I am using a historical version of flash, is that legal?

Question

I found that I can use flash by using version 29.0.0.171 and the browser will still continue to run flash.

If I keep using this version, is it legal?

Also, in China, there is a website flash.cn that says they are an official partner of Adobe and are responsible for continuing to maintain the flash function in China.

Will I be violating their rights by using an older version of flash?

jeromiec83223024 · Accepted Answer

To be clear, Adobe is no longer distributing Flash Player. Because Flash Player's job is primarily to process untrusted/potentially malicous content from the open web, much of what we do is focused on staying ahead of the latest academic security research and intelligence from government and industry about what's happening in the field. That work is no longer happening, and there's a global infrastructure that automatically detects unpatched software and launches exploits with the goal of deploying malware payloads for various purposes. It's a matter of time before that infrastructure catches up with the unmaintained version of Flash Player on your system.

In Mainland China, there is a version of Flash Player distributed by our partner 2144, which continues to be patched and maintained. That version is not distributed by Adobe, and it uses geodetection services to restrict usage to machines physically located in mainland China. Versions of Flash Player previously distributed by Adobe do not run in Mainland China, and vice-versa. If you're in mainland China, you should definintely move to the version distributed by 2144, which is available at flash.cn.

Outside of China, our distribution partner HARMAN continues to maintain Flash Player for usage in large enterprise organizations, but again, those builds are not distributed by Adobe and are not free.

Individual consumers (and the larger Internet ecosystem) are best served by removing Flash Player, which minimizes their potential exposure to and spread of malware using Flash Player as a vector.

For convenience, here are links to the uninstallers:

Uninstall Flash Player - Windows:
https://helpx.adobe.com/flash-player/kb/uninstall-flash-player-windows.html

Uninstall Flash Player - Mac:
https://helpx.adobe.com/flash-player/kb/uninstall-flash-player-mac-os.html

Microsoft Update for Removal of Flash Player on Windows 8+ for IE and Edge

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/4577586/update-for-removal-of-adobe-flash-player