talking about Oreo type pictured to the left in the milk, but the NET type cookies you've probably been receiving lately. As you surf around the NET, you've probably had a screen pop up from time to time asking if you wanted to accept a cookie? Heck, I'm never one to turn down a free cookie, but what kind are they offering me? I do prefer Terry's chocolate chip cookies, but I doubt that they are offering those.
The technical term for these NET cookies is "client-side persistent information." A "cookie" is basically a file, "offered" by a web server, that contains a very small piece of information that the server sends, through a CGI script, and stores on your computer (the client) if you accept it. The "cookie" collects information on where you go and what you look at. That information is then available to the server when you return to the site that sent you the cookie.
What kind of information does the cookie store? It could be specific information about certain pages you accessed, ads you looked at, product information you inquired about. Cookies are also very useful when it comes to the virtual shopping malls. You can wander around the mall with your "shopping cart" selecting items and the cookie file will remember how many items you have when it comes to check out time. Each time you make a selection, it is added to your cookie file to be accessed later by the server.
Concerning the security of cookies, I believe the jury is still out. Of course it is better that the personal information collected is stored on YOUR computer than on some server that may be accessible to anyone. In my opinion, there are always security risks involved, but I'm sure in the future, as this technology is refined, that we'll be hearing much more about cookies and their uses.
Are you ready for some football? So let's talk football. Click on "NEXT" below to go to the next section of the column, "Cowboys Playbook."
created by Chuck and Terry Mencke
Last Modified: October 13, 2000
URL: http://www.web-connection.org/archive/crusback/1996/cook0823.htm
chuck@web-connection.org