Word is slowly spreading that cookies aren't the poison pellets they've been made out to be. So let's take a few moments and discover exactly what they are and what they may or may not do to you. Use the links on this page to aid in your investigation.
Note: When you write a paper on any subject found on the Internet, it would be wise to check your information again with another site offering similar information. When you are happy with the results you have found, you need to cite where the information came from. The link that follows is the best I've found that covers “Citing Online References”. Please take a few minutes and learn how to cite what you've found on the Internet. I expect to see “proper references” used on the Lab assignment that follows if you are using this page as a LAB for the Internet class.
ONLINE CITING
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(If used as a...
LAB ASSIGNMENT: (Turn-in a type-written page of no less than a substantial paragraph for each of the following five (5) questions.
1.) What is a Cookie, exactly?
2.) Who Developed and placed into the Public Domain, the Basic CGI / JavaScript Cookie Script?
3.) Can Cookie Benefit a User?
4.) Exactly what does DoubleClick.net do that has stired up so much controversy among knowledgeable Web Surfers?
5.) What is a Digital ID, and should we have one?
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What’s a Cookie? Adding Cookies to Your Site.
You'd think that anything called a cookie couldn't be controversial, but when it comes to Web cookies, you'd better think again. On the one hand, cookies are an incredibly useful tool for Web site builders. But on the other hand, many users are extremely upset about them.
C|NET Feature Article
Welcome to Cookie Central
When you need to pass some snippet of information to another system to make it do something, how do you do it? If you're on the Web or some other network, you use a cookie (also known as a magic cookie). The cookie is a text file saved in your browser's directory or folder and stored in RAM while your browser is running. Most of the information in a cookie is pretty mundane stuff, but some Web sites use cookies to store personal preferences. (MSN, and Netscape all have personalization processes that use cookies to store information). If you want to see what information is stored in your cookie file, use a text editor or a word processor to open a file called cookies.txt or MagicCookie in your browser's folder or directory.
Cookie Central
Information Collected in Ad Delivery
In the course of delivering an ad to you, DoubleClick does not collect any personally-identifiable information about you, such as your name, address, phone number or email address. DoubleClick does, however, collect non-personally identifiable information about you, such as the server your computer is logged onto, your browser type (for example, Netscape or Internet Explorer), and whether you responded to the ad delivered. A Must Read kind of Site!
DoubleClick Information Gatherers
Surfer Beware III:
Privacy Policies without Privacy Protection
In this survey the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) reviewed the privacy practices of the 100 most popular shopping websites on the Internet. We focused on shopping sites because many consumers are now buying online and we wanted to assess whether online merchants are adequately protecting consumer privacy.
Surfer Beware III
And check out the actual report called “Surfer Beware” at this site: Surfer Beware Report
What is a Digital ID?
A Digital ID, sometimes called a digital certificate, is a file on your computer that identifies who you are. Some software applications use this file to prove your identity to another person or computer. Use this link to investigate this further:
VeriSign.com