It will contain some anonymous information such as a unique identifier and the site name and some digits and numbers. It allows a website to remember things like your preferences or what is in your shopping basket.

What to do if you do not want cookies to be set Some people find the idea of a website storing information on their computer or mobile device intrusive, particularly when this information is stored and used by a third party without them knowing. Although this is generally quite harmless you may not, for example, want to see advertising that has been targeted to your interests.

If you prefer, it is possible to block some or all cookies or even to delete cookies that have already been set; but you need to be aware that you might lose some functions of that website. How can I control cookies? If you do not want to receive cookies, you can modify your browser so that it notifies you when cookies are sent to it or you can refuse cookies altogether.

You can also delete cookies that have already been set. If you wish to restrict or block web browser cookies which are set on your device then you can do this through your browser settings.

You may wish to visit aboutcookies. org which contains comprehensive information on how to do this on a wide variety of desktop browsers. How Walking the Talk uses cookies When you visit the Walking the Talk website, you will be prompted to give your explicit consent pop-up - Accept to store cookies on your computer.

You can decline the cookies do not click Accept on the pop-up , and if you accepted the cookies and would like to remove them, you need to clear your browser. We use the following cookies: Permanent cookies Permanent cookies help us to recognise you each time you visit our website, so that the website can be presented in line with your preferences and settings.

Also, if you give permission for cookies to be used, this is itself saved by means of a cookie. This means you do not have to re-enter your preferences, which saves time and guarantees a better user experience. You can disable permanent cookies in the settings of your web browser.

Session cookies Session cookies allow us to see which parts of the website you viewed during your visit. This helps us tailor our website to the surfing behavior or our visitors. Ad networks use zombie cookies to gather personal profiles of website visitors.

These are cookies stored and accessed by Adobe Flash, the browser plug-in used by sites such as YouTube. Flash cookies are Local Shared Objects LSOs that provide Flash applications with options to save data to the local system.

Flash cookies are used to personalize user experience, but they also can store information about the websites you visit and can persist even after you block web cookies or opt out of ad tracking. The secure attribute is always activated so that the cookies are transmitted with encrypted connections, without security issues.

These cookies only work for HTTP and HTTPS, hence the name HTTPonly. Cookies are here to stay, but third-party cookies are facing the heat in an increasingly privacy-conscious world. Websites, advertisers and even search engines are seeking alternatives to third-party cookies.

First-party data can also include data collected offline through in-person events, point of sale, conferences, calls etc. First-party data stays in the hands of those who collect it, and that gives more control and transparency over what happens with that data. Businesses are actively looking at utilizing first-party data to create hyper-personalized experiences for users.

Unified ID or UID 2. Unified ID 2. An encrypted identifier is created. Contextual advertising or targeting refers to placing ads based on their relevance to the content on a web page. It involves advertisers making use of keywords and key phrases on a webpage.

The content on a web page acts as a proxy for personal data. Advertisers use machine learning and cognitive technologies such as natural language processing NLP to predict which pages are best to target.

Without collecting personal data from users, contextual advertising can help ad networks target users through the content they consume and not serve irrelevant ads. Each cohort corresponds to groups with similar browsing histories with a specific cohort number for identification.

FloC is designed to show relevant ads to users without collecting personal data through third-party cookies.

By default, Firefox blocks third-party tracking cookies, social media trackers etc. Safari blocks cookies used for cross-site tracking by default.

Then enable Block all cookies. For a step-by-step guide to block or clear cookies, refer to How to block cookies on your browser.

A cookie or internet cookie is a text file with a small piece of data that is stored on the web browser by websites we visit. Cookies are used for many different purposes, but the most important ones are for managing user sessions, personalization, and ad tracking.

Not every website uses cookies, but most websites utilize them for basic website performance, enhanced user experience, tracking analytics, and other purposes. Generally, the use of cookies is prevalent, especially on websites that require user authentication and personalization.

