FLASH COOKIE VIEWER HOW TO
FLASH COOKIE VIEWER CODE

If you recognize any of the websites in the list and visit them regularly, then you may want to keep their cookies as they can provide useful functionality, but you can delete the others.Ģ. To remove existing site cookies go to the Adobe Website Storage Settings Panel, where will you see a list of Flash cookies on your computer. This is always worth doing, although some LSOs seem adept at evading the preferences settings.ġ.

How to deal with Flash cookies Change your Flash preferences

One of the most notorious (and freaky!) kinds of Flash cookie is the ‘zombie cookie’, a piece of Flash code that will regenerate normal HTTP cookies whenever they are deleted from a browser’ cookie folder.

In addition to this, Flash cookies can hold up to 100kb rather than just the 4kb held by HTTP cookies. a cookie acquired when using Chrome will also be available to websites when using Firefox). The most common kind of supercookie is a Flash cookie which uses Adobe’s multimedia Flash plugin to hide cookies on your computer that cannot be accessed or controlled using your browser’s privacy controls (at least traditionally, most major browsers now include deletion of Flash cookies as part of their cookie management).īecause these cookies are stored outside the browser you cannot protect yourself by using a different browser (for example one for your banking website and another for riskier web surfing), as the Flash cookies will be available to all browsers (i.e.

Combined with support for LSA deletion by the major browsers, this has led to a decline in the use of Flash cookies, although they remain a substantial menace to internet users worried about tracking. The EU ‘cookie law’ does encompass supercookies within its generic description, but as the law has been very vaguely worded about what constitutes a ‘bad’ cookie, and has been poorly enforced anyway (not to mention that most sites demand you accept their use of cookies if you wish to continue using them), its effectiveness at curbing supercookie use (or even regular HHTP cookie use other than by raising people's awareness of the issue) has been minimal at best.Īpple’s stand against Flash’s various insecurities however, has helped contribute to Flash Player’s growing obsolescence, with HTML5 increasingly fulfilling the functions once more commonly performed by Flash. This means that most people who think they have cleared their computers of tracking objects have likely not. The reason that you may never have heard of supercookies, and why they are so hard to find and get rid of, is that their deployment is deliberately sneaky and designed to evade detection and deletion. In 2009 a survey showed that more than half of all websites used Flash cookies. The most common type of supercookie is the Flash cookie (also known as an LSO or Local Shared Object), although HTTP ETags and Web Storage also fall under the moniker. Supercookie is a catch-all term used to refer to bits code left on your computer that performs a similar function to cookies, but which are much more difficult to find and get rid of than regular cookies.

A primary means of doing this has been through the use of supercookies. Perhaps unsurprisingly, marketing and analytics companies have looked for ways to circumvent these measures and to continue uniquely identifying and tracking internet users. Understandably concerned about the privacy issues involved, the internet-using public has fought back and taken increasing effective measures to block, delete or control cookies, assisted by the fact most modern browsers have added cookie management and blocking features. Unfortunately, most of what people know about cookies regards HTTP (or ‘normal’) cookies small text files that are left in your browser’s cookie folder and that, in addition to doing lots of useful things such as remembering your passwords and favorite website preferences, can be used to identify you and track your movements across the World Wide Web. After years of awareness-raising campaigns by privacy activists, which culminated this year in the European Union passing a ‘ cookie law’ banning any EU company or any company targeting EU citizens from placing ‘non-essential’ cookies on users computers without their consent, most internet users now know about cookies.

FLASH COOKIE VIEWER HOW TO

FLASH COOKIE VIEWER CODE

Flash cookie viewer