|
Use
Of Cookies
Normal cookies are used to remember the user who is visiting
the website in order to show the appropriate content. Without
them, some websites would cease to function. Cookies are also used
to remember the passwords and "signed on" status of
users.
HTTP cookies are used by Web servers to differentiate users and
to maintain data related to the user during navigation, possibly
across multiple visits. HTTP cookies were introduced to provide a
way to implement a "shopping
cart" (or "shopping basket"),[1][2]
a virtual device into which a user can store items they want to
purchase as they navigate the site.
Allowing users to log in to a website is another use of
cookies. Users typically log in by inserting their credentials
into a login page; cookies allow the server to know that the user
is already authenticated, and therefore is allowed to access
services or perform operations that are restricted to a user who
is not logged in.
Many websites also use cookies for personalization
based on users' preferences. Sites that require authentication
often use this feature, although it is also present on sites not
requiring authentication. Personalization includes presentation
and functionality. For example, the Wikipedia
website allows authenticated users to choose the webpage skin
they like best; the Google
search engine allows users (even non-registered ones) to decide
how many search results per page they want to see.
Tracking cookies, however, are used to track internet users'
web browsing habits. Websites leave these tracking cookies on
users' computers, and tracking software can determine where a user
has been by viewing the cookies left on the computer. Different
websites can share tracking cookies, and each website with the
same tracking cookie can read the information and write new
information into it. Websites that use tracking cookies continue
to recreate cookies in the browser each time a site is visited.
Cookies are also used to track users across a website.
Third-party cookies and Web
bugs, explained below, also allow for tracking across multiple
sites. Tracking within a site is typically used to produce usage
statistics, while tracking across sites is typically used by
advertising companies to produce anonymous user profiles (which
are then used to determine what advertisements should be shown to
the user).
In general, a tracking cookie is not dangerous. They may
potentially infringe upon the host's privacy, but they are easily
removed. A tracking cookie cannot cause any system instability.
Current versions of popular web browsers include options to delete
'persistent' cookies when the application is closed. This doesn't
help at all.
|
We suggest you bookmark this site and come back often
