Why if I decline cookies on a website I’ll be asked the next time I visit that website if I give permission for cookies but if I approve cookies I’m never asked again?
In: Technology
The website only knows what you pressed last time by storing that information using cookies, so if you decline all cookies, it will treat you as a first-time visitor next time. For sites you visit often, go into the cookie preferences and opt in to the functional cookies while staying out of the analytics and advertising ones.
A cookie is a file that the website stores on your machine, which allows the website to save your preferences (among other things.) The website can’t store user-specific information on its servers unless you have a username and password.
So if you accept the cookie, you only need to accept it once because you have the cookie and thus the site knows you accepted it. If you decline it, you have to decline it every time because without the cookie, the site doesn’t know that you declined the cookie.
When they don’t have a cookie they can’t recognize who you are and therefore think you are a new user.
Once you have the cookie they know you’ve been there before.
A cookie is basically a little data token in your browser that websites use to identify you, wich helps both loading the settings you left with the last time, but also to track you for targeted ads.
The fact that you declined is something that a cookie would typically be used for, so if you say no, then they are not allowed to remember that you clicked no. That’s the kind of thing that they use cookies for, saving preferences.
And they ask because EU law requires they ask.
If you decline it doesn’t store anything about your visit – so next time it won’t remember your answer because you specifically instructed it not to remember.
They started doing this because new laws in Europe required them to ask permission before storing data on your computer. I’m not sure if a similar law exists yet on a federal level in the US, but most US-based websites just did it anyway in response to the EU regulations.
Cos they make remembering your cookie settings one of the optional ones rather than a required one, also, in the UK we’re hoping to see legislation forcing companies to localise the name to “biscuits”
The people who build and run these websites want to track you, and build up information about you as a consumer, often because it helps them make more money in the long run.
If you want to gather information about an EU citizen, then you need their permission to gather info about them. Those popups about cookies are how they ask for permission. Its often easier to just get everyone’s permission rather than trying to work out who is living in the EU.
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