Tech Demystified – Cookies

Cookies are small text files that some websites put on user’s computer to store a variety of information about the user and user preferences. Websites communicate with users through HTTP protocol. HTTP protocol is a stateless protocol. This means the user is served with a web page by the server of the website and the connection is terminated whereby the user is forgotten. The web servers are working in a stateless mode because they have to serve many users and keeping a constant connection will all the users will drain the web server’s resources. In order to have a continuous and consistent communication between the user and website server, the web server generates a cookie with the user information and sends it to the web browser of the user. Every time the user sends a new request to the server of the website checks for the cookie information to determine the next steps to be taken by the web server.

 

Purposes of Cookie

1. Websites use cookies to gather information about website use like how many times the user had visited the site.

2. Shopping websites use cookies to store information on items shopped online i.e. items added to the shopping cart. On completion of the shopping, the cookie with the shopped items is passed on to the shopping website.

3. Cookies are also used to keep the user signed-in into the website as long as the browser is not closed or until such time after which the website automatically logs out the user. This is helpful when a user signs-in and wants to navigate through various web pages which needs authentication within that website.

4. With a trusted website, cookies can enrich user experience by allowing the user to skip having to sign in every time he visits the website by saving the sign-in name and password as persistent cookie.

5. Some cookies, such as those saved by banner ads, might put user privacy at risk by tracking sites he visits.

 

Cookies and security

Blocking all cookies can help protect user privacy, but it might limit user experience on some websites. Users will have to be selective about which websites he can allow cookies for. Users can start by blocking all cookies, then allow cookies as needed for websites that he trusts. It is advisable not to store persistent cookies containing passwords of online banking accounts.

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