[Written By External Partner]
Cookies are small text files that websites place on a user’s computer or mobile device to uniquely identify their browser or app and track information about them. Cookies play a central role in online data collection and digital advertising. Here we’ll examine what cookies are, how they work, and their implications for internet users’ privacy.
What Are Cookies?
A cookie is a tiny text file that is only a few kilobytes in size. A website saves them onto a user’s computer or mobile device when they visit it. It contains information that identifies the user’s specific browser or app on that device. Websites use cookies to remember users’ actions and preferences across multiple pages or between visits.
How Cookies Track User Data
Every time a user visits a webpage, it can access any cookies saved on the device from that site. This allows the website to recognize the specific browser and recall any data tied to that cookie file. Websites use cookies to track, remember, and target information to individual users.
When you sign up or log in to a website, it can create a unique cookie that identifies you. This allows it to remember you each time you visit and pull up your account information, past activity, and preferences without you having to sign in again.
Cookies also allow sites to track your behaviors, clicks, and usage patterns on their platforms. They can record pages you view, links you click, items you interact with or purchase, and how you navigate around the site. This data helps websites understand how visitors use them and optimize their platforms.
Advertisers and third-party services on websites can also deposit cookies on your device to monitor your external internet behaviors. For example, an ad cookie may track what products you view across multiple sites to target relevant ads to you later.
Implications for Privacy
The widespread use of cookies raises concerns over internet privacy and the monetization of user data. Cookies provide websites and third parties with a way to compile detailed digital dossiers of individuals’ browsing histories, interests, and habits without their knowledge or consent.
Some regulations, like the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation and the California Consumer Privacy Act, have introduced requirements around informing users about cookies and gaining consent for setting certain tracking cookies. However, most standard cookie practices remain opaque to average internet users.
Opting Out of Cookie Tracking
If you are concerned about cookie tracking, there are a few steps you can take to prevent or limit the collection of your data:
- Delete cookies frequently or set your browser to auto-delete cookies on exit.
- Disable third-party cookies in your browser settings while keeping necessary first-party cookies enabled.
- Use privacy-focused browsers like Firefox or Brave that block third-party trackers.
- Install browser extensions like Privacy Badger or Ghostery to prevent cookies from unknown trackers.
- Opt out of targeted advertising by industry groups like the NAI or DAA.
- Look for sites and services that minimize unnecessary data collection and offer users transparency and control over their privacy settings.
- Look at how to remove your data from data brokers for free. You can learn more in this opt out guide.
With some vigilance, internet users can take steps to control the amount of information cookies reveal about their online behaviors and browsing habits. But the extensive behind-the-scenes use of cookies on most major platforms makes it difficult to avoid cookie tracking entirely.
Limiting third-party cookies and being selective about which sites you engage with can help reduce the privacy risks posed by this common tracking technology.
