The Fresh Loaf

A Community of Amateur Bakers and Artisan Bread Enthusiasts.

flash popup screen now appearing

pmiker's picture
pmiker

flash popup screen now appearing

Why?  I'm using an iPad and the box says I need to upgrade Flash.  This is something new on the site.

LindyD's picture
LindyD

Had the same issues last night, but it was a popup with some sort of video that blocked part of the screen.

So annoying, I refuse to return to the site with my iPad.

Steve Jobs refused to allow Flash on any Apple device, and for good reason.

 

ElPanadero's picture
ElPanadero

upgrade Flash until and unless just about everything that needs it demands a higher version. Adobe is, imo, one of the bad spying giants along with Google, FB, and a few others. A version of so ago, it came shipped with settings that allowed a 3rd party company to have access to your webcam (PCs, laptops) by default. They could be snapping pictures of you any time and you wouldn't know it. Of course you can disable that setting, IF you knew it existed and IF you realised that by default, Adobe weren't looking after your best safety interests. Whatever device you are using, you should check every option in the settings menu and all settings in Global Settings. Make sure webcam usage is denied, storage on your computer is denied and anything else that just doesn't need to be enabled. You can always change the settings later if you need something.

The best protection I have found for most annoyingy things is to simply disable scripting. On a PC/laptop that's in Windows Explorer Internet settings under Security Tab and the Custom Level button. This prevents most of the Ad banners and pop ups and other distractions.

pmiker's picture
pmiker

No flash on the iPad.  I agree that I guess I'll have to abandon the site on the iPad. I do not know what video wants to play but it blocks the screenin the lower right corner.

pmccool's picture
pmccool

Now it wants me to upgrade to Flash and there's no way to close the stupid thing. 

suave's picture
suave

Likely, this has nothing to do with Floyd - one of the ads fed to the site has a fake Flash upgrade link.  If you were to click it, it would not be Flash it'd try to install. 

ElPanadero's picture
ElPanadero

disable scripting. Everything will run so much faster and stuff like this won't happen.

LindyD's picture
LindyD

We're using Apple iPads not Windows OS, so your suggestion to disable scripting doesn't apply. 

iOS uses HTML5, not Flash.  Actually, Flash is a relic.

The pop-up is related to one of the advertising trackers at TFL.  The owner of another forum I frequent tracks down offensive advertising and contacts the advertiser to have it removed, so it can be done.

 

 

pmiker's picture
pmiker

I'm not sure how to do that in Safari on the iPad.  I saw no options for scripting.  I'll try Chrome and see if it happens there.

 

ElPanadero's picture
ElPanadero

There are apparently various apps you can download to handle the blocking of scripting. This one seems popular:

http://javascript-blocker.toggleable.com/

There is apparently an option in there to prevent any scripts from running which are not part of the same website domain that you are using. So for example if your were using Facebook it would FB scripts, but if you were using another website then any FB related scripts running via adds or buttons would be blocked. Sounds like a great feature. This will prevent you from being constantly tracked by these sites too.

LindyD's picture
LindyD

You can go into your settings, then to Safari, then to "advanced" and turn off Java.  That will kill the invasive black square reminder to update Flash.  

Doing that may also adversely affect how some other web pages and/or your favorite sites operate. 

 

gerhard's picture
gerhard

A lot of the flash request have nothing to do with tracking it is those ads that are a slide show or contain some other animations.  For the most part the paranoia about tracking is unwarranted as they can't identify the individual users just the frequency they visit a site and such stuff.  The content on this site is free but somebody has to pay to keep the lights on so advertising is a solution for generating revenue for free content.

Gerhard

ElPanadero's picture
ElPanadero

"For the most part the paranoia about tracking is unwarranted as they can't identify the individual users"

Wake up Gerhard, the Matrix has you ! :-)

Facebook, if you use it, knows exactly who you are and tracks you both whilst you're using their site and whilst you are using other sites. It has become a big and sensitive issue:

http://online.wsj.com/articles/what-you-can-do-about-facebook-tracking-1407263246

Here's a good article covering many of the different ways technology is now used to track you:

http://www.howtogeek.com/115483/htg-explains-learn-how-websites-are-tracking-you-online/?PageSpeed=noscript

Be assured that these techno giants, Facebook, Google, Twitter, Amazon etc know exactly who we are, esp if we use their services. They have widgets and web bugs and all manner of invasive other "geeky hacks" embedded in websites via adverts, banners, "like buttons" and so on. So many website owners who are honest and seeking to create a website with integrity, are realistically at the mercy of the suppliers who produce the adverts, banners, popups, widgets, "like buttons" and all the other paraphernalia. Once you "rent a space" on a website for such a supplier, you have opened a door to allow almost anything to come through, much of it invisibly conducted via background java scripting. It is unreasonable to expect a website owner to painstakingly spend all day analysing the ads coming through those open doors, digging inside to see what IP addresses they are connecting to, picking through all the java script line by line to see what it does and so on. It's an impossible task. What they do instead is pick up on any big obvious invasive problems that affect the functionality of the website, such as the problem in the OP here. Floyd will of course deal with the problem as soon as he is able. Bottom line though is that if those doors are allowed to be present on a website, then the onus is on YOU the website user to protect yourself rather than on the website owner.

If you don't care about the ever increasing database they are buliding up of your browsing habits, purchasing habits, travelling habits etc then good luck to you. Equally if you believe the "party line" statements that companies do not sell on such details about you to other sites then I would encourage you to look deeper. Companies have been saying this in their Privacy Policies for years but it's frankly about as meaningful as the Data Protection Act, neither worth the paper they are written on. If you want proof, then the next time you have to give your personal details to a company or website (inc address, email and telephone number) do so but crucially, change a letter in your name. For example, if you are Mr John Smith, register as Mr John Smitt.

