• by Wendy Davis , Staff Writer @wendyndavis, February 1, 2010

Faced with the use of its technology to track consumers without their permission, software company Adobe Systems says it backs new privacy laws.

"To ensure continuing consumer confidence in the Internet and in online commerce, Adobe supports the passage by Congress of comprehensive personal privacy legislation," the company said in comments to the Federal Trade Commission.

Adobe also had sharp words for companies who use Flash cookies, or local shared objects, to thwart consumers' attempts to delete their HTTP cookies -- a relatively new development that has appalled consumer advocates. "This practice, also referred to as 'browser cookie re-spawning,' circumvents the user's intent to clear browser cookies and should not be used," the company said in its filing.

The idea of using local shared objects to recreate HTTP cookies first surfaced in 2005, but didn't draw much scrutiny until last summer, when researchers at the UC Berkeley School of Law published a study  showing how companies could use Flash cookies to recreate HTTP cookies that consumers had deleted.

The researchers also found that at least one site used a Flash cookie even when the user had opted out of tracking through the Network Advertising Initiative's opt-out cookie. (The NAI recently said that none of its members currently used local shared objects for behavioral targeting purposes. The organization also recommended against doing so until consumers can delete and control such Flash cookies as easily as standard HTTP cookies.)

Adobe also said it was working on technological fixes to make it easier for consumers to control the management of Flash cookies.

Yet, even if Flash cookies fall out of favor as a tracking mechanism, it's only a matter of time until new techniques emerge. The Electronic Frontier Foundation recently called attention to one such method -- using browser-configuration information to identify users.

Of course, it's likely that a technological fix to combat that type of id procedure will emerge eventually. In the meantime, however, some companies' apparent desire to circumvent users' privacy decisions could well fuel more support for new online privacy laws.