By Ingrid Tugwell

“Cookies” are derived from a computer science term used when describing an opaque piece of data held by a “go-between.”

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 contain only 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 that of helping the user navigate a web site with as little obstruction as possible.

When someone accesses a server on the web, such as the local library, the user’s web browser will send an information request to the local web server. The server will respond to the request by transmitting the desired information to the user’s computer. There, the user’s browser will display the received information on the user’s screen.

Cookies were implemented to allow user-side customization of web information. For example, cookies are used to personalize Web search engines and to store shopping lists of items a user has selected while browsing through a virtual shopping mall.

Essentially, cookies make use of user-specific information transmitted by the web server onto the user’s computer so that the information might be available for later access.  In most cases, not only does the storage of personal information into a cookie go unnoticed, so does access to it. Web servers automatically gain access to relevant cookies whenever the user establishes a connection to them, usually in the form of web requests.

Cookies are based on a two-step process. First, the cookie is stored in the user’s computer without their consent or knowledge. For example, with customizable web search engines like My Yahoo!, a user selects categories of interest from the web page. The web server then creates a specific cookie, essentially a tagged string of text containing the user’s preferences, and transmits it to the user’s computer.

The user’s web browser receives the cookie and stores it in a special file. This happens without any notification or user consent. As a result, personal information (in this case the user’s category preferences) is formatted by the web server, transmitted and saved by the user’s computer.

During the second stage, the cookie is secretly and automatically transferred from the user’s machine to a web server. Whenever a user directs the web browser to display a certain web page from the server, the browser will, without the user’s knowledge, transmit the cookie containing personal information to the web server.

Some people consider this an invasion of privacy, particularly by marketing companies collecting data. Others aren’t concerned about privacy issues, but prefer to control who knows what regarding their web usage. There are software programs which allow you to block cookies completely, or you can simply delete them.

To delete cookies on a computer, you can go to “Internet Options” under the “Tools” menu and click the “Delete Cookies” button. Once you have done so, however, any web sites requiring login and/or password will have “forgotten” your login information, even if you choose the “Remember login/password” feature (such as with Internet Explorer), so you will have to recall this information on your own.

Ingrid Tugwell is president of PST Inc., a local technology training company. She can be reached at itugwell@trainwithpst.com.

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