What's wrong with Flash Cookies?
blog.jgc.org
blog.jgc.org
"This means that if, for example, you use the private mode to browse pornography..."
I like that private browsing is recognized for it's primary purpose without the usual hypocrisy (like: "private browsing is useful when you browse for presents for your family and don't want to spoil the surprise"). We all know why private browsing is there.
What I also find quite funny is that Apple was the first one to introduce private browsing. The same Apple that now wants to "free people from porn" (quote from a Steve Jobs email).
porno was from a different machine :)
(Note: don't play any long-term Flash games with Flash cookies disabled).
The notice underneath the Flash content says:
Note: The Settings Manager that you see above is not an image; it is the actual Settings Manager. Click the tabs to see different panels, and click the options in the panels to change your Adobe Flash Player settings
What's that say for the UI usability?
1: http://www.macromedia.com/support/documentation/en/flashplay...
I thought... it was Flash? And it could just change to the new tab without the whole HTML wrapper page reloading?
rm -Rf ~/.macromedia && touch ~/.macromedia
Meanwhile, flash cookies are useful for other things: Pandora uses them to keep you logged in forever, even if your session on the server dies (unless you log out), on our site we use it to store copious amounts of user data (such as music libraries) so that it doesn't need to be loaded from the server every time you visit.
Flash cookies are also a win over regular cookies because they aren't sent along to the server with every single http request.
localStorage is subject to same-origin restrictions (so advertisers can't easily use it to track you across sites). And localStorage is handled like cookies when you use the private browsing mode in browsers like Firefox and Chrome, e.g.:
"When the browser goes into private browsing mode, a new, temporary database is created to store local storage data; this database is empied, and is thrown away when private browsing mode is turned off."
https://developer.mozilla.org/en/dom/storage#localStorage
(This is true of Flash 10.1 also, but wasn't true for older versions.)
Set data:
window.localStorage.setItem(key, value);
Get all data.
// (Given that you have the "key" be numeric)
/**
* var setData = ['trackingID', 'trackingURL', 'trackingTS'];
* for ( var i = 0; i < setData.length; i++) {
* window.localStorage.setItem(i, setData[i]);
* }
*/
var n = 0, items = [], count = window.localStorage.length;
while (n < count) {
items[n++] = window.localStorage.getItem(window.localStorage.key(n));
}
/* return items; */
Or, you can just set the items with trivial keys (id, timestamp, url) and get the values with window.localStorage.getItem([id, timestamp...]).
• local storage is limited to page origin.
• It's part of the browser, so browser's standard privacy functions can affect it as well.
That's not to say the use of Flash cookies by certain ad networks isn't completely obnoxious.
Have a browse: http://duckduckgo.com?q=persistent+identification+elements&#...
Yes, Adobe is aware of some of the issues mentioned (we Flash pros cringe at the old Macromedia settings windows still in use) but some of his bugs are in fact features (such as being browser agnostic) that behave differently because it's simply different tech (like Mac vs Win).
In all fairness, Adobe has their hands very busy these days with AIR, the new Flash player, and porting Flash to multiple platforms. If the old stuff works, they're not messing with it.
HN hits a new low.