Cookies may be one of the most maligned parts of the internet, but they werent always so notorious.
Today, cookies are pervasive on the modern web.
Last year, Appleintroduced similardefault protections for the Safari net internet ride.
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For now, however, cookies are still nearly ubiquitous.
And even once cookies are gone, the technologies slated to replace them come with concerns of their own.
So what, exactly, is a cookie?
And what would getting rid of them actually solve?
What is a cookie?
Simply, its a small file that tags website visitors to recognize them later.
When you browse a website with cookies, the file is stored on your system.
In one commonly used analogy, its like a coat check.
Cookies come in different flavors.
The trackers can either be session cookies or persistent cookies.
But persistent cookies can stick around until they reach an expiration date, possibly months or even years later.
Whats the problem?
For one, the information collected by cookies can be extraordinarily sensitive.
They can also check whether someone has seen an ad, or interacted with one already.
All of it happens in a way thats invisible to most people.
An investigation by The Markup using Blacklight uncovered just how sensitive that information can be.
And there are few laws that strictly regulate the use of cookies.
But in practice, Cyphers said, people rapidly click consent without thinking much about what theyre agreeing to.
In the United States, theres even less protection.
There are some cookie-blocking options built by third parties.
Whats next?
The good news is the internet seems to be trending away from the cookie.
Most people dont want to go around sharing their internet tool history with random strangers, Cyphers said.
The changes have led to uncertainty for companies who have built their businesses around advertising based on user behavior.
Some havetaken to calling itthe cookiepocalypse.
Googledescribes itas a privacy-first future solution, but privacy advocates arent so certain.
But will it lead to improved security?
Thats a question that I dont know the answer to right now.
Its better and its worse, Cyphers said.
I think its mostly worse.
This article by Colin Lecher wasoriginally published on The Markupand was republished under theCreative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivativeslicense.
