FREE ESSAY ON INTERNET COOKIES

INTERNET COOKIES

Internet Cookies
Most Experienced Web visitors and even new ones know about cookies these days. Cookies
are small data files that are being put on your hard drive by Web sites when you visit
them. They do this for many different reasons. One of them is to identify you as a
distinctive visitor by identifying your Web browser software. When your return to the Web
site that has stored a cookie, it will search your computer for those cookies, and they
will know what you were doing in the past. It may update your cookie. This way the site
can customize its contents depending on previous activities. It will also allow the site
to provide customized news, weather, sports information, and many other things based on
stated interests. In theory, a cookie only transmits information back to the Web site
that put it there and can't be accessed by other parties. But some Internet advertising
companies had crossed the limits of using their own cookies. These companies use cookies
to create highly sophisticated profiles of online visitors, most of the time without
visitors' knowledge and usually without their consent
DoubleClick
Whenever I go to any site on the Web and I see an advertisement, I DoubleClick on it in
order to view it. DoubleClick has taken the first step in building a profile on my
surfing habits. From this point on, until I change browser, buy a new computer, or delete
my cookie files, DoubleClick can track my browser's activity across all sites.
DoubleClick controls sixty percent of the banner ad market. This profiling powerhouse
collects data about where I go and what I do on line. DoubleClick rents or sells this
data to other companies, allowing them to broadcast advertising e-mails to recipients
whoses urfing habits fit a desired profile. DoubleClick associates these files through
cookies obtained on my hard drive. By sending out junk e-mail with graphics, advertisers
can match e-mail addresses with previously issued cookies. Privacy advocates contend that
DoubleClick's use of cookies is an invasion of privacy and could lead to misuse of the
information.
Consumer Privacy and Cookies
Under the "Options" or "Preferences " menus, most current Web browsers can be set to
reject cookies or alert surfers when one is being sent, but this may prevent you from
accessing some sites at all. In March 1998, the U.S Department of Energy's Computer
Incident Advisory Capability released a study on cookies, in which it stated that, "The
vulnerability of systems to damage or snooping using Web browser cookies is essentially
nonexistent." Advertisers love online profiling, it enables them for an opportunity to
make people interested in their products or services. Many consumers agree if Web banner
ads are a fact of life, then why not make them as relevant to their needs as possible,
but the argument of a different perspective is that people should at least know about it.
Online profiling companies say that cookies alone do not provide personally identifiable
information, such as name and e-mail address, but just because its not tied with you
name, its tied with your identity. 
What could be more personal than information about our buying habits, our interests, and
ourselves? Many consumers like the targeted marketing and special offers that come with
online profiling, others find it invasive, even frightening. Either way, we should make
the decision of whether to share the data or not.