Every browser maintains Cookies.In the same way, Flash Player also keep up its own cookies.They are independent of the browser cookies.Like browser cookies, it is impossible to delete or disable the Flash cookies from browser settings.They also ignore any browser privacy settings that may be in place. Furthermore, Flash cookies can contain considerably more data (100 KBytes) than regular cookies.
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The problem with Flash cookies is, because browser users may use Privacy Management options to delete or hide regular cookies, many web page operators use Flash cookies to recognise repeat visitors, visitors that are often unaware this is happening. Flash cookies can now only be managed via the Flash Player settings – and can only be deleted via the Settings Manager on Adobe’s web pages.
With the new Adobe Flash 10.1 version, Adobe added “Private Browsing” support to Flash Player.In modern browsers like IE8, Firefox 3.5, Safari2, Google Chrome they support Private Browsing.The Flash Player respects the user when they are using Private Browsing by storing the Flash cookies in memory temporarily and should be gone after the private session has ended like the normal cookies in Private Browsing.
With these features, Adobe has responded to the increasing amount of criticism from data protectionists and institutions such as the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC), who have pointed out that there is no (easy) way for users to control Flash cookies, and that this causes an increasing amount of misuse.
However, website operators fear that the new functionality will cause their authentication methods to malfunction and cause problems – which could trigger an increasing number of support requests.
What do you think? Let me know your feelings in comments.
