The cookies are small packages of information that are recorded in the hard disk of a person, when Web through a navigator accedes to a page. They are tools that work at the request of a servant, to store information of his visitors and soon to be able to recover it, to understand the preferences of the users and to give a more customized service. As the cookies can cause privacy problems, work even so under very high restrictions and, there are many are not in agreement with them.
Term “HTTP cookie” comes from “magic cookie”, a package of information that a program only receives to return it to send to its origin without realising no change. On this concept, that was used in the UNIX computation, Lou Montulli was based, to use it in the communications Web in 1994. The cookies allowed to solve the problem to implement, of reliable way, a cart of virtual purchase. Nevertheless, the first use that occurred them was the one to verify if the people who visited the page Web of Netscape, had done already it in a previous occasion. In 1998, a patent for the technology of the cookies was granted to him to Montulli, that had asked in 1995.
The introduction of the cookies to the world Web was not warned the public, but per 1995, already there were conscientious people of them. In 1996 Financial Times published an article that managed to inform generally to the public. Since then, they drew attention by his possible problems of privacy and they in some hearings of the United States in the following years discussed to envelope. The main preoccupation, was on the threat that meant the cookies of third parts and it prohibited his use and activation. The preoccupation continues today, but it makes sure that the cookies work under strict regulations.
The cookies are used by the Web servers, to identify and to differentiate to the users, being kept information related to them, when these realise a series of visits (that information does not include the personal information like the name, direction or telephone). Thus they can see his preferences and his behavior in Internet, also if she is a woman, man, young person or adult and thus, they manage to give to personalisation to the service Web. In fact, the cookies were integrated to implement the cart of virtual purchase, that allows that the person adds or clears articles that while wishes to buy in Internet, it sails by a specific site that shows what it is buying. The cookies allow that the visited page, knows the preferences of the user and can help him in the next visits.
Another use that occurs to the cookies, is to allow that the users accede to a Web site. They work when the person introduces her name of user and password; then, to the information or cookie is stored, that it allows that the servant knows that the user is validated, to grant the use to him of services that only the registered users can have. In addition, they can record that information so that the user does not have to be writing down the same whenever he wants to enter the service; in fact in some sites when not having activated the cookies in the navigator, problems can be had acceding to the contents of the site, specifically those for the registered users.
In addition, many sites use cookies to know how what aspect to have to satisfy the tastes with the user. They use them, mainly, the sites that require identification, although also some that do not require it. They as much please the user in presentation as in functionality. For example, Wikipedia allows its registered users, to choose the presentation of the page; Google uses cookies to allow its visitors, to choose the amount of results that wish to see their searches.
Also they are used like accountant of times that a usurious one accedes to a certain page. The cookie is stored in the computer of the user and, whenever he enters the page, the accountant marks a new unit. They exist in addition, other many uses of the cookies.
The cookies are only information on the basis of text, nonimages, sounds, etc. The cause that is stored in the personal computer, does not mean that they can be used to accede to the recorded personal information in him. They cannot move within the archives of the computer. In addition, the cookies only can be read by the site created that them and has a time of life. They can last what a session lasts or have a date of in the future next victory; then, they stop working. By space there is no problem either since they are text files that must weigh 4 KB less than; that is the important thing is not to avoid the temporary storage of cookies in the computer, which can bring navigation problems, but to eliminate them of periodic way so that they are not accumulated.
