Website Cookies ..... What to know about them, and what to do about them ?

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magpens

magpens

Member
Joined
Feb 2, 2011
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Location
Canada
Firstly, I am basically a computer and internet IGNORAMUS !

Sure ... I can make use of both to a certain extent and I do spend quite a bit of time "surfing" as well as communicating with others on IAP.
I even send the odd email with attachments ! . I have even used a computer to analyze data ..... back in the "punched card days" ... LOL ... remember when ????

This morning I "stumbled upon" a potentially interesting article through my browser ( Firefox ). . The article is on "The Guardian".
So I tried to check it out. . But, as happens more and more often these days, I get blocked and presented with this :

"Are you happy to accept cookies?
To manage your cookie choices now, including how to opt out where our partners rely on legitimate interests to use your information, click on Manage my cookies."

So ..... I cannot read my chosen article until I make some choices and selections about something I know nothing about ..... COOKIES !!!!

Sorry to come across as so dumb.

Can anybody ( I know that you experts are out there !! ) point me in the right direction or tell me the basics about COOKIES, please ??

What the hell does this mean .... "how to opt out where our partners rely on legitimate interests to use your information .... "

I don't wanna be USED !!! .... Who are "our partners" and what are their "legitimate interests" ?????????????????

Any concise help would be appreciated. . Would also be grateful for some useful online references with good info ..... more than the usual Google stuff.

THANK YOU !!!!
 
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I think the best way to think about them is that they are pieces of information about you , which advertisers digest and thoroughly enjoy . If they are feeling generous , they may drop you a few crumbs . The `legitimate interests` refers to gov`t regs such as California`s or the EU`s which try to ensure that you have at least a small bit of control over info that can be aggregated and sold to the highest bidder .
 
Mostly cookies are gathering info about your computer such as IP address and remembers things you have searched for and lets the little algorithms have fun with popping up the same info on your screens when you go back to the internet. Some sites require you to accept before looking at their site. I usually click ok but later just clear cookies and cache from your history. Then start all over again. lol
 
I never, ever allow 3rd party cookies to be set. ie: I do not allow one website to set cookies on behalf of other websites.

I have seen webpages which attempt to set over 100 cookies per pagevisit.

FWIW,
PII = Personally Identifiable Information.
Cookie Data = this cookie reads all other cookies on your computer and sends the info back to Google

A cookie example from this webpage @ penturners.org
This webpage has one cookie which collects information from your computer. This is an example of the most modest of cookies.

Anonymous (Ad Views, Analytics, Browser Information, Cookie Data , Date/Time, Demographic Data, Hardware/Software Type, Internet Service Provider, Interaction Data , Page Views , Serving Domains)
Pseudonymous (IP Address (EU PII), Search History, Location Based Data, Device ID (EU PII))
PII (Name , Address, Phone Number, Email Address, Login, EU- IP Address, EU- Unique Device ID )

Data Sharing:

Aggregate data is shared with 3rd parties., Anonymous data is shared with 3rd parties., PII data is shared with 3rd parties., Sensitive data is shared with 3rd parties.

Data Retention:

Undisclosed
 
They can function as cross platform trackers that know everything internet related you do on your computer by everyone able to access them.

Not that all of them can be, or that anyone with nefarious intent would ever do such a thing.

As for me, I only allow persistent cookies from sites I know well (i.e. my bank and healthcare providers) and deny the rest. Most are just used for advertising purposes anyway, but they have some real potential for abuse.

Sites that require your permission to set cookies in order to use them can be dealt with several ways, your browser should provide some of them, and can usually have the permission request bypassed if needed if you know what to do. Cookies aren't always bad or good, they are usually benign but can be otherwise, the same as anything on the internet, and their use on your computer needs to be controlled.
 
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