I, along with most other people, love cookies. The fresh-baked right out of the oven taste is one of my favourite things in the world. What has the potential to be detrimental for you is Internet Cookies. I have mixed feelings about Internet cookies. I enjoy having a personalized experience on the internet, but I’m not comfortable sharing too much of my personal Information online, where I have no control over it. I wasn’t the only one having this issue, so let’s chat.
1) What are cookies exactly? – Whenever you visit a website, there is a small data package put on your computer or device. These data packets serve as a communication link between the device and the website, informing the website whether the device has visited before. Actually, it’s the IP Address that the device is using, but let’s keep it simple here. The Cookies allow websites to see how you use their site. In the case of shopping sites, this allows them (or the algorithms, more specifically) to suggest other items you might like based on your shopping habits. In other cases, the information cookies provide can allow the people running the sites to see what pages are more popular, and which ones should be shut down.
2) Why can they be good? – Ever go to a website for the first time and there is a pop-up with something like “20% off our entire site” or “Sign up for our newsletter!!!”? Yes, there is an automatic trigger for that if a device without a cookie package visits a website. Having cookies on your device can be helpful in that they keep you logged into your most frequented sites, prevent you from seeing annoying ads nearly every time you visit a site, and generally make the flow of your internet browsing much easier.
3) Why Internet cookies are bad – So here’s the issue. Technically, cookies collect Information on you. The point of Cookies is to customize the experience that you get on a particular website so that the algorithms can figure out the best experience for you. The problem is that while this is happening, the cookies are also collecting IP address information, shopping habits, location, and other Personally Identifiable Information. I don’t have a problem with the websites that collect some of this info. Frankly, I appreciate being able to access certain websites automatically. The issue I do have is that the Information once collected by the site can be taken by cybercriminals who try to steal it and use it to defraud the original owners of that Information.
I want to take a quick moment on this post to recognize the elephant in the room. If you’re new to this site, you may notice a banner at the bottom of your screen inquiring about cookies. Here’s the thing: I’m looking to improve your experience on the site, and hopefully, the cookies will let me know what types of topics interest you.
Ultimately, whether you accept cookies is entirely your choice. I have visited various sites and found that whether I accept the cookies or not, it doesn’t significantly affect how I use the site. The risk of receiving the cookies is whether you are willing to disclose any information. I suggest avoiding them if you are unfamiliar with the site you are visiting. If you visit a site regularly, that is one thing, but for one-off sites, I recommend against exposing your data to a website you don’t know.
Do you accept Cookies?
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