Due to unfortunate European law, since 2015 all websites viewed from Italy and other European states must display a banner, more or less annoying, which warns about the use of cookies. Avoiding going to talk about this law, the so-called "Cookie Law" of which many have written, I wanted to provide a guide on cookies that was as concise, simple and clear as possible, to understand what they are, what they do and by whom are installed on our computers.
Through the cookie it seems as if every website we open wants to leave us, secretly or blatantly, its business card, forcing us to save it on our PC and recall it on the next visit.
Cookies, therefore, are nothing more than small files left on the computer by the websites visited of which, almost always, nothing is known.
The main function of a cookie is to leave a trace on the computers or cellphones that have visited a site, so that, in the event of a return of the user, this is recognized for statistical purposes or even to respond in a personalized way.
We therefore have cookies that are used by websites to collect statistics on visits, to know how long a user is on his pages, to know which links to press and analyze the interactions on the site in order to improve it if possible.
Other cookies are those of sites that remember, for example the language settings, in order to display the page in Italian instead of in English at the next visit.
A cookie can also store changes to the interface of a web application or even save the file created through that application (think of web apps such as those for drawing or writing).
other important cookies are those of advertising, to provide banners or sponsored messages that reflect the user's preferences.
Therefore, cookies can be used in countless ways and they all have to do with the collection of information about users who visit a site .
The problem is that it is not at all easy to understand what cookies are leaving on our PC and the data they contain.
What you can do on the main browsers, for example on Chrome and Firefox, is to press at the top, on the padlock icon or on the i which is located to the left of the site address (next to http or https) and read which cookies, that site, installed on our PC, also reading their content which will be incomprehensible.
Usually the cookie is made from a text file with an alphanumeric code above, which is self-generated by programming scripts and is understandable only by the program that analyzes it.
Each site only reads the cookies it has installed itself and not those of other sites, at least in theory.
While up to here there would be nothing wrong, the problems come when it comes to third-party cookies, i.e. those from external sites compared to what you are viewing.
These cookies are those for statistics, for advertising and, in some cases, they are also capable of building a complete picture of our browsing habits, often without any explicit authorization from the user or the sites in question.
What is not good and that no law can be able to stop is that sometimes some malicious sites are able to read cookies installed by other sites, thus assimilating the monitoring of information from multiple sites, collecting data on all the history of each user and creating precise profiles, perhaps without name and surname, but complete for targeted advertising campaigns.
In addition to cookies, other types of data are also automatically downloaded from the websites, such as for example the images displayed or other files that are temporarily stored so that, on a subsequent visit, they do not have to be downloaded again.
These are the famous temporary files of the websites, which are used to load the web faster.
To regain control of cookies and temporary files, there are several ways, some simple, others more radical.
To begin with, each browser allows you to block and delete cookies at any time.
In Chrome you have to open the Settings, then on Show advanced settings and in the Content Settings section you can find two buttons, one to see all the cookies on the computer and to be able to delete them, the other to manage the cookies of the sites.
In the second case, by pressing the Manage exceptions button, you can block cookies from specific sites or have them automatically deleted when you close that site.
In Firefox the same option is present in the Privacy section of the Options menu.
Here you have to ask to use the custom settings in the history settings line.
In another article we have already seen all the ways to eliminate cookies on all browsers.
Regarding the tracking of third-party cookies, in Chrome it is possible, in the content settings, to activate the option that blocks third-party cookies .
In Firefox, from the menu of custom history settings, you can ask to never save third-party cookies.
Furthermore, as we saw in another article on how not to be tracked online by sites by blocking the collection of personal data, we have reported a very effective extension for Chrome and Firefox called Privacy Badger, which automatically blocks cookies recognized as snoopers.
In some sites this block can create display problems and, in these cases, you will be forced to disable Privacy badger.
A similar work also does the famous Adblock Plus extension which, however, by blocking all advertisements, can create damage to honest websites (which should always be put in exceptions).
Another option to not store site cookies is to make use of the browser's private or incognito mode.
in this way, each site is opened as if it were the first visit, without ever storing any data in the temporary files and no cookies.
Keep in mind that cookies are installed on PCs even if techniques are used to surf anonymously on the internet.
In conclusion, the use of website cookies is something inevitable, something only to be accepted even if you are forced to sacrifice a small part of privacy.
Blocking all cookies would mean amputating websites of an essential part of their code, would prevent correct viewing and slow down browsing in general.
Only in some cases it may be convenient to block them or make them deleted, remembering that in most cases they are harmless and useful to remember the preferences of the sites and customize some of them to make them more usable.
