When agreeing to cookies on a website, what exactly am I agreeing to?
In: Technology
website cookies are about storing information locally on your personal device, it’s typically useful when it comes to any user specific data that would be helpful if it persisted beyond the current session
that means if you close your browser, open it back up, go back to the site – the site can use cookies to remember things about you and personalize the experience a bit based on your previous session(s)
a common example is clicking on a “remember me” checkbox – this usually means the site will store your login info locally on your device inside a cookie that the site can access and make it easier to log back in… But if you went to the same website on a different device, it won’t have your login details pre-filled – or maybe even have someone else’s… That’s because the site is pulling that info from the device, locally. A different device means a different cookie, either empty and new or pre-populated with someone else’s info
It could also even be made to remember session data, and communicate with the server if you didn’t log out soon after closing the browser. If the session data in the cookie hasn’t expired, a website’s server might allow you to continue on with your last session without logging back in, even if you accidentally closed the browser window…
It’s good for remedying convenience issues like that, but if you share the device you’re using with others, then allowing cookies could be a risk for identity theft… anything you enter into a site can be stored on a cookie and can potentially be accessed later on by anyone else using that machine unless you deleted your cookies
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