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You are here: Home > Law > Privacy > Cookies CookiesCookies are software applications that a Web site server passes to your computer hard drive where it is stored. They store information that can then be transferred back to the server. By using a cookie, a Web site operator can tell certain information about you and your computer. Cookies aren't all bad, though. Many perform helpful functions, like making it easier to access a site that requires you to register. (It remembers the information you gave the Web site when you first registered, and recalls it when you type in your password and screen name.) Cookies are necessary since Web site servers are not computers, in a traditional sense. They don't store and transform information, in the way your desktop can. They merely report certain information back to the site. Since several Web site features which focus on your individual selections and preferences require computing capability, the cookie allows the server to use your computer's processing to gather and store certain information, transferring it back to the server only when the transaction is finalized. For example, if you're shopping online, and want to purchase more than one item, you need to use a cookie. It's the only way you can gather information you want to transmit to the server in one piece. Otherwise you'd have to select and purchase the items, one by one. The cookies are added through your web browsers. You can look into your hard drive directory and probably find several sitting there now. They all use the word "cookie" in their name. Sometimes web advertisers add cookies when you click through on their ads to track where you go. They should be asking if it's okay to install a cookie. With the improved web browser technology we can tell our web browsers to reject all cookies, unless they're cookies we need. There are Web sites which help you test what information is available to others from your computer through cookie technology. If you visit this page; http://www.junkbusters.com/cookies.html, it lets you know what information is available from your browser about you and your computer. It also tells you what others can determine based on that information. There are ways to remove cookies and ways you can surf anonymously. Before you remove any, though, you should make sure you don't need the cookie to access any particular site with which you're registered. For example The New York Times site uses a cookie. If you remove it, you won't be able to access their site and will have to reregister every time you want to access the site. |
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