Websites that do not use cookies typically have less functionality and features. The history of cookies can be traced back to Lou Montulli, a web browser programmer at Netscape Communications, one of the first internet browsers.

In , he came up with the idea of using text files to store information. Yes, some cookies can track you on the internet. These cookies are often called advertising cookies or tracking cookies and allow websites to collect information about your browsing habits, websites you visit, and your on-site behaviour such as scrolling speed and mouse clicks.

They are most commonly used for targeted advertising that shows display ads across the sites you visit. These cookies are used for session management, personalization, remembering and tracking user information etc.

HTTP cookies are also referred to as web cookies and browser cookies. These are stored in your mobile browser just like desktops. Different mobile browsers have different default settings for cookies.

You may delete cookies if you no longer want the browser to have information saved such as account password, preferences and settings.

You may accept or reject website cookies depending on your privacy preferences. Typically, cookies are harmless and are used to provide basic functionalities and improve user experience on a website. However, other cookie categories such as analytics or advertising cookies are used to collect data for targeted advertising.

We reserve the right to exchange anonymised information with our partners e. cookie IDs , to process them, in particular to link them to information about areas of interest, to store, aggregate and analyse them according to various criteria.

Furthermore, you may object to the use of the cookie concerned through the links to the websites of our partners shown below. We use the following categories of cookies on our website:. These cookies are essential in order to enable you to move around the website and use its features.

Without these cookies, services you have asked for such as remembering your login details or shopping basket items cannot be provided. These cookies collect anonymous information on how people use our website. For example, Google Analytics cookies help us to understand how customers arrive at our site, browse or use our site and highlight areas where we can improve areas such as suggest, products, navigation and marketing campaigns.

The data stored by these cookies never shows personal details from which your individual identity can be established. These cookies allow us to analyze your website usage and your selections on the website e. your login name, language, or region , so we can save these settings and offer you a more personalized and more tailored experience.

The information these cookies collect may be anonymised and they cannot track your browsing activity on other websites. Seco Tools makes use of Google Analytics, a web analytics service provided by Google, Inc. Google Analytics uses cookies, text files which are stored on your device and which allow an analysis of the use of the website by you.

The information generated by the cookie about your use of this website is normally transferred to a Google server in the USA and stored there. However, if IP anonymity is activated on this website, your IP address will be abridged beforehand by Google within the Member States of the European Union or in other Contracting States of the Agreement on the European Economic Area.

Only in exceptional cases will the full IP address be transferred to a Google server in the US and abbreviated there. On behalf of the operator of this website, Google will use this information to evaluate your use of the website, to compile reports on website activity, and to provide other services related to the use of the website and the Internet vis-à-vis the website operator.

The IP address provided by your browser within the framework of Google Analytics will not be merged with other Google data. You can prevent cookies from being saved by setting your browser software accordingly; however, we would like to point out that in this case you may not be able to use all the functions of this website to the full.

This site uses Google Maps to display a map. Google Maps is operated by Google, Inc. By using this website, you agree to the collection, processing and use by Google, one of its representatives, or third parties, of the data collected automatically and the data entered by you.

For full details, please visit google. These cookies collect information about your browsing habits in order to make advertising more relevant to you and your interests. They are provided by our third-party partners to analyze and track site visit and signups stemming from advertising. We do not share your personal information such as name or email to third-party providers outside of site visit data collected directly by such Advertising Cookies, though your site visit data may be linked with other personal information collected elsewhere by such third-party providers.

Such external data processing is governed by the privacy policies of these third-party providers.

Without them, the website may break and may fail to work as expected. However, some cookies do not affect the functionality or services of a website, you can choose to not accept them. Tracking cookies use your personal data to track your online behavior and use it for advertisements or analytics.

Such cookies may seem privacy-intrusive and you can opt out of them. Therefore, it all comes down to the purpose of cookies. You must first make yourself aware of the type of cookies and what they do to decide if you should accept them.

Some websites use cookies to improve their efficiency or provide a service based on the cookie identifiers. Without these cookies, the website may not be able to work as expected. Therefore, they want users to accept them. However, some websites want users to accept cookies to run their advertisements or collect analytical information.

