As of this week, Myspace has implemented a new procedure to encourage its users to use the next update to flash player: Flash 9. The leader at the helm of Myspace, Tom, sent out a text function over Myspace that you will likely be redirected to when opening your homepage. It reads:
"hey folks - we are moving myspace music players and video players to flash 9.0. flash 9 has security fixes so that people can't mess with you on myspace. if your 'about me' got screwed up this weekend, you could have been safe if you had flash 9 installed. here's an easy way to install it, go watch this dashboard video i posted last week. if you don't like dashboard, just watch any video in our video section, and you'll be prompted to install flash 9."
Well, while Tom might not like capitalization, he is indeed attempting to spread something that is worth your time. Flash 9 incorporates new security fixes, new features, and more. Myspace apparently isn't greatly concerned about the features aspect of Flash 9, but rather the security fixes. He did, however, leave it at "if your 'about me' got screwed up this weekend, you could have been safe if you had flash 9 installed." While Tom did not desire to go into technical detail here, I gladly will. Myspace has been riddled, in the past, with people attempting to mess with other people, particularly through the means of changing their profile or messing with their computer. One of the most common ways to do so is to use a file with an extension called .swf. Rather than attempting to explain the way .swf works, I'll just paste an excerpt from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SWF. I quote,
"SWF is a proprietary vector graphics file format produced by the Macromedia Flash software. Intended to be small enough for publication on the web, SWF files can contain animations or applets of varying degrees of interactivity and function."
Macromedia Flash software, you ask? Formerly known as Macromedia Flash, it is now known as Adobe Flash, or simply Flash. This is the same Flash as we've been discussing. It opens the .swf files and executes their code. However, .swf files can do a myriad of things, including performing malicious actions. Unknown to many, the popular trackers on Myspace, or at least those that have worked, have commonly used .swf files to reroute computers to connect to servers and the like. This can track you on Myspace. Well, the .swf files can also, if properly coded, reroute your computer to edit your profile, add friends, send messages, and much more on Myspace. If your "About Me" section was changed, as Tom mentioned in his Flash 9 statment, it was due to a malicious .swf file executing code through Flash 8 (or earlier) on your computer. The implementation of Flash 9 should help to block certain .swf files, through its security fixes. While this is good for security, it may also make it more difficult for Myspace trackers. If I had to make a prediction, I'd guess that there are troubled waters ahead for Myspace tracker programs in the next few months.
To conclude, I'd like to express that Flash 9 player will likely enhance the safety of your computer when dealing with almost anything on the web, and especially sites with many unique pages, such as Myspace. There are as well other ways to make your computer safer. I'd recommend downloading Mozilla Firefox at http://getfirefox.com. Once you have Firefox, or for those who do, I'd recommend installing the NoScript extension, which you can find at https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/722/. It will also help in deterring attacks on your computer.
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hey, thank you for all the good info! I just wanted to add my opinion that trackers might be fun, i've tried to do it before - but in the end, We are on a public forum, and if people are truly concerned about being stalked, then they should make their profiles private and not post sexy pictures(ladies). Part of the fun when I joined myspace was checking out all my friends friends. For the most part its harmless fun. And for the record, trackers don't necessarily mean someone is obsessed with you, I've logged in at work and have had co-workers say "whose that?" so I'll go to the page so they can see more pics of my 'friend'. Sometimes I wonder if all this 'concern' over who looks at our pages is really nothing more than overinflated sense of importance and ego?
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