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Manage cookies 🍪

So, you chose to manage your cookies. Look at you! You actually care about what we're doing with your data. Or maybe you don't and just clicked the wrong button. Either way, take a look at the types of cookies websites tend to collect:

Picture this:

You finally find the website you've been looking for, and you can see it has exactly the information you need. But before you can scroll, the dreaded cookie banner pops up. You're in a hurry, and don't consider the repercussions of clicking Accept All.

Picture this:

Do you consider what you're agreeing to? Do you know what information the website is collecting? What about what they're going to do with that information?

For the sake of precious time, you might not think twice about the importance of protecting some breadcrumbs of your digital privacy.

Picture this:

We're here to tell you otherwise: taking the time to reject third-party cookies is an easy and effective way to protect your digital privacy.

Strictly necessary cookies

These cookies collect information for essential functions of the website you are visiting. Strictly necessary cookies usually delete themselves after you exit the website.

First party cookies

First party cookies are stored by the website (or domain) that you visit. These cookies allow website owners to collect analytics data, remember language settings, and perform other useful functions that provide a good user experience.

Third party cookies

This is a small amount of text that is placed on a user's device by a different website from the one you are visiting. These cookies are associated with a domain name that is different from the one hosting the page. Third party cookies collect data to target you with ads.

What is a cookie?

Cookies are small, specific files that are stored on your computer while browsing online by any website you are using.
Each cookie has its own unique ID...

The Birth of the Cookie

The official name, HTTP Cookies, comes from the "magic cookie," a nod to the small tokens that served a similar purpose in the 1990s, only in system servers. Lou Montulli adapted a version of this magic cookie for the new HTTP system in 1994, which was struggling to keep up with the huge volume of web traffic and online purchases.

The cookies saved space; instead of remembering each purchase as separate information, the cookie allowed HTTP servers to share the information to streamline the process. But Lou Montulli created a double-edged sword; the cookies that were originally created to protect users' anonymity got out of control.

How does a cookie work?

When you visit a website for the first time, you are welcomed with a cookie, and if you accept, the website places that cookie on your hard drive.

How does a cookie work?

Once on your computer, the cookie keeps track of your session on the website from entry to exit.

This single cookie tracks your time only on the website for which you approve it, it cannot track you on another website unless you agree to third party cookies.

How does a cookie work?

For example, if a website uses Google Analytics to track website traffic, then Google will place a secondary cookie on your computer, separate from the first cookie placed by the original website.

Another example is when you sign into an account using Facebook, Google, or Apple. Now, you have cookies on your hard drive from the original website, along with Facebook, Google, or Apple.

What do they track?

A. Your login details
B. Unique and repetitive visitors
C. Your browsing activity

This serves up targeted goals and will eventually lead up to personalized offers for sales, goods, or services. If you browse "Christmas cat costumes" they will eventually appear on your Facebook.

How did the cookie become a monster?

Since he created them nearly 30 years ago, Montulli has watched cookies completely transform internet commerce. His invention went from an obscure piece of coding designed to hide and protect users' identities to an online advertiser's dream. Today, cookies are a privacy advocate's nightmare, responsible for a corporate race to extract as much of our digital information as possible.

Cookies today serve their original purpose, but now they have the added function of tracking your activity. This can be helpful or a dip into privacy, depending on how the site decides to use this info. This is why you see the banner when opening a website, they are legally obliged to show you and ask you how you want to proceed.

During the time we've spent together...

Thanks for joining us from , , , ! We're delighted to know so much about you.

By the way, that's a very nice you're using. Looks like you prefer to use - great choice!

Yeah, that should feel weird...

From now on, pay attention to cookie 🍪 banners and take the time to know where your data is going!

Some websites are less invasive, collecting only the strictly necessary cookies, and the cookie banner is just informing you about their collection. Legally, websites must provide you with a copy of their privacy policy. Consent to this privacy policy must be explicit from the user, and all aspects of consent must be equally easy to reject as to accept; and pre-ticked boxes are not allowed.

If you notice the case where you are given only the "accept" option and nothing more, that can be a case of either a "nice" website just informing you about them collecting only "Strictly necessary cookies," or the "bad" guys that don't respect the rules. You will learn to tell the difference over time.

For the "fair" websites, you just click More to the given options, select or deselect your choices and save your preferences, or simply Reject All.

It takes seconds, but it goes a long way.

Unless, you want to be targeted with similar content in the near future. This may apply to specific content if you are learning something new, hunting for a wedding dress, following the echo of a new game or software that is fresh from the oven...