Enabling or disabling cookies depends on whether you are okay with websites to store your personal information to monitor data or track your online activities.

In some cases, they also help to make the website function more seamlessly. So, it depends on the type of cookies. Deleting or blocking internet cookies may stop some functions of the website such as user authentication, media content.

In some cases, it may stop tracking your online activity. So, it depends on what type of cookies you delete. For example, if you delete authentication cookies, the website will remove the saved login credentials and you will have to log in next time you visit the site.

If you remove cookies used for advertisements, the site will delete your monitored activity and it will not be able to track you with advertisements unless you accept the cookies once again. In case you remove analytical cookies, the site will not be able to gather data related to how you use the web pages.

When you accept cookies, the website stores the text files in your device that will collect your personal information or monitor your online activities. The site uses this information to customize the user experience, gather analytical data, or place advertisements.

Internet cookies are text files that contain a name, value, and attribute. Your email address will not be published. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment.

Add me to CookieLawInfo mailing list. Accept CookieLawInfo Privacy Policy. updates about our best articles, products, privacy laws and other interesting content every month.

By subscribing I agree with the privacy policy , and I consent to receive emails about updates and product and services powered by CookieYes. Web Cookies. Table of Contents What are internet cookies?

How do internet cookies work? What are internet cookies used for? What are different types of internet cookies? Are internet cookies safe? How to check cookies used by a website? Do all websites use cookies? How to remove internet cookies? What is cookie law and how to comply with it?

Frequently asked questions. What are internet cookies? Details of cookies checked using inspect element of a website. Use of cookies by PwC The following table explains the way in which we use cookies on this website.

Visitor ID based on IP address. The cookie records site id, time of last access, time of start of visit and account ID. First Party Persistent 2 years Webtrends ACOOKIE Visitor Identification set by Java Script.

The cookie records Visitor id, time of last access and time of start of visit. Third Party Persistent 2 Years. Managing cookies on your device We use cookies to personalize content and to provide you with an improved user experience.

Using your browser to control cookies Most browsers allow you to view, manage, delete and block cookies for a website. Managing Analytics cookies You can opt-out of having your anonymised browsing history within our websites or applications recorded by analytics cookies.

Follow us. Privacy Cookies policy Legal. Jegatheesan, S. Tirtea, R. In: European Union Agency for Network and Information Security — ENISA Kristol, D. ACM Trans. Internet Technol. Dinev, T. Kerry, C. Accessed 11 Oct Gonzalez, R. In: Network Traffic Measurement and Analysis Conference, pp.

IEEE, Dublin Ikram, M. Kervizic, J. Accessed 10 Nov Soltani, A. In: AAAI Spring Symposium Series Abraham, M. Accessed Oct Smith, H. MIS Q. Pavlou, P. Bryman, A. Oxford University Press, Oxford Wooldridge, J. Thomson South-Western, Mason Carmi, E. Theory Cult. Download references.

Department of Economics, Management, Industrial Engineering and Tourism, University of Aveiro, , Aveiro, Portugal. You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar. Correspondence to Manuel Au-Yong-Oliveira. Departamento de Engenharia Informática, Universidade de Coimbra, Coimbra, Portugal.

College of Engineering, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA. DIMES, Università della Calabria, Arcavacata di Rende, Italy. Faculty of Electrical Engineering, University of Montenegro, Podgorica, Montenegro. Reprints and permissions.

Pinto, P. Web Cookies: Is There a Trade-off Between Website Efficiency and User Privacy?. In: Rocha, Á. eds Trends and Innovations in Information Systems and Technologies.

Therefore, for maximum security, cookies with the Secure attribute should only be set over a secure connection. The HttpOnly attribute directs browsers not to expose cookies through channels other than HTTP and HTTPS requests.

