What is a cookie?

A cookie is a harmless text file that is stored in your browser when you visit almost any website. The purpose of the cookie is for the website to be able to remember your visit when you browse that page again. Although many people don’t know it, cookies have been in use for over 20 years, ever since the first browsers appeared for the World Wide Web.

What is NOT a cookie?

It is not a virus, trojan, worm, spam, spyware, or pop-up window.

What informations does a cookie store?

Cookies generally do not store sensitive information about you, such as credit card or bank details, photographs, your ID, or personal information, etc. The data they store is technical, related to personal preferences, content customization, etc.

The web server does not associate you as a person but rather with your web browser. In fact, if you usually browse with Internet Explorer and then try browsing the same site with Firefox or Chrome, you’ll see that the website doesn’t realize you are the same person because it’s actually associating with the browser, not the individual.

What types of cookies exist?

• Technical cookies: These are the most basic and allow, among other things, to determine whether the visitor is a human or an automated application, whether it’s an anonymous user or a registered one, and perform basic tasks necessary for the functioning of any dynamic website.

• Analytics cookies: These collect information about your browsing behavior, such as the sections you visit most, products viewed, time slots, language, etc.

• Advertising cookies: These display advertising based on your browsing behavior, country of origin, language, etc.

What are first-party and third-party cookies?

• First-party cookies are those generated by the website you are visiting.

• Third-party cookies are generated by external services or providers such as Facebook, Twitter, Google, etc.

What happens if I disable cookies?

To help you understand the impact of disabling cookies, here are a few examples:

• You won’t be able to share content from that website on Facebook, Twitter, or any other social network.

• The website won’t be able to tailor content to your personal preferences, as is often done in online stores.

• You won’t be able to access the personal area of the website, such as “My Account,” “My Profile,” or “My Orders.”

• Online stores: You won’t be able to make online purchases; instead, they will have to be made by phone or in person if a physical location exists.

• You won’t be able to set your geographic preferences like time zone, currency, or language.

• The website won’t be able to perform web analytics on visitors and traffic, making it harder for the site to stay competitive.

• You won’t be able to post on the blog, upload photos, leave comments, rate or review content. The site also won’t know if you are a human or an automated application posting spam.

• Targeted advertising will not be shown, which will reduce the site’s ad revenue.

• All social networks use cookies; if you disable them, you won’t be able to use any of these platforms.

Can cookies be deleted?

Yes. Not only deleted, but also blocked, either generally or specifically for a given domain.

To delete cookies from a website, go to your browser’s settings, look for the cookies associated with the specific domain, and proceed to delete them.

Cookie settings for the most popular browsers

Chrome:

1. Go to Settings or Preferences via the File menu or by clicking the customization icon at the top right.

2. Click on Show advanced settings.

3. Go to Privacy, then Content settings.

4. Select All cookies and site data.

5. A list of all cookies sorted by domain will appear. To make it easier to find the cookies for a specific domain, enter part or all of the address in the Search cookies field.

6. After applying the filter, one or more lines with the cookies from the requested website will appear. Just select them and click the “X” to delete them.

Internet Explorer:

1. Go to Tools, then Internet Options.

2. Click Privacy.

3. Move the slider to set the level of privacy you want.

Firefox:

1. Go to Options or Preferences, depending on your OS.

2. Click Privacy.

3. Under History, choose Use custom settings for history.

4. You’ll now see the option Accept cookies – you can enable or disable it as you prefer.

Safari (OSX):

1. Go to Preferences, then Privacy.

2. There you will see the option Block cookies to set the level of restriction you want.

Safari (iOS):

1. Go to Settings, then Safari.

2. Go to Privacy & Security, and you’ll see the Block cookies option.

Android Browser:

1. Open the browser and tap Menu, then Settings.

2. Go to Security & Privacy, and you’ll see the Accept cookies option that you can toggle on or off.

Windows Phone Browser:

1. Open Internet Explorer, tap More, then Settings.

2. You can now enable or disable the Allow cookies checkbox.