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Cookies
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Web sites use cookies to simulate a continuous connection to that site. This makes it more convenient for users by allowing them to visit pages within a site without having to reintroduce themselves with each mouse click. Contrary to popular fears and misconceptions, cookies were not created to spy on, or otherwise invade the privacy of Internet users. Cookies only contain information that users volunteer, and they do not have the capability of infiltrating a user's hard drive and sneaking away with personal information. The simple function of a cookie is to help the user navigate a web site with as little obstruction as possible.
Cookies are small data structures used by a web site (server) to deliver data to a web client (user); request that the client store the information; and in certain circumstances, return the information to the web site. Web sites can thus "remember" information about users to facilitate their preferences for a particular site and allow the use of passwords. The web site may deliver one or more cookies to the client. The client stores cookie data in one or more flat files on its local hard drive.
Cookies allow web sites to maintain user information across HTTP connections. The current HTTP protocol is "stateless," meaning that the server does not store any information about a particular HTTP transaction; each connection is "fresh" and has no knowledge of any other HTTP transaction. "State" information is information about a communication between a user and a server, similar in many ways to frequent flyer profiles or option settings in desktop software. (For example, a preference for aisle or window seats is cookie-like information that a frequent-flyer program might store about its customers.) In some cases, it is useful to maintain state information about the user across HTTP transactions.
Cookie Choices in Your Netscape Browser
Beginning with version 4.0, Netscape Navigator began giving users the power to control cookies. In version 4.0 and higher, you can activate your "Cookie Alert" by pulling down the Edit menu and clicking Preferences. Click Advanced Settings at the bottom of the dialog box, and choose from the following:
- Accept all cookies.
- Accept only cookies that get sent back to the originating server.
- Disable cookies.
Another option is for Navigator to warn you before accepting a cookie. Every time there is an incoming cookie, a dialog box will ask if you want to accept it.
Cookie Choices in Your Internet Explorer
You can enable yourself for all cookies or to be prompted each time one is available. To do
this, follow these steps:
- Choose View, then
- Choose Internet Options.
- Click on the Advanced Tab.
- Scroll down to the yellow icon at the Cookies section and select one of the
options to determine your use of cookies.
As long as you have not
selected "Disable all cookie use," you should now be enabled.
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Copyright 1999 InfoEd International, Inc.
, Guilderland, NY, 12084
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