This means that the cookie cannot be accessed via client-side scripting languages notably JavaScript , and therefore cannot be stolen easily via cross-site scripting a pervasive attack technique. Most modern browsers support cookies and allow the user to disable them. The following are common options: [55].

Add-on tools for managing cookie permissions also exist. Cookies have some important implications for the privacy and anonymity of web users. While cookies are sent only to the server setting them or a server in the same Internet domain, a web page may contain images or other components stored on servers in other domains.

Cookies that are set during retrieval of these components are called third-party cookies. A third-party cookie, belongs to a domain different from the one shown in the address bar. This sort of cookie typically appears when web pages feature content from external websites, such as banner advertisements.

This opens up the potential for tracking the user's browsing history and is used by advertisers to serve relevant advertisements to each user. As an example, suppose a user visits www. This website contains an advertisement from ad. com , which, when downloaded, sets a cookie belonging to the advertisement's domain ad.

Then, the user visits another website, www. com , which also contains an advertisement from ad. com and sets a cookie belonging to that domain ad. Eventually, both of these cookies will be sent to the advertiser when loading their advertisements or visiting their website.

The advertiser can then use these cookies to build up a browsing history of the user across all the websites that have ads from this advertiser, through the use of the HTTP referer header field. As of [update] , some websites were setting cookies readable for over third-party domains.

The older standards for cookies, RFC [16] and RFC , recommend that browsers should protect user privacy and not allow sharing of cookies between servers by default.

However, the newer standard, RFC , explicitly allows user agents to implement whichever third-party cookie policy they wish. Most modern web browsers contain privacy settings that can block third-party cookies, and some now block all third-party cookies by default - as of July , such browsers include Apple Safari , [62] Firefox , [63] and Brave.

In May , Google Chrome 83 introduced new features to block third-party cookies by default in its Incognito mode for private browsing, making blocking optional during normal browsing.

The same update also added an option to block first-party cookies. The possibility of building a profile of users is a privacy threat, especially when tracking is done across multiple domains using third-party cookies.

For this reason, some countries have legislation about cookies. Website operators who do not disclose third-party cookie use to consumers run the risk of harming consumer trust if cookie use is discovered. Having clear disclosure such as in a privacy policy tends to eliminate any negative effects of such cookie discovery.

The United States government has set strict rules on setting cookies in after it was disclosed that the White House drug policy office used cookies to track computer users viewing its online anti-drug advertising.

In , privacy activist Daniel Brandt found that the CIA had been leaving persistent cookies on computers that had visited its website. When notified it was violating policy, CIA stated that these cookies were not intentionally set and stopped setting them.

On December 25, , Brandt discovered that the National Security Agency NSA had been leaving two persistent cookies on visitors' computers due to a software upgrade. After being informed, the NSA immediately disabled the cookies. In , the European Union launched the Directive on Privacy and Electronic Communications e-Privacy Directive , a policy requiring end users' consent for the placement of cookies, and similar technologies for storing and accessing information on users' equipment.

The Directive does not require users to authorise or be provided notice of cookie usage that are functionally required for delivering a service they have requested, for example to retain settings, store log-in sessions, or remember what is in a user's shopping basket. Instead of having an option for users to opt out of cookie storage, the revised Directive requires consent to be obtained for cookie storage.

As the definition of consent was strengthened in the text of the GDPR, this had the effect of increasing the quality of consent required by those storing and accessing information such as cookies on users devices. In a case decided under the Data Protection Directive however, the Court of Justice of the European Union later confirmed however that the previous law implied the same strong quality of consent as the current instrument.

This has been the case since the Data Protection Directive, which used an identical definition of personal data, although the GDPR in interpretative Recital 30 clarifies that cookie identifiers are included. While not all data processing under the GDPR requires consent, the characteristics of behavioural advertising mean that it is difficult or impossible to justify under any other ground.

Consent under the combination of the GDPR and e-Privacy Directive has to meet a number of conditions in relation to cookies. The industry's response has been largely negative.

