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The Adobe Flash Player is a widely distributed multimedia and application player created and distributed by Macromedia (a division of Adobe Systems ). Flash Player runs SWF files that can be created by the Adobe Flash authoring tool, by Adobe Flex or by a number of other Macromedia and third party tools. Adobe Flash, or simply Flash, refers to both a multimedia authoring program and the Adobe Flash Player, written and distributed by Adobe, that uses vector and raster graphics, a native scripting language called ActionScript and bidirectional streaming of video and audio. Strictly speaking, Adobe Flash is the authoring environment and Flash Player is the virtual machine used to run the Flash files, but in colloquial language these have become mixed: "Flash" can mean either the authoring environment, the player, or the application files. Flash Player has support for an embedded scripting language called ActionScript (AS), which is based on ECMAScript . ActionScript has evolved in flexibility and complexity since its inception and may now be compared in capability to JavaScript (another ECMA-based scripting language). ActionScript matured from a script without variables to one that supports object-oriented code. The Flash Player was originally designed to display 2-dimensional vector animation, but has since become suitable for creating Rich Internet Application s and streaming video and audio. It uses vector graphics to minimize file size and create files that save bandwidth and loading time. Flash is a common format for games, animations, and GUIs embedded into web pages. The Flash Player is shipped with some browsers and is available for modern browsers (such as Microsoft Internet Explorer , Opera , and Mozilla Firefox ) as a plugin. Each new version of the plugin is completely backwards-compatible. SUPPORTED PLATFORMS The latest version of Flash Player, Version 9, is available for 2006 ) Sony has integrated Flash Player 6 into the Playstation Portable 's web browser via firmware version 2.70. Nintendo has integrated Flash Player 7 in the Internet Channel on the Wii . INTERNET PRIVACY ("PERSISTENT IDENTIFICATION ELEMENTS") Flash Player is an application that, while running on a computer that is connected to the of a user's computer. Sent in the background over the internet from websites to which a user is connected, these files work much the way " Cookies " do with internet browsers. When stored on a user's computer, PIE (.sol) files are capable of sending personally sensitive data back out over the internet without the user's knowledge to one or more third parties. In addition, Flash Player is also capable of accessing and retrieving Audio and Video data from any Microphone and/or Webcams that might be either built in or connected to a user's computer and transmitting it in realtime over the internet (also potentially without the user's knowledge) to one or more third parties. While these capabilities can all be affirmatively blocked and/or disabled by the user, the Flash Player application does ''not'' provide an internally accessible "preferences" panel to accomplish this. Instead access to the various settings panels necessary to manage the application's "Privacy," "'''Storage'''," "'''Security'''," and "'''Notifications'''" functions can only be achieved through a web-based '''"Settings Manager"''' page located on the "support" section of the Adobe.com website. Each of the functions can be enabled/disabled either "globally" to cover all websites, or set differently for individual websites depending on how the user desires Flash Player to be able to interact with each one. Whilst the Flash Control Panel Settings in theory allow users to protect their Privacy it should be remembered that suitably crafted Visual Basic Script or similar code can overwrite any user defined settings before the Flash Player Plug-in is called by a Webpage. In addition to Cookies , many banks and other financial institutions also routinely install Persistent Indentification Elements using Flash Player on users' hard drives when they establish and access their accounts, as do other interactive sites such as " YouTube " and the like. HISTORY Player versions
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