Pretty soon you'll start receiving junk mail through the door addressed to Mr Smitt, and likely you'll get spam emails to that name too. There's only one way any other advertising company could know of a Mr Smitt at your address, and that is that your personal details were "leaked" or sold to one or more 3rd party companies. This isn't new, it's been going on for many years.

Anyway, GL and ATB

gerhard's picture
gerhard

I just moved to the basement and started making hats for the whole family ;)

Gerhard

P.S. My paranoia is low since I use my real name and anyone with a little effort could find out who I am in real life.  I am not any more concerned about my digital trail than my telephone listing or my listing with various organization I am a member of.

ElPanadero's picture
ElPanadero

"The content on this site is free but somebody has to pay to keep the lights on so advertising is a solution for generating revenue for free content"

I appreciate the above of course, but nevertheless I personally do not trade such free content for invasions of my privacy. If that's the deal, then I would cease using the site immediately. Rather I believe the deal is that the price of the free content is to have to see the adverts that appear. Unfortunately life is never that simple as I explained in the previous post, so one has to protect oneself from the bad things coming in through those "open doors" disguising themselves as harmless adverts.

Things are changing though. The advent of Facebook is changing things. It's not just a social network solution allowing you to keep in touch with family and friends. Many forums I have been a member of, much like TFL, have sold up and "gone to Facebook". As such I sadly don't participate any more. It seems that FB is essentially providing a free platform on which people can build a website experience instead of having to pay a website hosting company. It's a neat trick that perpetuates the increasing amount of social control FB and other companies have and in time I am sure it will come back to bite people. Give a company that amount of control and it will lead to that power being abused. This reminds me of the story of Rockerfeller and the Standard Oil Company.

The famous Mr Rockerfeller, I have read, built up his massive domination of the oil business in a similar clever way. Years ago, oil was transported in train trucks that were open topped. It was all they had. The oil would slop about, much of it being lost and the trains would have to go very slow. Mr Rockerfeller came up with the fully enclosed oil tanker trucks that we are now familiar with. A much better solution for which he established the patent for. However, rather than sell these containers to the oil refineries, he leased them instead. They were great, the oil was contained, the trains were fast and the entire oil production process could be speeded up to a "just-in-time" basis thus streamlining everything. That lowered costs and overheads and made them more competitive. All was great but unbeknownst to most, Mr R had successfully created a key reliance on his oil containers.

Then came the bite.

He began to take the containers back. Mr R stopped leasing them to specific companies. Those oil companies had no choice but to revert back to the old open trucks. Their production processes were scuppered again, higher costs, lost oil, slower trips and suddenly they found themselves far less competitive than other producers who were still using the containers. The impact was inevitable. They quickly went out of business and when they did, Mr R stepped in and bought the entire oil company up for a song. One by one he took containers back from companies, watched them go bust and bought them up for a pittance and thus grew what became the great Standard Oil company. The rest is history.

IMO, Facebook are currently following a similar strategy. By offering people free web space to host their own websites they have created that dependency. At a later date they could easily take that privilege away or start charging for it. More likely they will change something that means to continue using the service you have to accept something unpalatable along with it, perhaps a key invasion of your privacy. Who knows, but for me, this will happen as surely as night follows day.

Perhaps you think this a bit too fantastical? A key example then. Not too long ago Yahoo told all their email users that their policy was going to change. If you wanted to continue using free Yahoo email then you HAD to authorise and allow them to them to read and analyse all your emails (with all sorts of lame reasons for wanting to do so, key word analaysis for advertising and so on . . . .yeah right !). People were stuck. No-one really wanted to give Yahoo permission to look at all their emails so the exodus to other email suppliers began . But what a hassle to have to suddenly switch providers, inform everyone of your new email address with say Google or whoever !

These companies now have everyone stitched up like kippers and why? Because we gave them that power, because we flocked to "free" services without understanding what the price of that freedom would turn out to be. I can't offer much by way of solutions here. For me, the "Orwellian" world is here and we are bagged, tagged and surveiled 24hrs a day. All we can do is hold tight to whatever freedoms we still have.

gerhard's picture
gerhard

Nice photo, to be honest  my life is pretty boring and don't see that any organization would really find me all that interesting.  If they want to market to me that is fine and I am capable of saying no.  I have found that the few telemarketers that still call do respond when you ask to be added to their internal do not call list.  When I first started asking to be added to that list it seemed that it wasn't part of their script and they where at a loss for words but now they just respond that they will.  We use to suffer through three or four calls a day at work and three or four calls a week at home before we asked to be added to the do not call lists now I think we may get one a month.

Gerhard

Moya Gray's picture
Moya Gray

I rarely use my computer now, depending upon my iPad and phone. So there isn't a way for me to upgrade flash.  How can we stop this black box pop up from blocking my view of the site?

Floydm's picture
Floydm

That is annoying. I never knowingly approve of popover, pop under, or rich media ads that autoplay or require software installation.

Unfortunately I am travelling at the moment and limited to an Android phone for internet access, so my ability to debug iPad issues or trace requests is extremely limited. Also, being in Europe means I'm receiving different geo-targetted ads than folks do in North America... My TFL has been showing Polish political ads almost exclusively... so I probably am not even be able to see what you are seeing. I certainly haven't noticed the issue you all are seeing.

If anyone gathers enough info that we can figure out what ad it is or what network it is coming from, please let me know (like do you see it when you are not on an iPad? What is it?) I will gladly try to block it. Otherwise I will try to track it down when I am back at full capacity mid next week. My apologies for the inconvenience.

Floyd