crap on a p4 3000mgz~amd k7 3200+ cpu with a gig of ram and a half decent video card and really for a media player that's uncalled for.
    total bloatware and imho it shouldn't need that much power to run.
    as it is i can watch a avi movie on a p3 600mgz with 128megs ram + voodoo3 video card and it runs fine in win98 so plz.
     
  13. itman

    itman Registered Member

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    I keep it under control by using IE9 ActiveXFiltering. If I want to watch a video, etc., I just temporarily disable ActiveXFiltering.
     
  14. Jim1cor13

    Jim1cor13 Registered Member

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    Same here itman. When I use IE 9 the active x filtering is active until I want to watch a vid. I did notice that flash player does still load in some pages, in others it does not. haven't figured out why yet. I assume it has to do with how the filter operates.
     
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