Cookies are text files stored on your hard disk. Your Web browser creates and uses them to identify you to a specific Web site to keep track of your activities at that site. If you are using Netscape, you have a file called "COOKIES.TXT" somewhere on your hard drive. Microsoft's Internet Explorer stores cookies in a folder called "Cookies," a sub-folder of your "Windows" folder.
Webmasters are not usually spies or casual snoops. Before you start hollering "Big Brother is watching me," take a moment to think about how the cookie is being used and for what purpose. They are attempting to track your preferences to build a profile. They do not monitor every step you take on the Web. Because of the way that connections are made on the Internet, cookies will not and cannot tell a Web site your name and address, only that you or someone using your computer has visited the site previously along with whatever details it wishes. This information is used to bring up ads you are more likely to respond to or to keep you from having to move through multiple levels of Web pages every time you visit the site. Cookies can identify you to a site and let you log in automatically without a user identification or password.
Much of the anxiety about cookies arises from two almost universal assumptions held by computer users. One is that exploring the Web is an entirely confidential, anonymous experience that leaves no traces of itself. That's a little like expecting your everyday activities in the real world to be completely invisible to others. The other is that your hard drive is your castle and should not be tampered with without your knowledge and explicit permission. OK! I can buy that one.
Let's examine some of the issues:
If you feel that cookies are an unwarranted invasion of your privacy simply erase them from your hard drive and that will be the end of it. Then weld the front door of your home shut because it could be used by dishonest people to enter your residence. Regardless of how you feel about them, cookies will be with us for a long time to come. Web sites will continue to ask your browser to store cookies and your browser will oblige. Cookies can be very useful, but there are some legitimate privacy concerns. It's up to you to decide how much these privacy issues really matter and make the appropriate choices. The choices are up to you, but if you don't make them the Web will.
About the worst that will happen is that you'll receive more junk E-mail, but you will also get more Web content tailored to your preferences. One piece of data that Web servers can get from almost any browser without even using a cookie is your E-mail address. Browsers have this information so if you click to send E-mail to a Webmaster, no problem. If one knows how to combine E-mail addresses, cookies and data from multiple sources, you end up with a real data base.
Check out http://www.cdt.org to see what your browser can tell a Web site about you. To gain a sense of the kinds of information Web sites may already know about you and your E-mail address visit http://www. whowhere.com and see what information this site has collected on you.
Cookies have been called the greatest marketing tool in history. Others say cookies should be outlawed because unscrupulous people can use them for fraud. Any tool can be used or misused. The majority of fraud in our society is done either through the mail or over the telephone. Does that mean we eliminate the Post Office and shut down AT & T? I hardly think so.
Copyright 1997. This article is from the June 1997 issue of the Sarasota PC Monitor, the official monthly publication of the Sarasota Personal Computer Users Group, Inc., P.O. Box 15889, Sarasota, Fl 34277-1889. Permission to reprint is granted only to other non-profit computer user groups, provided proper credit is given to the author and our publication. We would appreciate receiving a copy of the publication the reprint appears in, please send to above address, Attn: Editor. For further information about our group, email: spcug@netline.net Web: http://www.spcug.org/
The Sarasota Personal Computer Users Group, Inc. has 1,000+ members and was established in 1982. We are members of the Assoc. of PC User Groups (APCUG), the Florida Assoc. of PC Users Groups, Inc.,the Assoc. of Shareware Professionals and we are members of the America Online Ambassador Program.
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