Robert Bond of the law firm Speechly Bircham describes the effects as "far-reaching and incredibly onerous" for "all UK companies". Simon Davis of Privacy International argues that proper enforcement would "destroy the entire industry".

Academic studies and regulators both describe widespread non-compliance with the law. A study scraping 10, UK websites found that only A W3C specification called P3P was proposed for servers to communicate their privacy policy to browsers, allowing automatic, user-configurable handling.

However, few websites implement the specification, and the W3C has discontinued work on the specification. Third-party cookies can be blocked by most browsers to increase privacy and reduce tracking by advertising and tracking companies without negatively affecting the user's web experience on all sites.

Some sites operate 'cookie walls', which make access to a site conditional on allowing cookies either technically in a browser, through pressing 'accept', or both. In order for consent to be freely given, access to services and functionalities must not be made conditional on the consent of a user to the storing of information, or gaining of access to information already stored, in the terminal equipment of a user so called cookie walls.

Many advertising operators have an opt-out option to behavioural advertising, with a generic cookie in the browser stopping behavioural advertising. Most websites use cookies as the only identifiers for user sessions, because other methods of identifying web users have limitations and vulnerabilities.

If a website uses cookies as session identifiers, attackers can impersonate users' requests by stealing a full set of victims' cookies.

From the web server's point of view, a request from an attacker then has the same authentication as the victim's requests; thus the request is performed on behalf of the victim's session.

Listed here are various scenarios of cookie theft and user session hijacking even without stealing user cookies that work with websites relying solely on HTTP cookies for user identification. Traffic on a network can be intercepted and read by computers on the network other than the sender and receiver particularly over unencrypted open Wi-Fi.

This traffic includes cookies sent on ordinary unencrypted HTTP sessions. Where network traffic is not encrypted, attackers can therefore read the communications of other users on the network, including HTTP cookies as well as the entire contents of the conversations, for the purpose of a man-in-the-middle attack.

An attacker could use intercepted cookies to impersonate a user and perform a malicious task, such as transferring money out of the victim's bank account. This issue can be resolved by securing the communication between the user's computer and the server by employing Transport Layer Security HTTPS protocol to encrypt the connection.

A server can specify the Secure flag while setting a cookie, which will cause the browser to send the cookie only over an encrypted channel, such as a TLS connection. If an attacker is able to cause a DNS server to cache a fabricated DNS entry called DNS cache poisoning , then this could allow the attacker to gain access to a user's cookies.

For example, an attacker could use DNS cache poisoning to create a fabricated DNS entry of f com that points to the IP address of the attacker's server. Victims reading the attacker's message would download this image from f Since f com is a sub-domain of www.

com , victims' browsers would submit all example. com -related cookies to the attacker's server. If an attacker is able to accomplish this, it is usually the fault of the Internet Service Providers for not properly securing their DNS servers. However, the severity of this attack can be lessened if the target website uses secure cookies.

In this case, the attacker would have the extra challenge [90] of obtaining the target website's TLS certificate from a certificate authority , since secure cookies can only be transmitted over an encrypted connection.

Without a matching TLS certificate, victims' browsers would display a warning message about the attacker's invalid certificate, which would help deter users from visiting the attacker's fraudulent website and sending the attacker their cookies.

Cookies can also be stolen using a technique called cross-site scripting. This occurs when an attacker takes advantage of a website that allows its users to post unfiltered HTML and JavaScript content. By posting malicious HTML and JavaScript code, the attacker can cause the victim's web browser to send the victim's cookies to a website the attacker controls.

As an example, an attacker may post a message on www. com with the following link:. When another user clicks on this link, the browser executes the piece of code within the onclick attribute, thus replacing the string document.

cookie with the list of cookies that are accessible from the current page. As a result, this list of cookies is sent to the attacker. com server. com , secure cookies will also be sent to attacker.

com in plain text. Such attacks can be mitigated by using HttpOnly cookies. These cookies will not be accessible by client-side scripting languages like JavaScript, and therefore, the attacker will not be able to gather these cookies.

