Managing Cookies part-1

What is an Opt-Out cookie?

Opt-out cookies are cookies created by a website on your browser folder that enables you to block that same website from installing future cookies. The opt-out cookie tells the website not to install third party advertiser or other cookies on your browser. This prevents the third party ad server from tracking your page preferences within a website or among websites within their network. The drawback to using opt-out cookies is that they are site specific. They can only block cookies from a specific server and won't block cookies from other websites. To do generalize blocking, you can manage your cookies via your browser's cookie settings.

Many of the biggest third party ad serving companies offers opt-out cookies to users.

What is an Opt-Out cookie?

These are essentially cookies used to avoid cookies. Accepting an opt-out cookie blocks future cookies being installed on your browser by a particular website server or advertiser. It essentially lets you declare that you do not wish to participate in targeted ad delivery, profiling or otherwise have your web browsing tracked. An opt-out cookie will only block cookies from a particular server and is not a generic tool to block cookies from any site you visit. However, you can manage cookies via your browser settings.

The major third party ad serving companies offer web users the ability to accept an opt-out cookie.

What is a cookie profiling?

Cookie profiling, also called web profiling, is the use of persistent or permanent cookies to track a user’s overall activity online. This tracking does not just happen when you are on a particular site, but it occurs the whole time you are browsing. This kind of profiling activity is often done by marketers who buy advertising rights on thousands of popular websites in order to collect and collate cookie information and create a single “profile” of a user. Internet advertising, as it is called, targets potential customers based on the manner they browse the Internet. This is the very reason why most websites flash banner ads on their pages. This matter may not be a big deal for some, but others take their privacy seriously and are uneasy about being “followed around” and profiled.

Why do cookie profiling?

Cookie profiling is the only way for marketers to target potential customers and obtain a possible product purchase from them. By knowing a user’s browsing habits, including sites visited, age, marital status, and political and religious affiliations, they can show him or her advertisements that are appealing, advertisements that he or she will care to patronize. This is a certain way for marketers to increase their profit by widening their customer base.

How is cookie profiling done?
Websites store cookies by automatically storing a text file containing encrypted data on a user’s machine or browser the moment he or she lands on a page online. Whether it is a permanent or a temporary cookie, the idea is to create a “log” of the user to facilitate future visits to the said site. When these cookies are collected to create a certain idea about a user, that is called cookie profiling, or web profiling. Collated data may include browsing habits, demographic data, and statistical information, which are what marketers are after in order to mark a user. Cookie profiling is performed by advertisers, but the cookies they need to create these profiles are obtained from several online sources, mostly from administrators of popular sites receiving millions of traffic monthly. These administrators collect cookie data and offer them to marketers for extra profit.

Implications of cookie profiling.

Cookie profiling is an advantage for marketers because it empowers them on their advertising efforts. The more users are targeted based on the products they like, the higher the chance they will make a purchase. Additionally, cookie profiling can be used maliciously, for instance, stalking on certain individuals in order to victimize them. Cookies can also help solve crimes, especially now that Internet crimes are becoming rampant. In fact, many governments are using social networking sites to track online criminals, and some of them are being caught using information contained in cookies.

Although you cannot prevent people from creating a profile of you using cookies, you can still protect your privacy in several ways. There are several free programs you can utilize to identify companies trying to store cookies on your machine, or programs you can use to delete hidden cookies on your system. Ghostery is a free add-on you can install on your browser; it detects cookies from 500 companies trying to spy on you, gives you background information about them, and let you block those cookies whenever you want. To build an impenetrable privacy wall, you can install session and cookie cleaners, such as CCleaner, on your computer and schedule them to clear your browser and machine from these privacy bugs. Another way is to configure your browser to prohibit accepting cookies from untrusted sites