Daily Current Affairs 03 October 2023 – IAS Current Affairs
Current Affairs 03 October 2023 focuses on Prelims-Mains perspective. Major events are :
Cookies in Web Browsing
Source: The Hindu
GS II: Awareness in the fields of IT, Space, Computers, robotics, nano-technology, bio-technology and issues relating to intellectual property rights
Overview
- News in Brief
- What are cookies?
Why in the News?
The digital world of cookies plays a significant role in any online experience. In the digital realm, cookies help in personalisation and user convenience.
News in Brief
- These unassuming bits of code, stored on a device when one visits websites, play a pivotal role in shaping any online experience.
- Think of cookies as the key to a secure, members-only club.
- Just like the club bouncer recognises regular patrons and grants them seamless access, cookies remember your login information on websites.
- This means you do not have to repeatedly enter your credentials every time you revisit a site, making it convenient for use.
What are cookies?
Cookies, in the context of computing and the internet, are small pieces of data that are stored on a user’s device while they are browsing websites. These data files are created by a website’s server and are sent to the user’s web browser.
Cookies serve various purposes
- Session Management
- Cookies are often used to manage user sessions.
- When you log in to a website, a session cookie is created to remember your login state.
- This cookie allows you to navigate the site without having to log in repeatedly.
- Personalization
- Cookies can store user preferences and settings, such as language preferences or the layout of a website.
- This information helps websites deliver a personalized experience to users.
- Tracking
- Many websites and third-party services use cookies for tracking user behaviour.
- This can include tracking the pages you visit, the links you click, and your interactions with the site.
- This data is often used for analytics and advertising purposes.
- Authentication
- Cookies are used to authenticate users.
- They are commonly used in online shopping carts to remember the items you’ve added, or in online banking to maintain a secure session.
- Security
- Cookies can enhance the security of a website.
- For example, they can be used to detect unauthorized login attempts or to prevent cross-site request forgery (CSRF) attacks.
- Advertising
- Third-party advertising networks use cookies to track your browsing habits across different websites.
- This enables them to display targeted ads based on your interests and browsing history.
- Performance
- Cookies can be used to collect data on website performance.
- This information helps website administrators identify and fix issues that may affect user experience.
Different types of cookies
- Session Cookies: These are temporary cookies that are deleted from your device when you close your web browser.
- Persistent Cookies: These cookies remain on your device for a specified duration, even after you close your browser. They are often used for tasks like remembering login credentials or user preferences.
- First-Party Cookies: These are set by the website you are currently visiting.
- Third-Party Cookies: These are set by domains other than the one you are visiting. They are commonly used for advertising and tracking across websites.
Users have the ability to control and manage cookies through their web browser settings. They can choose to block or delete cookies, or configure their browser to notify them when a website attempts to set a cookie. This provides users with some level of control over their online privacy and the data collected about them through cookies.
Challenges and Concerns
While internet cookies serve various useful functions, they also come with challenges and concerns, particularly related to privacy and security. Here are some of the challenges associated with internet cookies:
- Privacy Concerns: Cookies can track users’ online behavior, including the websites they visit and the searches they perform. This tracking raises privacy concerns, as it can create detailed profiles of individuals without their knowledge or consent.
- Data Collection and Profiling: Third-party cookies, often used for advertising and tracking, can collect extensive data about users across different websites. This data can be used to create user profiles for targeted advertising, potentially leading to a loss of privacy.
- Security Risks: Cookies can be susceptible to security vulnerabilities. For example, if a website does not properly secure its cookies, attackers may be able to steal session information or impersonate users.
- Tracking Across Websites: Third-party cookies enable tracking across multiple websites, allowing advertisers and data brokers to build comprehensive profiles of users. This can lead to invasive and persistent tracking.
- Cookie Banner Fatigue: Many websites display cookie consent banners, which can be seen as an annoyance by users. This can lead to a phenomenon called “cookie banner fatigue,” where users simply click “accept” without fully understanding the implications.
- Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF): Cookies that are not adequately secured can be exploited in CSRF attacks, where an attacker tricks a user into performing actions on a different website without their knowledge.
- Cookie Blocking: Some users employ cookie-blocking tools or browser settings to prevent websites from setting cookies. While this can enhance privacy, it can also disrupt the functionality of some websites.
- Device Fingerprinting: In addition to cookies, websites may use other techniques like device fingerprinting to track users. This involves collecting data about a user’s device, such as browser configuration and screen size, to create a unique identifier.
- Legal and Regulatory Compliance: Websites and online services must navigate a complex landscape of international, national, and regional privacy and data protection laws. Ensuring compliance with these regulations, such as GDPR or the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), can be challenging.
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