In older versions of many browsers, there were security holes in the implementation of the XMLHttpRequest API. This API allows pages to specify a proxy server that would get the reply, and this proxy server is not subject to the same-origin policy.

For example, a victim is reading an attacker's posting on www. com , and the attacker's script is executed in the victim's browser. The script generates a request to www. com with the proxy server attacker.

Since the request is for www. com , all example. com cookies will be sent along with the request, but routed through the attacker's proxy server.

Hence, the attacker would be able to harvest the victim's cookies. This attack would not work with secure cookies, since they can only be transmitted over HTTPS connections, and the HTTPS protocol dictates end-to-end encryption i.

the information is encrypted on the user's browser and decrypted on the destination server. In this case, the proxy server would only see the raw, encrypted bytes of the HTTP request.

For example, Bob might be browsing a chat forum where another user, Mallory, has posted a message. Suppose that Mallory has crafted an HTML image element that references an action on Bob's bank's website rather than an image file , e. If Bob's bank keeps his authentication information in a cookie, and if the cookie hasn't expired, then the attempt by Bob's browser to load the image will submit the withdrawal form with his cookie, thus authorizing a transaction without Bob's approval.

Cookiejacking is an attack against Internet Explorer which allows the attacker to steal session cookies of a user by tricking a user into dragging an object across the screen. Besides privacy concerns, cookies also have some technical drawbacks. In particular, they do not always accurately identify users, they can be used for security attacks, and they are often at odds with the Representational State Transfer REST software architectural style.

If more than one browser is used on a computer, each usually has a separate storage area for cookies. Hence, cookies do not identify a person, but a combination of a user account, a computer, and a web browser.

Thus, anyone who uses multiple accounts, computers, or browsers has multiple sets of cookies. Likewise, cookies do not differentiate between multiple users who share the same user account , computer, and browser.

A JSON Web Token JWT is a self-contained packet of information that can be used to store user identity and authenticity information. This allows them to be used in place of session cookies. Unlike cookies, which are automatically attached to each HTTP request by the browser, JWTs must be explicitly attached to each HTTP request by the web application.

The HTTP protocol includes the basic access authentication and the digest access authentication protocols, which allow access to a web page only when the user has provided the correct username and password.

If the server requires such credentials for granting access to a web page, the browser requests them from the user and, once obtained, the browser stores and sends them in every subsequent page request.

This information can be used to track the user. The query string part of the URL is the part that is typically used for this purpose, but other parts can be used as well.

The Java Servlet and PHP session mechanisms both use this method if cookies are not enabled. This method consists of the web server appending query strings containing a unique session identifier to all the links inside of a web page.

When the user follows a link, the browser sends the query string to the server, allowing the server to identify the user and maintain state. These kinds of query strings are very similar to cookies in that both contain arbitrary pieces of information chosen by the server and both are sent back to the server on every request.

However, there are some differences. Since a query string is part of a URL, if that URL is later reused, the same attached piece of information will be sent to the server, which could lead to confusion.

For example, if the preferences of a user are encoded in the query string of a URL and the user sends this URL to another user by e-mail , those preferences will be used for that other user as well.

Moreover, if the same user accesses the same page multiple times from different sources, there is no guarantee that the same query string will be used each time. For example, if a user visits a page by coming from a page internal to the site the first time, and then visits the same page by coming from an external search engine the second time, the query strings would likely be different.

If cookies were used in this situation, the cookies would be the same. Other drawbacks of query strings are related to security. Storing data that identifies a session in a query string enables session fixation attacks, referer logging attacks and other security exploits.

Transferring session identifiers as HTTP cookies is more secure. Another form of session tracking is to use web forms with hidden fields. This technique is very similar to using URL query strings to hold the information and has many of the same advantages and drawbacks.

In fact, if the form is handled with the HTTP GET method, then this technique is similar to using URL query strings, since the GET method adds the form fields to the URL as a query string. But most forms are handled with HTTP POST, which causes the form information, including the hidden fields, to be sent in the HTTP request body, which is neither part of the URL, nor of a cookie.

