Who wants a cookie?
What are cookies? Here are a few over-lapping definitions;
A small data file placed
on your computer by a website that you visit.
A piece of code placed in
your browser by a website server.
A text file placed on a hard drive to store and transmit information to
the server of websites (re)visited from that browser / computer.
What is a (third-party)
cookie?
A cookie is a
small script placed on the hard drive of your computer by the server of a
website that you visit. The cookie is placed there for the purpose of recognizing
your specific browser / computer combination were you to return to the same
site.
All cookies
have an owner which tells you who the cookie belongs to. The owner is the
domain specified in the cookie.
The word
"party" refers to the domain as specified in cookie; the website that
is placing the cookie. So, for example, if you visit widgets.com and the domain
of the cookie placed on your computer is widgets.com, then this is a
first-party cookie. If, however, you visit widgets.com and the cookie placed on
your computer says stats-for-free.com, then this is a third-party cookie.
Growth of third party cookie rejection
Reports and
research on the subject of website tracking tell us that the rejection of
third-party cookies is growing. Increasing numbers of people are either
manually blocking third-party cookies, or deleting them regularly.
How many
people delete 3rd party cookies? The numbers given can be as high as 40%. If
you count that many anti-spyware applications and default privacy settings also
block 3rd party cookies, then it is possible that a high percentage of cookies
are being blocked.
What actually happens when cookies are blocked / rejected?
1st party
cookies: it is very hard to login anywhere
3rd party
cookies: no adverse effects to surfing
Q: How does this affect tracking systems, when people
block / delete cookies?
A: All visits
will still be recorded, but a person who has deleted the cookies will not be
recognised as the same (returning) visitor.
When cookies
are in place, and not blocked or deleted, total visitor counts will remain
comparatively low. If a person constantly deletes cookies, they will be counted
as a new "unique" visitor with every subsequent visit.
