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“Cookies” are on everyone’s lips – but what exactly are cookies? Here you can find out all you need to know about the more or less popular biscuits.
What are cookies?
Cookies are data that a website caches on your computer when you visit it.
- Cookies come from websites you visit, such as Amazon or Google, and contain information about your language, page settings, email address and name.
- They are designed to make it easier for you to browse the internet. If the website already knows your login details, you save yourself the trouble of typing in long passwords and usernames, for example.
- In addition, your surfing habits are stored and passed on to the operator of the website.
- Tip: Why don’t you take a look at which cookies a site sets? In Firefox, you can do this via “Settings” ☻ “Privacy and security” ☻ “Cookies” ☻ “Manage data”.
- On the smartphone: Here the free Cliqz browser shows (and blocks) cookies that want to gain data from your surfing behaviour.
Good cookies: The session cookies
Session cookies are particularly helpful and indispensable when surfing. They store your login data so that you do not have to log in again after a few seconds on password-protected websites.
- The focus here is on security, which is why cookies are automatically used for online banking, for example.
- The connection is stored in a cookie for the entire session until you close the website or log out. Then the cookie is also automatically removed.
Bad cookies: advertising through tracking cookies
One of the most unpopular cookies are the “tracking cookies”, which give you personalised advertising and are stored permanently. They are often called “persistent cookies”.
- When you open a website with advertising banners, they also place a cookie. This is used to spy on your surfing behaviour in order to display “best possible” advertising to you in a targeted manner.
- The real goal, however, is website optimisation. For example, on Amazon, cookies give you personalised product suggestions
- While personalised advertising, can be beneficial to some people by presenting relevant products and services, there are also significant concerns about the privacy implications and protection of personal data.Tracking cookies allow advertisers to create comprehensive user profiles.
- By analysing browsing behaviour, interests, preferences and demographic information can be collected. These detailed profiles allow companies to tailor advertising to the exact needs and preferences of users.
- However, the use of tracking cookies also raises significant privacy issues. Tracking browsing behaviour across different websites creates a comprehensive picture of a person’s online activities. This can lead to a sense of surveillance and loss of control over one’s own data.
- Another problem is that these user profiles are often linked to personal information that users voluntarily provide on websites. This creates an even more extensive collection of data that can potentially be misused or fall into the wrong hands. There is a risk of identity theft or misuse of sensitive data for fraudulent purposes.
- Another aspect to consider in the context of personalised advertising and the use of tracking cookies is the ethical dimension. By analysing people’s behaviour and exploiting their preferences to target advertising, companies are engaging in a form of manipulation. Consumers can find themselves in a bubble of personalised advertising that can influence their choices and limit their freedom of choice.
