Below is a transcript of a segment from one of my monthly live computer question & answer audio classes where I answer a question about whether you should delete cookies from your computer. In the lesson I explain what cookies are and give a non-technical explanation of how cookies work. You can also listen to the original audio using the play button below.
There is a problem with deleting cookies. Let me take a side step here and explain what cookies are because a lot of people don’t really understand them. They hear that cookies are bad, but they’re not necessarily. Let me give you a couple of examples and help you understand what they are.
A cookie is a small file. When you go to a website, it will place a tiny file on your hard drive. Many websites, including my own, www.Amazon.com and many legitimate sites do this. It doesn’t have any detailed information in it, but it has something like a customer ID number or something along those lines.
Let’s use the example of Amazon. If I go back to Amazon, it will say, “Welcome back, Worth. Here are some things we think you’d be interested in.” It’s used to give the feeling of going into a local store where the guy behind the counter recognizes you.
He or she tells you about the things you were asking about last week that are in now. They give you more of a personal experience. That’s a perfectly legitimate and harmless use for cookies.
On my own site, if I ever send someone an electronic coupon, it uses a cookie. If you have cookies disabled or if you’ve deleted the cookie, then you lose the coupon and don’t get the discount.
If I have an ad on a website, I will keep track of the ads I’m running. I can tell if 100 people have come from that ad and 15 people signed up for my newsletter and so on. It helps me keep track of my advertising costs. It’s a harmless use for a cookie.
That wouldn’t have any negative side effect if you had cookies blocked for you. It just wouldn’t let me keep track of my advertising dollars. Those are on the harmless end of the spectrum for cookies.
On the other end of the spectrum, you have what are called “tracking” cookies. These cookies are not damaging to your computer, but they invade your privacy.
Imagine that I’m browsing from one website to another. I go to Website 1, Website 2, Website 3 and so on. When I go the first one, it has a banner ad, one of those ads that write across the top of the website. It takes up the width of the web page.
Let’s say it’s an ad that is coming from www.DoubleClick.com. That’s an advertising company and website. They put up an ad, any type of ad from refinancing your home to whatever. When I go to the website, the ad, not the website itself per se but the ad, puts a cookie on my hard drive. It says, “Worth has been to this website.”
I click on another site and another one, and I end up on Website 6 which also has a banner ad. It might not be the same ad, but it’s coming from the same company. It will look for a cookie on my hard drive. It will find the cookie, so they will know I was on Website 1 and now am on Website 6.
As I go on to more sites, as long as I leave that cookie there or allow that cookie to be placed in the first place, they can build a profile of the types of websites I am interested in. Then they start targeting the ads a little more. If I click on an ad, that even targets it even more.
It’s the equivalent of having someone trailing you as you drive around town. You go into the grocery store and then the bank, the bookstore or whatever, and they’re snooping. It’s an invasion of privacy.
That’s the bad end of the spectrum for cookies. If you use the option in your web browser to delete cookies, it is going to wipe out all of the cookies, good AND bad.
For example, you might go to a website that had remembered you, and now it doesn’t remember you anymore. This may not matter for a lot of websites, but it will for others.
That’s the gist of what I was going to talk about what cookies are and how cookies work.
There is a problem with deleting cookies. Let me take a side step here and explain what cookies are because a lot of people don’t really understand them. They hear that cookies are bad, but they’re not necessarily. Let me give you a couple of examples and help you understand what they are.
A cookie is a small file. When you go to a website, it will place a tiny file on your hard drive. Many websites, including my own, www.Amazon.com and many legitimate sites do this. It doesn’t have any detailed information in it, but it has something like a customer ID number or something along those lines.
Let’s use the example of Amazon. If I go back to Amazon, it will say, “Welcome back, Worth. Here are some things we think you’d be interested in.” It’s used to give the feeling of going into a local store where the guy behind the counter recognizes you.
He or she tells you about the things you were asking about last week that are in now. They give you more of a personal experience. That’s a perfectly legitimate and harmless use for cookies.
On my own site, if I ever send someone an electronic coupon, it uses a cookie. If you have cookies disabled or if you’ve deleted the cookie, then you lose the coupon and don’t get the discount.
If I have an ad on a website, I will keep track of the ads I’m running. I can tell if 100 people have come from that ad and 15 people signed up for my newsletter and so on. It helps me keep track of my advertising costs. It’s a harmless use for a cookie.
That wouldn’t have any negative side effect if you had cookies blocked for you. It just wouldn’t let me keep track of my advertising dollars. Those are on the harmless end of the spectrum for cookies.
On the other end of the spectrum, you have what are called “tracking” cookies. These cookies are not damaging to your computer, but they invade your privacy.
Imagine that I’m browsing from one website to another. I go to Website 1, Website 2, Website 3 and so on. When I go the first one, it has a banner ad, one of those ads that write across the top of the website. It takes up the width of the web page.
Let’s say it’s an ad that is coming from www.DoubleClick.com. That’s an advertising company and website. They put up an ad, any type of ad from refinancing your home to whatever. When I go to the website, the ad, not the website itself per se but the ad, puts a cookie on my hard drive. It says, “Worth has been to this website.”
I click on another site and another one, and I end up on Website 6 which also has a banner ad. It might not be the same ad, but it’s coming from the same company. It will look for a cookie on my hard drive. It will find the cookie, so they will know I was on Website 1 and now am on Website 6.
As I go on to more sites, as long as I leave that cookie there or allow that cookie to be placed in the first place, they can build a profile of the types of websites I am interested in. Then they start targeting the ads a little more. If I click on an ad, that even targets it even more.
It’s the equivalent of having someone trailing you as you drive around town. You go into the grocery store and then the bank, the bookstore or whatever, and they’re snooping. It’s an invasion of privacy.
That’s the bad end of the spectrum for cookies. If you use the option in your web browser to delete cookies, it is going to wipe out all of the cookies, good AND bad.
For example, you might go to a website that had remembered you, and now it doesn’t remember you anymore. This may not matter for a lot of websites, but it will for others.
That’s the gist of what I was going to talk about what cookies are and how cookies work.
Labels: how cookies, what cookies, what cookies are, why cookies
