What Is Spectrum TV Essentials?
Spectrum TV Essentials is a live TV streaming service that includes over 70 entertainment, lifestyle and children’s networks. But there’s a catch.
What Are Browser Cookies?
First-party browser cookies are like tiny digital assistants that help websites hold onto your data to make internet surfing easier. Unfortunately, third-party cookies are less helpful. While not as delicious as real cookies, they act like over-eager assistants by saving and reporting data to websites you haven’t even visited. How can you navigate between these two types of browser cookies while maintaining your privacy? Read on to find out.
Table of Contents
- What Are Browser Cookies?
- Are Browser Cookies Bad?
- Should I Accept Browser Cookies Online?
- Why Are Third-Party Cookies Tracking My Data?
- What Is Google Doing About Third-Party Cookies?
- How Do I Manage Cookies on My Computer?
- Browser Cookie FAQ
Summary
First-party cookies can be a positive influence on your online usership, while third-party cookies can force you to sacrifice some part of your privacy while you browse (sometimes unbeknownst to you). Although cookies on their own are generally not harmful, you can clear out or disallow cookies to prevent privacy breeches. To help you out, certain browsers have taken a stand against third-party cookies.
What Are Browser Cookies?
Have you ever wondered how a website seems to remember what you looked at last time you were on it? Or how it auto-loads your cart items from a week ago even though you never logged in? Situations like these are the result of browser cookies. You’ve probably heard this term before, such as in the phrase “clear your cookies” or in the little pop-up windows on some websites which inform you that the site uses cookies and offers you the choice to accept them or leave the site.
Cookies are small packets of information about a user stored by a website to help improve user experience. They are known simply as cookies or as a variety of other names: HTTP cookies, web cookies, browser cookies or internet cookies. One theory for why this digital concept has a mysteriously food-related term apparently comes from the term, “magic cookie,” which is associated with UNIX computer operating systems.
Additionally, there are different types of cookies to consider:
- First-Party Cookies: information stored by the website you’re visiting
- Third-Party Cookies: information transmitted to and stored by websites other than the one you’re visiting
First-party cookies are generally more desirable because users can maintain control over where their information is going, and the storage of these cookies directly offers users the benefit of a positive experience. Third-party cookies, on the other hand, usually take user information to a destination that is not immediately disclosed to the user. These cookies do not offer an immediate benefit to the user.
Cookies are legal right now, but using cookies without adequately informing visitors or customers about their presence on your site is illegal. That’s why websites have recently begun to display pop-up windows to let users know about their rights regarding cookies. Unless they actually give you a choice to accept or decline, that doesn’t necessarily mean that the site will respect your preference about cookies. It just means that you have been notified, and anything you do on the site from there on out is up to you.
Now, within these two types of cookies are a few subcategories:
| Type | Definition | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Session Cookies (temporary cookies, transient cookies or non-persistent cookies) | With this version, data retention and transfer of information end when you close your window (or your “session”). | An example of session cookie usage is when you begin entering information into an online form, switch to a new page and return to your half-filled form to find your answers still there. |
| Persistent Cookies | These cookies will remain functioning for a longer, pre-determined amount of time (even if you switch pages or close sessions). They can also track multiple visits to the same page. | Persistent cookies are responsible for your continually logged in account and that still-stocked digital shopping cart from last week. |
| Supercookies (tracking cookies, evercookies or zombie cookies) | This cookie category does not actually refer to cookies but rather to stored routines that continue even after a browser cache has been cleared. Since they are not stored in the same way that cookies are, they can continue to transmit data to other locations even after you clear your cache. These are the types of cookies that could be used by third-party cookie systems. | When you notice ads on one site for something you searched for on another site, supercookies (or tracking cookies) may have been at work. |
Are Browser Cookies Bad?
Inherently, cookies by themselves are not bad. However, since internet privacy concerns have become a hot topic in the tech world, the term “cookies” has been thrown around with abandon. Now that we’ve hashed out some definitions, here’s a brief overview about the pros and cons of this online tool.
Pros
- First-party cookies can personalize your browsing experience by featuring content you are more interested in.
- Some cookies can streamline your experience by remembering your choices from previous visits.
- Certain cookies can increase the possibility that you will have a positive online experience by speeding up load times.
Cons
- Some cookies can replicate information even after being deleted.
- Third-party cookies can violate user privacy.
- Certain cookies can be carriers for online security threats.
Should I Accept Browser Cookies Online?
Cookies on their own are, again, generally not harmful. They can be useful on reputable sites if you want to improve your user experience. A cookie on a trustworthy site can remember information you would have had to enter anyway, thereby saving you time and effort.
It’s still true, though, that some cookies have the potential to store and share information with ISPs, government surveillance and cybercriminals. If privacy is a pressing concern for you, you may want to disallow cookies when you can. If you don’t allow cookies, the worst that can happen is the loss of your personalized site experience.
Why Are Third-Party Cookies Tracking My Data?
Third-party cookies can be used to gather information about the online behavior of the visitors who enter a site. Outside sources can collect user data and sell it to advertising agencies who can, in return, inject targeted ads into a user’s online experience. On the more criminal side of this process, obtained data can also be used to impersonate or tamper with a user’s requests to another website. In both cases, this information can be extracted through supercookies.
What Is Google Doing About Third-Party Cookies?
Some browsers like Firefox, Safari, DuckDuckGo and Brave already offer a way to opt out of third-party cookies preemptively, but Google has not yet (completely) come up with this option. Right now, you can disallow third-party cookies in your browser, but Google will still collect data from your activity across any of its platforms to benefit its own search engine. In other words: Google has given you the option to block third-party cookies without ending persistent tracking entirely.
At the moment, Google is planning to delay the elimination of third-party cookies until 2023. Why the wait? A statement from Google says that they aim to help consumers retain their privacy while continuing to allow companies to build thriving digital businesses. They are trying to find new ways to implement in-house tracking systems that benefit advertisers who use their platform. Third-party cookies are unfortunately not the only way to track online behavior.
Frequently asked questions
Which browsers offer an option to disallow third-party cookies?
Firefox, Safari, DuckDuckGo and Brave browsers currently offer options to block third-party tracking cookies from your browser experience.
Will incognito or private browsing modes prevent cookies from tracking me?
Yes and no. Incognito or private browsing modes can certainly reduce the amount of tracking you are subjected to online, but it cannot completely eliminate the possibility that some information about you will be passed on to your ISP or the site you’re on. Spending more time on private browsing windows can't hurt, though.
Why are browser cookies controversial?
On one hand, cookies can help businesses thrive and provide customers with the products or services they want to see. On the other hand, cookies from ill-meaning sources can be used for nefarious purposes online and can endanger the privacy and security of users on the internet.
Written by Sarah Solomon
Edited by Henry St. Pierre
