Newsletter ArchiveSUBJECT:Cookies Welcome to The Internet 800 Directory Newsletter. This week I want to cover the subject of cookies. I'm not referring to the type my wife bakes, but rather those used on the Internet. Many Internet users have an enormous fear of cookies and what they might do to their computers. The truth is, cookies are harmless and can provide web surfers a better web experience. Because HTTP is anonymous, it is impossible to differentiate between visitors to a web site, unless the server can somehow single out the visitor. There are many reasons that site owner might want to identify a user of their site. They might want the ability to personalize the information that is displayed in the web site for each specific visitor. They might want to provide you with your logon and password so you don’t have to fill it in every time you visit their site. Shopping carts need to remember the items you have picked, so you can buy more than one thing at a time. Companies like Amazon.com track the products you review. This way they can make suggestions of other things you might like based on the buying habits of other customers that viewed the same things you viewed. For any of these things to happen, the web site needs to be able to identify you. It doesn’t need any real information about you; it just needs to know the computer you rode in on. Cookies are a simple piece of text. They are not a program nor a plug-in. They cannot be used as a virus and cannot access your hard drive. Cookies are transmitted through the HTTP header. They are then stored in the memory of your browser. Every time you open your browser, your cookies are read in from disk, and every time you close your browser, your cookies are re-saved to disk. Cookies cannot collect information about you from your computer. They can however track your progress thru the web site that set the cookie on your machine. If you provide the site owner with personal information (sign up form, online orders), they could build a profile on you by combining surfing habits with your personal information. So, in conclusion, cookies are mostly harmless. They can save you time and make web surfing (specifically, web shopping) easier. However, some find cookies intrusive, an invasion of their privacy. Fortunately, if you don’t want web sites to track your use, you can block cookies with relative ease by simply changing the settings in your browser. If you have any thoughts on this subject or any ideas that could be helpful to the others in this group send them to me (Chuck Arning) at chuck@inter800.com All Contents Copyright ©1995-2001 The Internet 800 Directory Subscribe To The Newsletter: |