Re: FLASH: [RESPONSE] Recent Flash Player Release

[unique]

Eric,


Thank you for your post!


However, you leave unaddressed some serious concerns regarding this

defective player. Furthermore, I do not follow the logic behind the security

issue.


At the exact moment of 2000.01.24.17.21, her/his local time, Eric J. Wittman

<

emanflash [dot] com

> put forth:


> Dear FlashR-Ls,

> 

> It is with the Flash Team's deepest regret that the latest Flash Player

> releases (versions 4.0r20 Macintosh and 4.0r25 Windows)


(being distributed to the public from December 6, 1999, through this very

moment)


> contain behavior

> that has broken several sites utilizing load variables from external data

> sources.

> 

> The nature of this issue is documented in TechNote #14234 on the

> Macromedia Flash Support Center.


http://www.macromedia.com/support/flash/ts/documents/ampersand.htm


> The problem discovered is that Flash

> Player is inserting an extra ampersand character when passing variables

> from a Flash movie. This effects users who are sending data to a

> server-side mechanism, such as ASP, ColdFusion or CGI.

> 

> Another change made to the latest release of Flash Player is also related

> to loading external variables from a data source. Previous releases of

> Flash Player allowed variables to be loaded from a domain source outside

> of the current one the Flash movie was playing from. What this means in

> theory is that someone could load or send data from one site and send to

> another site. This behavior has been considered a "feature" by many a

> Flash developer for the ease of access to information however is

> considered a breach of security by industry security experts. It was at

> the request by several developers and industry experts that prompted this

> change in behavior.


I'm surprised that the developers and industry security experts are placated

by this meaningless gesture! Closing the barn door after the horse has been

stolen. Surely anyone with malicious intent can avail themselves of an older

plugin.


> This issue and appropriate solution is documented in

> TechNote #14213 in the Macromedia Flash Support Center.


http://www.macromedia.com/support/flash/ts/documents/loadvars_security.htm


> We are currently working overtime to resolve the extra ampersand issue. We

> anticipate a new Flash Player release with this fix within the next 1-2

> days after thorough QA has been done. To ensure all angles of this issue

> are tested, we would like to have Flash developers who are currently

>

experiencing the extra ampersand problem to forward me (emanflash [dot] com)

> their site URLs so we can incorporate them into our testing matrix.

> 

> Again, we apologize for this inconvenience and are working hard to resolve

> this issue ASAP.


"Inconvenience"?


Eric, this is far more than an inconvenience! For many, it is an

income-threatening and even income-destroying situation.


That's a BIG "inconvenience"!


That which still baffles me the most is Macromedia's *insistence* upon

continuing to distribute these broken players *long* after their defects

have been known. This is something that Macromedia wants to proliferate?


Am I missing some important point here?


To summarize, two questions:


(1) Why was the 25/20 player not withdrawn from public distribution

immediately upon Macromedia's awareness that it is defective? Think it

through, and you will discover that the release of a new player will *not*

erase the existence of how-many thousands of bad ones! Are we supposed to

design around these players? You keep pumping them out, even today.


(2) How many thousands of these players have been released to the public

since December 6, 1999? How many were released since MM's awareness of the

problem?


(2a) And, more to the point, what percentage of Flash 4 Players that are out

there are of the 25/20 variety?


If you don't have answers for these questions, please advise as to

appropriate direction.


Thank you for your time.


Still not getting it,


Ken Sherwood

Professional Windmill Jouster


                         *zenkat: the Flash trailer*

                    http://www.kensherwood.com/zenkat.htm


kensherwood.com

http://www.kensherwood.com




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