Computer-made Cookies

Presented byHelal Lutfi

What is a Computer Cookie?

A small text file which contains a unique ID tag.

Placed on your computer by a website.

The website saves a complimentary file with a matching ID tag.

The name "cookie" comes from fortune cookie, because of the hidden information inside.

What is stored in this text file?

Various information can be stored, from pages visited on the site, to information voluntarily given to the site.

When you revisit the site days or weeks later, the site can recognize you by matching the cookie on your computer with the counterpart in its database.

Types of Cookies

Temporary cookies:stored temporarily in your browser's memory and are deleted as soon as you end the session by closing the browser

Permanent cookies:stored permanently on your computer's hard drive and, if deleted, will be recreated the next time you visit the sites that placed them there

Cookies’ Advantages

Addressed the need to keep track of information entered at a site.

The site can associate that information with you as you traveled through the site's pages.

Examples of good cookies: Automatic registration log-on, preserving website preferences, and saving items to a shopping cart.

Cookies’ Disadvantages: Websites Profiling

Marketers may have advertising rights on several hundred or even many thousands of the most popular websites. Marketers can pass cookies to surfers on many sites, then recognize their unique ID tags whenever they visit one of the affiliated sites in order to log a comprehensive profile of the individuals’ surfing habits over a period of time.Sophisticated profiling programs then sort the data provided by the cookie to categorize the target in several different areas.Gender, race, income level, religious affiliation and even sexual orientation can all be determined by cookie profiling.

Ask the browser to interfere…

set the preferences in your browser to alert you when a cookie is about to be placed. Explorer users:

Run Internet Explorer Open the Tools menu. Select Internet Options to open the Dialog

box. • click on the "Advanced" tab. • Scroll down and you'll see a setting to

"Warn before accepting cookies."

How to get rid of cookies

Explorer users will find their cookies stored in a folder called Cookies inside the Windows folder (C:/Windows/Cookies). To delete these files:

Run Internet Explorer Open the Tools menu. Select Internet Options to open the Dialog

box. Click the "Delete Cookies" button.