Flash Questions

[RubyRoses]

A couple of days ago, I brought a brand new iMac (2.9 GHz). I've downloaded the latest vers. of Flash, and was surprised to see that, since I purchased my Mac, two sites have asked to use my camera & microphone: s.ytimg.com and i.d.com.com.

I believe that s.ytimg is connected to YouTube somehow (which would make sense, since I have been visiting YouTube.) However, I have no idea what i.d.com.com is. Anyone?

I'm sure there is a perfectly valid reason behind this, but I'm curious to know what it is. Does anyone know why sites like these would want that kind of access?

Moreover, though Flash Player's settings claims that they've 'asked me', I never received any such notifications.

*** Also, an extra question: has Flash always 'asked' when a site wants to use the camera or microphone - or is this a more recent development?

Many thanks to anyone kind enough to answer my (kind of random!) questions.

 

[prisstratton]

A couple of days ago, I brought a brand new iMac (2.9 GHz). I've downloaded the latest vers. of Flash, and was surprised to see that, since I purchased my Mac, two sites have asked to use my camera & microphone: s.ytimg.com and i.d.com.com.

I believe that s.ytimg is connected to YouTube somehow (which would make sense, since I have been visiting YouTube.) However, I have no idea what i.d.com.com is. Anyone?

I'm sure there is a perfectly valid reason behind this, but I'm curious to know what it is. Does anyone know why sites like these would want that kind of access?

Moreover, though Flash Player's settings claims that they've 'asked me', I never received any such notifications.

*** Also, an extra question: has Flash always 'asked' when a site wants to use the camera or microphone - or is this a more recent development?

Many thanks to anyone kind enough to answer my (kind of random!) questions.

Hi……..

s.ytimg.com is a Google server, so that fits with your YouTube use. The i.d.com.com is an Akamai server, they distribute updates world wide for all sorts of I.T. companies (they cannot have servers everywhere, therefore, they use a third party [Akamai] to distribute their updates).

You can investigate sites yourself here:

http://centralops.net/co/DomainDossier.aspx

I have no idea why you are being asked for access to your camera or microphone, I have NEVER seen this before. Being the paranoid person that I am I would deny this access, but maybe someone else who has seen this can provide a more complete answer.

Hope it helps…….

 

[50548]

Just go to Flash's preferences and set it to automatically deny any such requests.

 

[RubyRoses]

s.ytimg.com is a Google server, so that fits with your YouTube use. The i.d.com.com is an Akamai server, they distribute updates world wide for all sorts of I.T. companies (they cannot have servers everywhere, therefore, they use a third party [Akamai] to distribute their updates).

You can investigate sites yourself here:

http://centralops.net/co/DomainDossier.aspx

Thanks ever so much for the info and the link. Based on what you said, I reckon i.d.com.com probably appeared on the scene when I went to download Flash (or perhaps the driver for Wacom) in the first place.

I have no idea why you are being asked for access to your camera or microphone, I have NEVER seen this before. Being the paranoid person that I am I would deny this access, but maybe someone else who has seen this can provide a more complete answer.

Yeah, me neither, that's why I thought I'd put it to the forum and see if anyone else has had this. Furthermore, I think that paranoia is a natural state on the internet!

But anyhow. I discovered this information by clicking 'Flash Player' in System Preferences, and then clicking the tabs 'Storage', 'Camera and Mic' and 'Playback'.

In each one of these areas, if I clicked 'Local Storage Settings by Site', or 'Camera and Microphone Settings by Site' or 'Peer-assisted Networking Settings by Site', I found the same two sites (s.ytimg.com & i.d.com.com) listed under descriptions like: 'Previously visited websites that have asked to use the camera or microphone are listed below.'

It seems logical to me that such sites would want to use local storage or peer-assisted networking (to make streaming/downloading/whatever) faster, or to remember information, but I just found the Camera and Mic request puzzling.

Possibly s.ytimg and i.d.com.com make some sort of 'blanket' request to all 3 things? That's my own hazey guess. Either way, I'd have expected anyone else who uses YouTube to have had identical 'requests'.

As I said though - I never received any indication that a request was being made.

Curious.

Hope it helps…….

No, seriously - you've been a big help - the i.d.com.com thing solves a lot of the mystery for me.