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J
Justai_Meai
Participating Frequently
January 29, 2012
Question

Adobe is violating my Privacy - Flash Player Settings Manager a fraud!

  • January 29, 2012
  • 1 reply
  • 4583 views

Okay, I wasted an entire day trying to rein in Flash. It only took me 30 minutes to read about LSO's and what I should do about them, but the rest of the day was spent trying to actually do it.

I have the following set on my FPSM (Flash Player Settings Manager):

-Block all sites from storing information on this computer

-Ask me when a site wants to use the camera or microphone

-Block all sites from using peer-assisted networking

-Check for updates automatically

Now, to make things all "sparkling clean", I ran CCleaner and BetterPrivacy (for Mozilla). I then go on my merry way of using the internet and after the family spends a full day surfing, to make sure things were working properly with the recent settings in FPSM, I go to BetterPrivacy to make sure that it is empty of LSO's. Guess what?!? LSO's are in there!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And who is at the top of the list? ADOBE LSO!!

So, I go back to doing more research and reading. Apparently, Adobe is being real 'slick' and 'sneaky' by making the FPSM work in such a way that it secretly posts and saves an LSO on my computer - not to mention the other LSO's that the FPSM allowed to be saved on my computer, DESPITE me blocking all sites from storing information on my computer. (Yes, I did reset the settings after doing a cleaning and they still didn't work)

So, I found out that when you run BetterPrivacy to clear out LSO's, Adobe "acts" all dumb and pretends like it never remembers your settings and everything on the FPSM is set back to the most open and permissive settings, in other words, everything is allowed and you are wide open. Now, I know that I can tell BetterPrivacy to not delete the Adobe LSO, which apparently is holding the FPSM settings so it knows what to do in the future, but my point is - those 4 settings I chose are NOT doing their jobs. When I choose "block all sites", that is exactly what I expect it to do. And not allow previously viewed websites to have carte blanche to continue storing LSO's to my machine.

Adobe, you are violating my privacy!! When I choose 'block ALL sites from storing information on this computer', that includes YOU!!!

At this point, the FPSM is a fraud as it is not doing its job.

Can anybody tell me or point me to a privacy advocate group that can help me block LSO's from being saved to my computer as it is my right to privacy? (and that doesn't mean 'selective privacy')

Thanks in advance...

    This topic has been closed for replies.

    1 reply

    C
    Carl_E__Myers_Jr_
    Participating Frequently
    January 29, 2012

    Justai_Meai

    I have the following set on my FPSM (Flash Player Settings Manager):

    -Block all sites from storing information on this computer

    -Ask me when a site wants to use the camera or microphone

    -Block all sites from using peer-assisted networking

    -Check for updates automatically

    Now, to make things all "sparkling clean", I ran CCleaner and BetterPrivacy (for Mozilla).

    Which means that you just eliminated the LSO you created to with your FPSM.

    J
    Justai_MeaiAuthor
    Participating Frequently
    January 29, 2012

    I think you may have missed what I said in parenthesis above:

    (Yes, I did reset the settings after doing a cleaning and they still didn't work)

    J
    Justai_MeaiAuthor
    Participating Frequently
    January 29, 2012

    -UPDATE-

    I decided to do some more investigating and what I found is disgusting. I'm using the FPSM in conjunction with BetterPrivacy and I've instructed BP, through its control panel, to allow the one Adobe LSO file to remain, since it houses the settings for FPSM. Although the FPSM says that the sites that I visited have attempted to install an LSO on my computer and it has been blocked, BP revealed that is was NOT blocked but that FPSM very sneakingly put it in a different folder than where it typically resides. Allow me to explain - If you were to delete LSO's manually, you would go to:

    C:\Users\UserName\AppData\Roaming\Macromedia\Flash Player\#SharedObjects

    ...and there you would find the LSO's if you were to delete them manually. Well, Adobe knows that people would be looking there to clean them out so what do they do? They store them in yet a different folder!! One that people would not think to look in. Even though the FPSM says "Storage used: 0 bytes, Storage access: block", BP showed me that FPSM is now storing them at:

    C:\Users\UserName\AppData\Roaming\Macromedia\Flash Player\macromedia.com\support\flashplayer\sys\#WebsiteName.com\settings.sol

    ...and it shows that it is indeed taking up space and it has been written to my hard drive!! Thank you BP for showing me that Adobe is really not blocking ANYTHING from being deposited onto my computer.

    Adobe, you are disgraceful!

    For those who don't fully understand why I am incensed. Adobe's FPSM gives me the option to "Block all sites from storing information on this computer", but that is not happening, now is it? Adobe is still allowing websites to store information to my computer as BetterPrivacy has completely outted Adobe on what they are trying to do by simply saving the LSO's to a different folder. DISGUSTING!!

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