Cookies

Cookies are some small text files that are created by the browser and stored on the user's device. When users send requests to the website's HTTP server through a browser to visit a particular website, the website sends some cookies to the browser as well as their desired content. The browser then saves them in cache memory and sends a copy of the stored cookies to that website address.

The whole process basically puts the browser user data for future websites for easier access to certain websites. In other words, the more the user is connected to that website, the more websites will be aware of the user's activity and will keep a version of the browser as well as save the data of cache memory activities in the form of cookies. Also, the user ID, password-saving, is also essentially the login section of the website, in the Cookies section.

How cookies are stored in the browser; Image Source: robertheaton.com

To make it easier, when you visit e-commerce sites like Amazon, it creates a cookie section in your browser. What types of data are you looking for in the website, which products are looking for a long time, which ones are added to the list of favorites, prices of products or how many types of data are stored in that cookie section?When you visit the Amazon website again at any other time, it will show the cookies stored in the browser on a specific sequence of all the information that is segregated on the server, identify the product you are interested in, and display the product accordingly.

Other e-commerce sites like Amazon use cookies to increase the quality of services in the same way. On the other hand, YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, other social media and free service providers, similarly collect information about users and advertise information using advertisements.

The issue of collecting such cookies is primarily known as first-party cookies. In most cases, the problem of collection of such cookies is to increase the quality of services. First-party cookies are mostly on the most popular websites; That means that as soon as you visit the website, information about your activity in the cookies section is being collected. On the other hand, some websites collect cookies according to their wishes, unwillingness;This means that the information collected from the user through pop-ups and alerts is what cookies are being collected. Even if necessary, ask users for permission to turn on the cookies option for that website by giving them appropriate reasons. But the problem is, with third-party cookies.

First-party vs third-party cookies

Suppose, you have visited the nytimes.com news portal. Now if cookies are collected for nytimes.com in the browser's cookies section, then the whole process is covered by first-party cookies. On the other hand, you've visited nytimes.com.But a pop-up add or otherwise referral to that website freenews.com, and a new cookie section for free-news.com was created in your browser's cache memory. In that case your data has gone under the third-party cookies. In other words, despite your reluctance, the other is aware of your preferences, dislikes, all online-based activities

Visualization of first-party and third-party cookies; Image Source: Freecodecamp.org

In this case, you may face multiple problems. First of all, all your browsing data will be left to an unreliable collector. In that case, you do not even know, what kind of immoral act is done by the collector of your data.
Second, the user ID used to access social media, online banking or such important websites, the password is stored in the browser as a cookie; This means that if you have not logged out from certain sites, or you do not delete previous cookies after a login session, then they may also be able to collect third-party cookies collectors.

Browser Fingerprinting is worse than cookies

Cookies can be closed for a particular website, avoiding it in different ways. There is also no reason to worry about security without third-party cookies. But the browser fingerprinting is quite awful in this case. In this method of web tracking, trackers use certain scripts, which allow you to track all kinds of information on your smartphone, laptop or device which is browsing the internet.

Tracker can handle many important information including device model, browser extension, plug-in, location, language, timezone, device-screen resolution, installed font. This method is so strong that if a person uses more than one device, and if they are kept in the same place, or are under the same network, then with the help of one, collecting information about the other becomes easier for the trackers.