infoTECH Feature

August 27, 2015

Amazon Bans Flash Ads Starting in September

Amazon announced earlier this week that the company would no longer allow Adobe (News - Alert) Flash on its website. The e-commerce giant announced that the change will be taking place rather quickly, going into full effect on September 1. The firm says that the ban is an effort to make sure that all of its customers have consistent experiences when they visit the website.

Amazon doesn’t have anything against Flash ads; rather the company says the decision is based on browser changes that have been implemented by Google Chrome, Mozilla (News - Alert) Firefox and Apple Safari. Those changes have limited what kind of Flash content is going to be displayed and that in turn leads to a different experience or a customer depending on what browser they are using.

Amazon is doing everything it can to make sure it stays ahead of the curve when it comes to the online business. One study after another is pointing to the fact that consumers, for whatever reason are flocking back to physical stores. That’s good news for companies that have both an online and physical presence. It’s not particularly good news for a company like Amazon which can only get customers to come visit it when it has online visitors.

CIO Today pointed out that security might have played a part in this particular change in this department as well. However, one security expert told the website that wasn’t actually the biggest reason the firm is making this move, most likely. “With more and more users disabling Flash or using a ‘click-to-play’ setting in their browser, Flash-based ads simply aren’t being seen as effectively,” Tim Erlin, director of IT security Relevant Products/Services and risk strategy at advanced threat detection firm Tripwire (News - Alert) said.

Erlin added that while Amazon might not have been looking at security as the principal reason for the move, the company got better security considering that Flash required a download in order to use it right. That can be a problem for users.




Edited by Dominick Sorrentino
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