Cookies

What are Cookies?

A cookie is a small text file that is placed on your hard disk by a website so that it can remember something about you at a later time.

Specifically, it is information for future use that is stored by the server on the client side of a client/server communication - so it allows a webserver to store its own information about a user but on the user's own computer. 

Typically, a cookie records your preferences when using a particular site. They are increasingly used to customise or personalise the pages you visit.

You can view the cookies that have been stored on your hard disk; however, the location of the cookies depends on the type of browser you are using. 

For example, Internet Explorer stores each cookie as a separate file under a Windows subdirectory; on the other hand Netscape stores all cookies in a single cookies.txt file while Opera stores them in a cookies.dat file.

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Browsers normally provide an option to allow you to turn off cookies and so stop them being placed on your machine without your knowledge. In any case, in the UK the website owners/administrators are obliged to issue a statement indicating why they wish to store a cookie on your PC, and undertake not to pass on customer details without your permission.

Blocking cookies reduces the risk of personal data being manipulated and used without your knowledge, however it also reduces the value of the service provided to you by many websites. 

For more information, visit Cookie Central, a website that provides information on cookies, including what they are and how to block or stop them. For Microsoft's explanation of cookies see www.microsoft.com/info/cookies.htm. 

Finally, About Cookies provides information required by the Directive on Privacy and Electronic Communications, which was brought into effect in the United Kingdom on 31st October 2003.