A01 chaf6542 06 se fm indd

 First-  party  cookies

Served by the site you are 

currently using – typical 

for e‑commerce sites.

 Third-  party  cookies

Served by another site to 

the one you are viewing – 

typical for portals where 

an ad network will track 

remotely or where the 

web analytics software 

places a cookie.

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Part 1  Introduction

Cookies are stored as individual text files in a directory on a personal computer. There 

is usually one file per website. For example: dave_ chaffey@ british‑  airways.txt contains 

encoded information as follows:

F L T _   V I S ` K : b a p z R n G d x B Y U U ` D : J u l ‑   2 5 –     1 9 9 9 `  

  b r i t i s h ‑     a i r w a y s .

com/0 425259904 293574 26 1170747936 29284034*

The information is essentially just an identification number and a date of the last visit, 

although other information can be stored.

Cookies are specific to a particular browser and computer, so if a user connects 

from a different computer or starts using a different browser, the website will not iden‑

tify him or her as a similar user.

Browser suppliers are keen to protect users’ online privacy as part of their value 

proposition. 2008 saw the launch of Internet Explorer 8 and its InPrivate feature and 

Google Chrome with its Incognito mode. These are intended for temporary use for a 

session where someone is browsing sites they don’t want others in the family or office 

to know about. They won’t delete previous cookies, but new permanent cookies won’t 

be created in these situations.