What Is Cookies And Must You Accept It?

These days when you visit a new website, you’ll probably get a popup that asks you to allow cookies. They’ve become so commonplace that most people don’t even bother to find out more about them before saying okay to them. But what is a cookie and should you be bothered about them.

What Are Cookies?

Cookies are simple computer files that websites send to your computer, mobile phone, or tablet. Most times it is nothing more than a simple text file. This file records the website name and assigns a unique ID to your device which can be used to monitor you and store some information about how you use the website. When you click allow on a cookies notification, the website will be able to recognize that you’ve been there before when next you go back to the same page. This allows companies to tailor their websites to deliver a personalized service to you since they now have some information about you.

For instance, if you visit a weather website and search for a weather report based on your zip code. The next time you go to the same website, it will remember your zip code and provide the information you need before you search.

The type of cookies described above is mostly first-party cookies. Another type of website cookie is third-party cookies and these are used by advertisers to track you and serve ads that you are likely to be interested in based on your previous browsing history. If you notice that some ads follow you all over the internet, you can blame third party cookies for this.

Do You Need To Accept Cookies? 

Although most people simply click okay and get along with whatever they are doing online, you don’t have to accept a website cookie if you don’t want to. Websites are obligated to ask for your permission to track you with cookies. Therefore, if you don’t want a website to store your information, you can decline a cookie request. However, it is important to note that some websites will simply deny you access if you decide to reject a cookie request.