How Do Browser Cookies Work And Should You Be Really Worried About Them

Often while browsing through the world wide web, we have come across the term ¡®Cookies¡¯, and while we love the delicious munch snack, in the internet world it has quite a different meaning altogether.

You might have noticed that Facebook and other websites show you ads about things that you recently looked up or searched for. And while you might have ignored this, thinking it to be a lucky coincidence, it actually isn¡¯t. Cookies make this happen.

Now you might ask, why the hell do these cookies decide to record your personal search history and use it to lure you into making a purchase? Well because you agreed to it! You know when you open any website, it shows you a popup saying that this site uses cookies, and when you click on ¡®okay¡¯ you agree to them actually store your data onto their database. And although cookies may have made life really simple for ad agencies to help them get better targets through their ads, Cookies weren¡¯t really designed to do this.

Earlier, Cookies used to be stored on your computer in a file. This file stored your preferences regarding a certain website. For example, your language preference, or your layout or theme that you might have used on a particular visit etc. Every website had its own file of data which stored the preferences and settings on the computer it was browsed on. So for example, Gmail.com would have a different file, Irctc.co.in would have a different file and so on.

However, as websites and devices started to evolve and get more dynamic, the file sizes contain the cookie data started increasing too. So, websites decided that they would save the cookie data on their website, and the cookie file on the PC would have a unique ID that would help the sites link the data too. This allowed the websites to store a lot more data than the regular cookie file ever could.

So now, when you head on Facebook and see one of your searched products from Amazon India in the advertisement box, the data isn¡¯t stored by Facebook. Amazon India has it stored in its cookie database, and since it can read your unique ID, it is able to show you the ad depending on the last item you searched for.

Image courtesy: Pexels

Are cookies bad or good?

A cookie is a tool, just like a hammer. It can either be used to help you build beautiful furniture conveniently or for smashing someone¡¯s head and killing him. They¡¯re designed for good things, but they can also be used for bad things. The responsibility lies with the people putting them to use.

While cookies may feel like a big invasion of your privacy, the entire process that it carries out is safeguarded between you and the website that saves it. Even the ads that you see displayed are being displayed because it recognizes the unique cookie ID stored on your computer. Once you clear the cookies from your device, you won¡¯t be getting those ¡®personalised¡¯ ads anymore.

However, if you¡¯re concerned about it being good or bad, it is actually completely dependent on the website storing your cookie data on what it decides to store and what it plans to do with it too.