cookies

Chpt 7
2nd Edition

From Greenstein & Vasarhelyi's book Electronic Commerce Security

"Cookies were designed to allow Web visitors to operate more efficiently, provide a better response time to repeat visitors to their sites, and more accurately track how many different users visit a site"

"The main reason given for the justification for the creation of cookies is one of efficiency. On subsequent visits to this website, once the cookie is read, the server can obtain any information stored about the visitor without having to ask for it again"

Basics of Cookies

http://fitness.howstuffworks.com/cookie.htm

.	This web page is particularly good and merits reading through. You'll find the infromation about cookies asy to understand and the links useful. WTGR

some cookie FAQs

www.cookiecentral.com/faq/

Why do sites use Cookies?
http://www.cookiecentral.com/faq/#1.3
"There are many reasons a given site would wish to use cookies. These range from the ability to personalize information (like on My Yahoo or Excite), or to help with on-line sales/services (like on Amazon Books or Microsoft), or simply for the purposes of tracking popular links or demographics (like DoubleClick)." Cookies also provide programmers with a quick and convenient means of keeping site content fresh and relevant to the user's interests because the cookie tells them simple information about who has been hitting what part of the page

The "Electronic Commerce Resource Center"
The text to the right was quoted from a page that no longer exists

"Many Netizens are concerned, "If I allow a Web 'cookie' to be set, someone can access my hard drive." However, cookies cannot be used to get data or view data off your hard drive. Cookies can only get data from what has been written to the cookie file. Are cookies dangerous to your computer? NO. The cookie is simply a text file saved in your browser's directory or folder. It cannot be used as a virus, and it cannot access your hard drive. MSN and Netscape use cookies to store information so you don't have to remember it (passwords, etc.). If you want to see what information is stored in your cookie file, use a word processor to open a file called cookies.txt or MagicCookie. Don't want to accept cookies? Configure your browser to warn you when one is about to be set or refuse them all. It's your choice."

Doubleclick
accused of using cookie information unfairly

.	There are a number of examples of how companies have used cookies to gather information which may be of concern to web surfers - and the methods and tactics used have been uncovered and written about in various on-line forums.

http://www.epic.org/privacy/internet/ftc/DCLK_comp_pr.html

"EPIC's complaint alleges that the DoubleClick merger of the two databases violates the companies' assurances that the information it collects on Internet users would remain anonymous, and that the data collection was therefore unfair and deceptive. EPIC also charges that the company has failed to follow its revised privacy policy and that this is also unfair."

Cookies and your Browser

There are settings in your browser which may effect your ability to view certain content - depending on whether the page has cookies that require you accept them. There are pages on the Web that show you how to change te settings in your browser. This page below - out of the U.K., shows with screen captures, how to change the settings in Netscape and Internet Explorer so you can deal with cookies more effectively.
http://nocookies.e2esolutions.co.uk/

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