Comments on: Black eyes for Adobe

Adobe fails to respond about a bug un-installing Flash, does not communicate will and tracks users of their CS3 software.

[tiga31328]

I have observed this issue with FireFox. I am also observing a problem with the recent version(9,0,115,0 ) in that most every website that I visit thinks that I do not have a current version of Flash Player installed. I don't know yet if it is an issue with the player, or with the process that is being used to detect it. -Patrick

[ajhoughton]

"The CS3 software makes an outbound connection to something specifically designed to deceive."

Sorry, but this is FUD.

The Welcome window can cause such a connection to be made, but it happens solely because the Welcome window includes content from Adobe's web site. If you turn the Welcome window off, you'll find that no connections to 2O7.net are made.

[mhinnewyork]

To: ajhoughton
I do not use CS3, so I can't test when it connects to 2o7.net. However, the way the 2o7.net computer name was chosen, to make it look like an internal IP address, has to have been done for deceptive reasons.
Michael Horowitz

[ajhoughton]

Sure, the name 192.168.112.2O7.net does *appear* to be an attempt to fool people into thinking that it's an internal IP address.

But it still might not be. You (and other commentators) are all assuming the worst. For all we know, it may be a total coincidence that it ended up with a name that looks like a private IP address. I agree that it seems likely that it was intentionally chosen, but what irritates me most about this whole saga is that nobody will give anyone the benefit of the doubt. Everyone immediately assumes someone is spying, someone is deceiving them, someone is secretly watching their every move. Please! Most peoples' every move couldn't be more dull.

And even *if* we assume it is an attempt to deceive someone, that raises the questions of *who* it is supposed to deceive, *why*, and who made the decision to do it. Again, everyone assumes the worst.

It's best to apply Hanlon's Razor in these kinds of circumstances. i.e. assume stupidity or incompetence, rather than malicious intent.

[DennisNY]

John Nack, the Product Manager for Adobe Photoshop, addressed the CS3 issue in his blog last week. See it here http://blogs.adobe.com/jnack/2007/12/adobe_ate_me_ba.html

[M C]

LOL. Random dude has problem, is treated like random dude, happens to be blogger. Yawn.

Seen this movie before (I think it was titled 'The Robert Scoble Story.")

[mhinnewyork]

To:MC
Whether Adobe talks to me or not, is not really the point. Selfishly, I don't care, I fixed all my Flash problems and don't use CS3. I was trying to notify them about a bug in their software. This matters to the millions of daily Flash users that may still be using an insecure and dangerous version of the Flash player, either because they don't know of the need to update it or they seemingly did update it, but the update never actually took. .
Michael Horowitz

[mhinnewyork]

To: DennisNY
The blog posting you pointed to, written by John Nack of Adobe, does not, in fact address the issue of the IP address purposely designed to deceive. I read the December 28th posting you linked to and the follow-up one. As of January 7th Mr. Nack still has no answer. Quoting him: " I said I'm working on it, and I am. Sometimes at a big company (esp. when other companies are involved) it's not possible to move as quickly as one would like."
Michael Horowitz

[frasercrane]

Do you have any speeches for a radio broadcaster wishing to make a comeback?

[gplauche]

I can verify that this is still a problem. I tried installing the latest Flash Player plugin yesterday and it messed everything up. I used the uninstaller but it still can't find all the dll files that Secunia can find.