Enjoy Your Broadband Internet Connection Safely by Understanding Web Cookie Privacy Risks

Cookies are small text files your Web browser stores onto your hard drive when you visit a particular Web site, and are vital to both users and Web developers. Cookies store your user preferences, wish lists, user names, or passwords associated with the site, but can also store which pages you are viewing and searching for while visiting that site.

These notes are uploaded to the site’s server, and the site owner can then access vital traffic information, such as the number of unique visitors a site receives each day as well as visitor browsing habits.

The Cookie Security Controversy: Tracking Your Browsing Habits

It is this ability to track Web browsing activity that worries most privacy advocates. Clearly, cookies serve an important purpose and enhance the user’s online experience; without the use of cookies you would be unable to keep a favorites list, automatically log in to a password protected site, or use a shopping cart while making purchases online.

However, Web privacy advocates fear that some cookies may be tracking and reporting Web browsing activities on a long-term basis. This information could be used by the commercial sector to create a targeted advertisement campaign focused on interests shared by all the site’s visitors, or, as Web privacy advocates fear, could be inappropriately used by government agencies to gather information about Web browsing habits.

National Security Agency and Government Web Cookie Use

This dual nature of Web cookies became all too apparent when several cookies with 2035 expiration dates were taken down from the National Security Agency (NSA) Web site in December 2005.

In a 2003 memo, the White House’s Office of Management and Budget prohibits federal agencies from using persistent cookies – those cookies with a lengthy expiration date that are not deleted from the hard drive once the user closes his browser – unless there is a compelling need and site visitors are prominently notified. This cuts down on the risk of a government agency inappropriately using cookies to indefinitely track the types of external Web sites a visitor is viewing. The National Security Agency asserts that persistent cookies were mistakenly used, and they were meant to store personal preferences for the convenience of the visitor rather than gather data on the browsing habits of individual users.

However, Web privacy advocates fear that the NSA may have been attempting to track and store information about its visitors’ browsing histories, including which sites an individual user is frequenting and when.

Protecting Your Privacy and Using Your Broadband Internet Connection Safely

This incident has made it clear that it is important to take personal responsibility for protecting your Web browser against unwanted data gathering. Although there are policies in place to protect your broadband Internet experience, there are also risks involved in surfing the Internet, just like any other activity.

It should also be noted that although cookies in particular are generating a great deal of hype about privacy risks, there are many other technologies that perform similar functions but are more widely accepted.

For instance, frequent buyer cards track your grocery purchases, and gas cards track exactly how much you spend for fuel at various station locations and times.

If, however, you are still worried about Web cookies gathering data on which sites you are visiting, there are ways to prevent your browser from saving cookies. If you are an Internet Explorer 7 or Netscape user, you can delete already-existing cookies, globally reject cookies, or set your browser to require your authentication before accepting them. It should be noted, that if you chose to delete, ban, or selectively accept cookies, you may not be able to use all the features and e-commerce options your broadband Internet connection has to offer.