Cookies and Advertising

One of the topics covered in my lectures was the use of cookies and how they’re being used for advertising purposes. I didn’t know much about cookies, and so I had to do a bit of research. According to HowStuffWorks a cookie is a piece of text that allows ‘a Web site to store information on a user's machine and later retrieve it’. So cookies are really just ways in which websites remember the computers that visit them. The websites we visit can create unique ID numbers for us, which are stored on our computers using cookie files.

Some people view such cookie files as an invasion of privacy and are concerned about the ways in which companies and advertisers are using cookies. Companies can pretty much use the cookie files on your computer to gain and store information about what you do on the internet in order to better target you with advertising. This differs to the more innocent uses of cookies such as

·         finding out how many people  have visited your website and what proportion are new visitors

·         storing your customisation preferences

·         keeping track of the items you add to your basket when doing online shopping

One of the main issues people have with cookies is that we don’t give our permission for websites to create cookie files. I was surprised to read on BBC Webwise that some websites actually mention in the small print of their Terms and Conditions that by using their website the visitor automatically agrees to download the website’s cookies. Surely, this should be placed in a more prominent position than the small print? The reasoning behind this is probably that as many people aren’t aware of cookies, there’s no reason for concern.

If anything, cookies make targeted advertising easier, which should really be a benefit to consumers as it means that they see adverts for products more suited to their interests and browsing habits. This has benefits for both consumers and advertisers. Surely seeing adverts that we’re actually interested in is a good thing? And at the same time, advertisers get to have more effective advertising as their adverts are only being shown to people who are likely to buy their product.

This targeted advertising can be annoying though, as I went through a period where it felt as if adverts for Agent Provocateur were following me to every website I went to, all because I had visited the company’s website once a week earlier to browse through the perfumes. I’m guessing that this was as a result of targeted advertising using cookies.