Here’s a cookie
Exploring how the choices we make on the internet affect our online privacy
June 1, 2023
Most websites offer a pop-up at the bottom of the screen after opening them for the first time — two buttons, one of them reading “ACCEPT COOKIES” and the other reading “MANAGE SETTINGS” or “DON’T SELL MY PERSONAL INFORMATION.” According to thedrum.com, as of 2022, 43% of Americans accept all cookies, despite 81% of them saying they are concerned about how websites use their data.
Website cookies are text files that are stored on your devices by websites in order to remember information about you, such as your activity and preferences on the website — for example, it retains information about what items you add to your shopping cart on Amazon. Accepting cookies allows these sites to follow the trail of crumbs left by user activity, leading them to better personalize people’s experiences on the site.
Although some cookies are necessary for website function, accepting all third-party cookies gives websites the ability to sell and distribute users’ information. While most people are somewhat aware of what cookies do, the danger that these files potentially pose to user privacy remains unknown to many. According to the book “Blown to Bits: Your Life, Liberty, and Happiness After the Digital Explosion” by Hal Abelson, Ken Ledeen and Harry Lewis, cookies are just one of several major factors that contribute to how websites build a detailed, in depth-profile of users.
In addition to tracking people’s preferences through leaving cookies on their browsers, websites monitor users by tracking their IP addresses, which are numbers that identify and locate computers on the internet, and access unique browser information like type, version, graphics encoding and language. Websites that require users to log in through their email or an external account also have access to all the information related to that individual that is linked to that account.
While this doesn’t necessarily warrant becoming hypervigilant about one’s online presence, it should encourage more consciousness about where one displays their information and how accessible that information could consequently be to others.
According to privacy tech worker Robert G. Reeve, individuals’ purchases and browser history are sold by aggregators online, and it becomes easier to monitor their digital footprints as “people tend to use the same email and phone number for [everything].” This allows many entities on the internet to have a detailed profile of an individual, allowing for more accurate and effective targeted advertising. However, this also creates an increased risk for a leak of private information, making people more vulnerable to identity theft.
Identity theft might seem like a far-off, ludicrous concern, but data suggests otherwise — around one in 15 Americans have had their identities stolen, primarily as a result of online activity, and people with social media accounts face a 46% greater risk of having their identities stolen. Data breaches can also release information that websites collect about its users, which has proven to be a prominent issue, as around 30,000 websites are hacked daily and 64% of companies worldwide have experienced cyber attacks.
As the most (chronically) online generation yet — 90% of teenagers use social media — we spend a lot of time on the internet, on various platforms, websites and social media, so it’s important to be aware of how that information can be used against us.
We can be more secure online by limiting the amount of places that we input our personal information, using VPNs, deleting old accounts and having distinct and secure passwords. To reduce the information already available to websites through cookies we’ve already accepted, we can clear the cookies and cache on search engines to delete files stored on computers that track information.
And maybe next time a cookie request pops up on a website, think twice before just pressing “ACCEPT ALL.”
