Cookies: Good versus Bad

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What is a Computer Cookie?

A cookie is a small file placed on your computer by a web site. Its purpose is to allow your computer to interact with that site through your Internet browser (Internet Explorer, Firefox, etc.).

For instance, a session cookie tells me that a person logged onto Online Little Rock. It does not tell me anything about that person, only that you visited this site. At the end of the day I can see how many people logged onto this site and how many total pages were visited. A session cookie is no longer valid once you leave this site.

The Free Internet Really Isn't Free

The Internet is powered by advertising, just like television, radio, newspapers and most any other communication media. Advertising cookies and tracking cookies are commonly known as persistent cookies; they do not expire when you leave a web site.

When you log onto the Internet, whether it be AOL, MSN, SBC/A T & T, Yahoo or whatever, you are first taken to a landing page, or welcome page. Do you see any advertisements on that page? Or, how many advertisements do you see on that page?

An advertising cookie can deliver, well, an advertisement for you to read and consider its value. A tracking cookie might tell AOL (or whomever) which ads attracted you and whether or not you took any action. No personal information about you is recorded.

A tracking cookie could tell whomever what ads you read, what pages on the site interested you most and what other web sites attracted your attention. Usually, no personal information about you is recorded.

Online banking requires the use of cookies. Let's say you log into your online banking account where you have a checking account, a savings account and a credit card. You look at your checking account to confirm you have enough money to pay your credit card bill. Then you go to your credit card account and pay the bill. The cookie used by the bank allowed it to track you from account to account.

The cookie told the bank web site that the person who looked at your checking account is qualified to look at the credit card account. You did not need to log in again. Sometimes you may get a message that your online banking session has expired and that you must log in again. That's a safety measure built into the cookie.

For instance, you're looking at your bank account when something requires your attention elsewhere in a hurry. You jump up from the computer and race to whatever...without logging out of your bank account. Usually after ten minutes, the cookie says, "Something's not right here" and it automatically closes your online banking session.

Third Party Cookies

The Internet is powered by advertising. I thought I'd say that again in case you missed it the first time. You go to Yahoo to read the news. An ad runs across your screen for cosmetics or computers. A cookie told the third-party ad it needed to make an appearance, the third party being someone other than you, the party of the first part, and Yahoo, the party of the second part.

For instance, in the left column is an advertisement or two. Right now, the company managing those ads knows that I showed them to someone. It doesn't know who; it simply knows that I showed it to you. If you like what you see and click on it, you will go to that company's website and they will know that someone came to their website from Online Little Rock. Again, they won't know who.

That company will only know who you are when you see the value of their product and purchase it. And they'll say, "Hey, Online Little Rock is a good site. They sent us a customer."

Bad Cookie!

The adult industry is known as a source of bad cookies. Certainly they are not the only source, but they get the most attention. And, it's not all adult sites. Mostly those based in other countries, but there are a few bad guys in the U. S. as well.

These bad cookies can deliver spyware onto your computer. And that spyware can perform many functions. If you haven't already read the articles about spyware and password management for the Internet, please do so before you leave. There is a simple and inexpensive way to defeat the bad guys.

You did not visit an adult site, so why are you getting bombarded with ads from adult sites? The answer could very well be that someone sent you an email that included hidden adult site spyware. You opened the email. And now you have a little program on your computer asking for adult site advertisements. And, boy, do you get 'em!

A lady we know who works for a prestigious firm in Little Rock was preparing a page for their website. She wanted to include a photo or artwork of some kind. Web site language includes the words text and graphics. This sentence is text. Any photo you see on this site is a graphic.

The lady did an Internet search for graphic. And her search results provided more graphic graphics than she expected. One of those small images in the search results fed her computer a little spyware, and adult site after adult site after adult site began popping up on her office computer.

Knowing company rules about visiting adult sites while at work and fully understanding the meaning of termination, she immediately went to her supervisor and explained what had happened.

How You Can Control Cookies

You want good cookies. You just don't want the bad ones. Unfortunately, many times this is a throw-the-baby-out-with-the-bath-water situation. Different Internet browsers have different security measures for handling cookies, and they run from accepting all cookies to refusing all cookies.

Refusing all cookies certainly limits what you can do on the Internet. Accepting all cookies and deleting them on a regular basis is preferred by many people. Or, accepting cookies only from visited web sites and deleting them later is possible.

A problem arises when people are scared to delete anything from their computer for fear of losing something they don't want lost. A second problem is that deleting a cookie after it has delivered spyware to your computer deletes only the cookie and not the spyware.

That is another thing we like about Spyware software. It will delete cookies coming from third-party sites you don't visit, and it will kill spyware attached to bad cookies.

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