The latest version of the Firefox browser sees developer Mozilla turning its back on Flash.
Mark Schmidt, the head of the Firefox support team at Mozilla, recently tweeted the following news: “BIG NEWS!! All versions of Flash are blocked by default in Firefox as of now.”
This was accompanied by a mocked up “Occupy Flash” image.
Schmidt later clarified that this step was a temporary one, and that the ban would be lifted once Adobe sorted itself out. “To be clear, Flash is only blocked until Adobe releases a version which isn’t being actively exploited by publicly known vulnerabilities,” he tweeted.
It’s still possible to manually activate Flash in the settings menu of the latest Firefox version. But ongoing critical vulnerabilities appear to have forced Mozilla to remove Flash support as a default state.
Mozilla isn’t the only tech company to attach Flash in recent days. Facebook’s new chief security officer, Alex Stamos, recently called for a firm end-of-life date for Flash from Adobe.
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Flash has become a key route of attack for hackers, with Adobe persistently struggling to patch up its leaky, creaky old multimedia platform.
Steve Jobs famously penned an open letter explaining Apple’s issues and continued non-support of Flash way back in 2010. He cited security issues, among others.
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Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.