How in the Tech

Flash Cookies may be Ruining your Privacy Quest

By Adam Myers ⋅ January 20, 2009 ⋅ Tags: Firefox, Privacy

You’ve probably heard at least a few rally cries regarding your privacy on the Internet. It’s quite a popular, if not broad, subject that everyone has an opinion on. While it is quite true that most users would be shocked at just how much information is being tracked and recorded regarding their activities, the reality is that most of it just isn’t worth worrying about. Perhaps I’ve just given up the privacy fight though. I’ve written before about cookies – bits of information that your browser receives from websites and subsequently logs – and what you can do to prevent, or limit, their invasion. Truth be told, not all cookies are bad, even though they certainly have a negative connotation attached with them.

By disabling 3rd party cookies in your browser, you can go a long way in maintaining your Internet browsing privacy. Often, this is enough to satisfy “private enough” as it is rather simple to achieve and generally doesn’t limit your browsing experience. However, are aware that Adobe Flash always has the notion of cookies? They are stored in %APPDATA%\Macromedia\Flash Player in Windows and typically carry the same negatives as 3rd party cookies. So, if you’ve gone to the trouble of preventing your browser from accepting 3rd party cookies – you will be well served to do the same with Flash.

Simple enough right? Unfortunately my browser of choice, Firefox, does not provide a direct way to manage Flash cookies. A more hands on approach is always available; periodically navigate to the folder location above and delete any files that collect. That’s obviously not ideal so today I have a Firefox Add-On, BetterPrivacy, provides an interface through Firefox to control Flash cookies.

One word of warning, many Flash-based browser games use Flash cookies as a means of storing game progress or scores. The extension provides mechanics to allow certain cookies in this situation.