As is being discussed in other boards now, cookies are a widely misunderstood topic.
"First party" cookies are used by many web sites, such as this one (and most others where you are required to "log on"). They enable the server to remember who you are once you have logged in and are surfing the site. Each time you click a link on the site, that cookie information is sent back to the server that issued it to identify you. (Definition of "identify you", in this forums case, is limited to your login name and the time your session started, and even that is stored in an encrypted format, so only this server can read it.)
The cookies that are less desirable are 3rd party tracking cookies, but in most cases these cookies are not the privacy concern users assume. In most cases, they "profile" the user (but not using personal information) and cause the user to be bombarded with ads that are related to content that you have recently surfed. They may also be cleverly used by some companies in other ways, which is were the privacy concern comes from (example: check to see if you also looked at a competitors website for example.) But in any case, cookies are data and not program code, they can't give up actual personal information unless the server (internet server... not your computer) that wrote them had that information and included it within the cookie data in the first place (and when this does happen it will most likely be a 1st party cookie that will only be sent back to the server that originally set it and it will be encrypted).
For a better discussion on cookies than can provided here, please visit the wikipedia page: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tracking_cookies
Message Edited by Allen_K on 09-27-2008 11:19 PM
Allen
I think I've learnt a great lesson on what Tracking cookies actually do!!!sorry for the inconvenience,I think you guys need to add a blushing smiley.
