Will begin Flash blocking in August; expand to all content in 2017 Credit: Thinkstock Mozilla yesterday said it will follow other browser markers by curtailing use of Flash in Firefox next month.The open-source developer added that in 2017 it will dramatically expand the anti-Flash restrictions: Firefox will require users to explicitly approve the use of Flash for any reason by any website.As have its rivals, Mozilla cast the limitations (this year) and elimination (next year) as victories for Firefox users, citing improved security, longer battery life on laptops and faster web page rendering.“Starting in August, Firefox will block certain Flash content that is not essential to the user experience, while continuing to support legacy Flash content,” wrote Benjamin Smedberg, the manager of Firefox quality engineering, in a post to a company blog. Firefox 48 is slated to ship on Aug. 2.The initial blocking Smedberg mentioned will be based on a list Mozilla will generate by crawling the home pages of the top 10,000 websites as ranked by Alexa. Flash content that those sites use to “fingerprint” users, or as “super cookies” — two techniques to track visitors for advertising purposes — will land on the list, and thus not be run by Flash. Through 2016, Mozilla will expand the list in Firefox by blocking other Flash content, including that used by advertisers to measure “viewability;” whether the ad has been seen, not erased, for example, by an ad blocker.In 2017 — Smedberg did not say when, exactly — Firefox will require users to click on Flash content to activate the plug-in, and thus show that content. The click-to-activate demand will be enforced for all Flash content on all pages of all sites.Firefox is late to the dump-Flash party.Other browser developers — Apple, Google and Microsoft — have been more active in limiting Flash. Safari has frozen some Flash content since 2013, while Chrome did the same in September 2015. Edge will follow suit with the release of the Aug. 2 upgrade, Windows 10 Anniversary Update.And some will beat Firefox to the more aggressive block-Flash milestone. Google, for instance, plans to block Flash content on all but 10 websites — those, like YouTube and Amazon, that use huge amounts — before the end of this year. Apple’s Safari 10, which will accompany macOS 10.12, aka Sierra, when it is launched late summer or early fall, will also automatically disable Flash by default but without Chrome’s whitelist.Smedberg cited HTML5 as the substitute for Flash, just as other browser makers have as they’ve reduced reliance on the decades-old standard. “Websites that currently use Flash or Silverlight for video or games should plan on adopting HTML technologies as soon as possible,” he wrote. Related content brandpost How an integrated platform approach improves OT security By Richard Springer Sep 26, 2023 5 mins Security news Teachers urged to enter schoolgirls into UK’s flagship cybersecurity contest CyberFirst Girls aims to introduce girls to cybersecurity, increase diversity, and address the much-maligned skills shortage in the sector. By Michael Hill Sep 26, 2023 4 mins Back to School Education Industry IT Training news CREST, IASME to deliver UK NCSC’s Cyber Incident Exercising scheme CIE scheme aims to help organisations find quality service providers that can advise and support them in practising cyber incident response plans. By Michael Hill Sep 26, 2023 3 mins IT Governance Frameworks Incident Response Data and Information Security news Baffle releases encryption solution to secure data for generative AI Solution uses the advanced encryption standard algorithm to encrypt sensitive data throughout the generative AI pipeline. By Michael Hill Sep 26, 2023 3 mins Encryption Generative AI Data and Information Security Podcasts Videos Resources Events SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER From our editors straight to your inbox Get started by entering your email address below. Please enter a valid email address Subscribe