This approach presents two advantages from the point of view of the tracker. First, having the tracking information placed in the HTTP request body rather than in the URL means it will not be noticed by the average user. Second, the session information is not copied when the user copies the URL to bookmark the page or send it via email, for example.

All current web browsers can store a fairly large amount of data 2—32 MB via JavaScript using the DOM property window. This data can be used instead of session cookies.

The downside is that every separate window or tab will initially have an empty window. name property when opened. In some respects, this can be more secure than cookies due to the fact that its contents are not automatically sent to the server on every request like cookies are, so it is not vulnerable to network cookie sniffing attacks.

Some users may be tracked based on the IP address of the computer requesting the page. The server knows the IP address of the computer running the browser or the proxy , if any is used and could theoretically link a user's session to this IP address.

However, IP addresses are generally not a reliable way to track a session or identify a user. Many computers designed to be used by a single user, such as office PCs or home PCs, are behind a network address translator NAT.

This means that several PCs will share a public IP address. Furthermore, some systems, such as Tor , are designed to retain Internet anonymity , rendering tracking by IP address impractical, impossible, or a security risk. Because ETags are cached by the browser, and returned with subsequent requests for the same resource, a tracking server can simply repeat any ETag received from the browser to ensure an assigned ETag persists indefinitely in a similar way to persistent cookies.

Additional caching header fields can also enhance the preservation of ETag data. ETags can be flushed in some browsers by clearing the browser cache. The browser cache can also be used to store information that can be used to track individual users.

This technique takes advantage of the fact that the web browser will use resources stored within the cache instead of downloading them from the website when it determines that the cache already has the most up-to-date version of the resource.

After the user's initial visit, every time the user accesses the page, this file will be loaded from the cache instead of downloaded from the server. Thus, its content will never change.

A browser fingerprint is information collected about a browser's configuration, such as version number, screen resolution, and operating system, for the purpose of identification. Fingerprints can be used to fully or partially identify individual users or devices even when cookies are turned off.

Basic web browser configuration information has long been collected by web analytics services in an effort to accurately measure real human web traffic and discount various forms of click fraud. With the assistance of client-side scripting languages, collection of much more esoteric parameters is possible.

In , EFF measured at least Some web browsers support persistence mechanisms which allow the page to store the information locally for later use. The HTML5 standard which most modern web browsers support to some extent includes a JavaScript API called Web storage that allows two types of storage: local storage and session storage.

Internet Explorer supports persistent information [] in the browser's history, in the browser's favorites, in an XML store "user data" , or directly within a web page saved to disk.

Some web browser plugins include persistence mechanisms as well. For example, Adobe Flash has Local shared object and Microsoft Silverlight has Isolated storage. Contents move to sidebar hide. name DOM property.

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In other projects. Wikimedia Commons. Small pieces of data stored by a web browser while on a website. This cookie is set by our Concrete5 content management system.

It stores basic information for a user to maintain the website. No personal information is stored, and it is encrypted. This cookie is set by our content management system and is used as security prevention to protect against Cross-Site Request Forgery, used when a form is submitted.

This is a persistent cookie and will be remembered by your browser for the next time you visit the website. These cookies will be introduced should you accept the use of cookies by ticking the box in the information bar that was delivered at the start of your website session.

Performance cookies collect information about how visitors use a website. These cookies do not collect information that identifies a visitor. Any information collected by these cookies is anonymous. We only use such information to improve our website. These cookies are used to collect information about how visitors use our site.

We use the information to compile reports and to help us improve the site. The cookies collect information in an anonymous form, including the number of visitors to the site, where visitors have come to the site from and the pages they visited. These cookies allow the website to remember choices you make such as your log in details and customised preference settings e.

text size. These cookies are also used to provide services you have asked for such as watching a video or using a map, which is what we use them for on our website. Information collected by "functionality cookies" cannot track your browsing activity on other websites. The "functionality cookies" on our website only collect anonymous information.

