Cookies
A cookie is used to maintain information about a user state and information about him/her.
Cookies can be used to store user preferences and user information that can be used across
pages in the website.A cookie is also known as web cookie,browser cookie and HTTP cookie.
A cookie is stored as text strings on the computer.If you forget some thing about your website
cookies help you because,cookies save your information in history of computer. The browser
returns the cookie to the cookie to the server when the page is referenced again.The most
common use of cookie is store a user ID.A cookie may contain the string such as ID=96352398
Example
The website www.amazon.com uses cookies.The user fills a from with the name and
address to order a book.Amazon assigns an ID,stores user's information with that
ID in its database on the server.It also sends the ID to user's browser as a cookie.
The browser stores ID on hard disk.The browser sends the ID back to the server when
the user visits Amazon again.The server customizes the web page according to the user ID.
Types of Cookies
Cookies can be temporarily or permanent.
1.Temporary cookie:Temporary cookie is also called session cookie.It is temporarily stored
in browser's memory and is deleted when the session ends or the browser's is closed.
2.Permanent cookie:Permanent cookie is also called persistent cookie.It is stored permanent
on computer's hard drive.If it is deleted,it will be recreated when the user visits the website
again.
Uses of Cookies
Cookies are used for different purposes such as follows:
* Most websites use them for personalization of user preferences.For example,a news
website may allow the user to customize the page to display the news of his interests.The
website stores user preference in cookies.
* Some websites also use cookies to store user,s password.The users do not need to enter
the password again and again.
*Some websites use cookies to track visits of users and web pages visited by the users.
* Online shopping sites generally use session cookies to keep the track of items in a user's
shopping cart.
* Some websites may use cookies to target advertisement.These sites store a user's interests
and browsing habits in the cookie and display related ads on the pages.
Browser Setting about cookies
The browser can be set to accept cookies as follows:
* The user can set the browser to accept cookies automatically.
* It can be set to prompt the user to accept cookie.
* It can be set to disable the use of cookies altogether.However,the user may not be able
to use many of e-commerrce web sites if cookies are disabled.
Privacy Concerns about Cookies
Webmasters obtain information using the cookies about users IP addresses,browser type,last
pages visited.It allows Web servers to recognize a user who has already visited the website
from the same computer.It allows the compilation of user profiles and large amounts of data
related to the interests of the user.Advertisers and webmasters are currently using cookies to
develop detailed profiles of users and their browsing habits.Each click on a particular type of
page in a website is added to the profile.The information is primarily used for website design
and placement of banner advertisements.However,this information can be sold for other
commercial purpose that creates a concern to personal.