Joho the Blog
|
|
|
November 26, 2002
Tom Matrullo has discovered that ads written in Macromedia Flash 6 have the ability to peer into our rooms via our computers' microphones and webcams. You have to set your Flash 6 settings to permit this, and it's probably just part of Macromedia's attempt to turn Flash into a ubiquitous multimedia platform (best of all: it's not from Microsoft), but the very capability is scary in a world of highly-motivated corporate and government hackers. A few days ago, I blogged a note in Linux World about the technical ability to turn speakers into microphones. I find the discovery of surveillance-ware inside of Flash much more disconcerting. As they say on the Macromedia home page: "Over 97.8% of all web users have the Macromedia Flash Player." Posted
by D. Weinberger at November 26, 2002 09:13 AM
|
Comments
What's worst is that Flash is sneaky hard to get rid of, even if you want to. On Windows, anyway. I really had to hunt. And as best I can tell most browsers don't offer an obvious way to disable it.
Posted by: Dorothea Salo | November 26, 2002 12:05 PM
That makes ad-free subscriptions, such as Salon.com, much more appealing.
Posted by: Ryan | November 27, 2002 06:50 AM
Hi David, please note that the original poster was in error. More info's back in the original threads, with the heaviest concentrations in the comments at http://jdmx.blogspot.com/2002_11_24_jdmx_archive.html#85130746
Recap: If a site wishes to open a connection to your cam, you must explicitly give permission for it to do so.
Regards,
John Dowdell
Macromedia Support
PS: Yahoo! Daypop's back!! 8)
Posted by: John Dowdell | December 2, 2002 03:57 PM
PPS: Dorothea, if you're trying to uninstall Flash, search the Macromedia site with "uninstall flash". Will pull it right up.
jd
Posted by: John Dowdell | December 2, 2002 03:59 PM
John, I stand by my posting. It says "You have to set your Flash 6 settings to permit this..."
Posted by: David Weinberger | December 2, 2002 04:06 PM
True David, and I can stand by mine too, because "the original poster was in error".... ;-)
Seriously, I'm glad you put that phrase about "you have to give it permission" in there. I'm also concerned about the spread of this story itself, however.
But hey, holidays are usually a slow news week, so maybe we need something to get riled up about...?
jd
Posted by: John Dowdell | December 2, 2002 06:30 PM