These cookies are needed for playing videos on our website. They are used by YouTube to store user preferences when viewing pages containing embedded video content within our website.

Cookies enable you to use basic features on the website and allow sites to personalize user experience, track how users browse the site and collect insights for improving the site, products and services.

The most common types of cookies are described briefly below. For instance, you may have seen links to the pages you visited recently on the same website. This is enabled by first-party cookies.

Third-party cookies are set by any party apart from the website or a domain that a user visits directly. Third parties often include advertisers, publishers and ad tech companies who provide targeted ads and companies or services that help websites to add third-party elements like live chat, social media buttons, Google Maps etc.

Third-party cookies are often called tracking cookies because they are used to track user activity across the internet for the purposes of advertising marketing. Since third-party cookies can be set despite the user not visiting the site they originate from, their use has often been contentious because of concerns about user privacy.

Session cookies also temporary cookies or non-persistent cookies are temporary cookie files that expire once a user ends a session. A session starts when a user opens a website or web app and ends when they leave the website or close the browser window.

Primarily, session cookies allow websites to remember users within a website when they move between web pages. Persistent cookies usually come with an expiration period ranging between a single second to several years.

This is how persistent cookies help websites provide better and faster user experiences. Strictly necessary cookies or essential cookies , as its name itself suggests, are necessary for a website to function effectively.

These cookies help users to navigate the website and provide basic features such as signing in, adding items to the shopping cart, checking out and making payments etc. Strictly necessary cookies are cookies that are exempt from cookie consent.

Performance cookies or statistics cookies allow websites to remember the users so that they can provide an enhanced user experience. These cookies enable websites to collect anonymous information about how visitors use the website, the types of pages you visit, and problems or friction the user experiences on the site, to evaluate the performance of a website.

This information is then used to make improvements to the way the site works and to understand the interests and motivations of users to ensure effective communications and delivery of products or services.

Functional cookies or preference cookies are classified as cookies that ensure a website functions properly. While functionality cookies are not used to track browsing activity on other websites, they can also be set by third-party providers whose services are used by the website.

They are usually third-party cookies set by advertising networks like Google Ads, Amazon Publisher Services, and Media. net used by a website. When cookies began to be widely adopted by websites in the late 90s, concerns were raised about user privacy and those concerns have not died down ever since.

As personal data collected from cookies are aggressively being used by ad networks to target ads, privacy concerns regarding cookies have been increasing in recent times. In this regard, data protection laws and directives such as the General Data Protection Regulation GDPR , ePrivacy Directive ePD , CCPA, and LGPD have included provisions that regulate the use of cookies.

If you are a website owner or you are a developer, marketer or freelancer involved in building websites, you should be concerned about how cookie law affects you. The ePrivacy Directive, also known as the EU cookie law is a directive passed by the European Union that regulates the use of cookies, email marketing, and other forms of electronic communication.

The Directive was adopted in the UK as Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations PECR. What is cookie consent? Cookie consent refers to the requirement that websites need to obtain prior consent from users before dropping cookies on their browsers. Consent should also be revocable i.

users should have the option to withdraw consent at any time. To demonstrate that websites have received valid consent, they should record user consent for proof of compliance.

You can implement cookie consent on your website with CookieYes , a cookie consent solution trusted by over 1. With CookieYes you can fulfil the cookie consent checklist below for compliance with privacy laws like the GDPR, LGPD, CNIL and CCPA.

Supercookies are not cookies per se because they are not downloaded and stored on browsers. Unlike cookies that cannot be shared with another website, UIDH is available to any website that requests access.

Supercookies have raised many privacy concerns because they are nearly impossible to remove. They cannot be cleared by deleting the browser cache or be blocked by ad blockers or privacy trackers.

Zombie cookies are named so because of their ability to come back from the dead! Zombie cookies often bypass any restrictions or third-party cookie blocking enabled on browsers when they are re-created. Ad networks use zombie cookies to gather personal profiles of website visitors.