What is a cookie, Should you accept them, and if you don’t what happens?

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It's likely that you've noticed a "Privacy and Cookie Policies" popup at the top or bottom of a web page while browsing the internet. You may even be mindlessly "Accepting" or "Declining" to give or deny the site permission to track your cookies without even thinking of the consequences. However, What is a cookie, Should you accept them, and if you don’t what happens?

I've gathered a simple guide that explains everything you need to know about cookies – including whether you can decline them.

What is a cookie?

According to Wikipedia, HTTP cookies (also called web cookies, Internet cookies, browser cookies, or simply cookies) are small blocks of data created by a web server while a user is browsing a website and placed on the user's computer or other device by the user’s web browser. Cookies are placed on the device used to access a website, and more than one cookie may be placed on a user’s device during a session.

Let me break this down for you - Cookies are small files that websites send to your device that the sites then use to monitor you and remember certain information about you — like what’s in your shopping cart on an e-commerce site, or your login information. These pop-up cookie notices all over the internet are well-meaning and supposed to promote transparency about your online privacy.

Have you ever saved your login information on a website so you don’t have to type it over and over again? Have you ever left items in an online shopping cart to purchase on your next visit to the website? Maybe even provided your zip code for local weather on your homepage or opted out of targeted advertisements? Cookies let you do that. They save your information from websites to your browser for later retrieval.

Choosing to accept or decline a website's cookies does impact your browsing experience and what information you're sharing with the site.

Do you HAVE to accept cookies?

Cookies are generally used to improve the experience for users. You'll get a more tailored experience with more relevant content, so it's usually worth accepting cookies – unless you're particularly fearful about privacy.

Cookies are not viruses or makers so you don't have to worry about it.

Cookies have different functions, such as:

1. Keeping track of that user’s browsing data in order to serve up targeted information such as ads for goods, or services.

This is why when you’re browsing Amazon or Jumia for a shoe products for your next party, you will then see the ads on Facebook later for more shoe products.

1. Remembering your login details for a specific website.

Because of cookies, you can close out of a website like Facebook, and reopen it again later without having to sign back in again.

1. Cookies can also allow website owners to track exactly how many unique visitors they’re getting to their website. Because each cookie has its own unique ID.

So if the a user visits the same website 2 or 3 times in a day, the cookie allows us to count this as one unique viewer. So website owners can collect more accurate data about their website traffic.

When should you DEFINITELY decline cookies?

If you don't want to store a cookie holding information about you, just say NO.

Cookies aren’t bad, but you do need a basic knowledge of what to look out for so that you aren’t handing all your personal information over to hackers.

Overall, they are not a bad thing, but there are instances where you should never accept them. Let’s look at a few examples.

1. You should always DECLINE cookies if the website you're trying to access is a non-secured site. Look at the address bar at the top of your browser that shows the current URL. If there isn't a tiny lock symbol to the left of the URL, it's a non-secured website.

Some websites may not be secure, allowing hackers to intercept cookies and view the information they carry. The cookies themselves are not harmful, but because they may carry sensitive information, you should only use cookies on sites you trust to be safe and secure.

1. When that cookie notification pops up if you see that it includes a mention of the third-party, DECLINE IT or Unselect those third parties. They are generally safe, but it only takes one badly configured site to gather your surfing habits, phone number, address, email, payment information, and other personal information.

How can you protect yourself and your information?

1. If you are using a public WIFI, use the Incognito mode. This will not save any cookie info during that session.

2. If you like having a personalized web experience but don’t want your personal info floating out there with these third-party brokers, then simply go into your browser settings, look for the cookie setting and select the option that says don’t use third-party cookies.

3. If you are unsure if you have already given away too much info, go into your browser and clear all your cookies for a fresh start – it won’t log you out of your Google account. This allows you to effectively reset your browser. However, if you do this, you’ll lose your saved login information from that browser. In addition, if you turn off cookies you may not be able to visit some websites.

Note that: Not all cookies are privacy breaching parasites and generally they can help you have a much more enjoyable browsing experience and save you lots of time and headache on the web.

I hope that you have learnt something new?

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