What is a web cookie?
We will start by explaining what a cookie is and how it works. The web cookies were created in the 1990s by two Americans: John Giannandrea et Lou Montulli. The word “cookie’’ comes from the expression “magic cookie’’, which means data packet. Indeed, gathering data is what they do most of the time. However, this is not general data; it is data about you.
Of course, from a legal point of view, cookies do not collect information like your email address or phone number if you did not enter them on the website during the creation of an account or a subscription to a newsletter, for instance. Nevertheless, you indeed leave a trace when you use the web. It means that if you are looking for a new phone and have visited many websites where you accepted the cookies, you should not be surprised to see a lot of phone ads when you browse the internet.
In more technical jargon, how do web cookies work? In sum, it is with the help of the hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP) that decides whether or not to add, according to the choices made, cookie codes will then be saved by your browser in a file. These cookies are not viruses or malware; they can be deleted easily by going to your browser settings or using a cleaning tool like CCleaner.
What is the use of a cookie on a website?
Why do cookies save data? What is their main purpose? Their first goal is to improve the user experience, so the website knows who, when, how much time a person stays on a web page. Moreover, there are different types of cookies:
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Third-party cookies: they are the most used. Every time you browse the internet, these cookies will collect primarily demographic information. Of course, you need to accept them at first. It can include data about the age, geolocalization, or, as mentioned above, the time the person stayed on a web page, the bounce rate, the click rate, the most popular page, etc.
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Session cookies: they are the cookies that allow the save of your cart even if you change the page. They should stop working after you close the browser, but it is not always the case.
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Permanent cookies: they can be helpful since they are the ones that allow the saving of your login information and passwords, even if you close your browser. According to the law, they are supposed to disappear after 6 months, but unfortunately, it is rarely the case.
Web cookies are not wicked, and they are not saved directly on your computer. Some laws also regulate the use of cookies.
Web cookie laws
Many countries have specific rules regarding the use of cookies. In France, it is the CNIL that enforces the data processing laws. They can also issue fines when someone fails to comply with these rules. For this reason, if you create a website and want to collect some data with the use of web cookies, you need to inform the user. You can do it by adding a consent banner on your website asking to collect their data. You should give the user the possibility to modify or refuse cookies as well.
Of course, some websites try to complicate things by allowing users to only modify some settings without possibly refusing them all at once. For example, you visit a website. The cookie consent banner appears, and you have the choice to accept or modify them. Since you do not want the cookies, you click on Modify. Another window appears, and you need to remove all of them the settings manually. Generally, we finally accept all cookies not to lose time or because we do not understand what it is really about.
The cookies on your WebSelf website
When creating your WebSelf website, it is possible to set your parameters to display a cookie consent banner.
To do it, go on the editor, and click on the Settings tab located bottom left. Then, click on Confidentiality and Cookies. From there, you only need to click on the button to display your cookie consent banner. You can also modify the text and the buttons. You can also decide to block the access of your site for people who did not choose an option.
In conclusion, you now know the important information to know about web cookies and how it is used on your website. Do not forget that confidentiality and consent are essential: if not respected, you might lose clients and credibility. To know more about data protection, we suggest reading this article: WebSelf and GDPR: Everything you need to know.