Cookies!

• Identify return visitors.  Why?
• Automatic login.
• Collect marketing data.
• Tailor the website for a new user, or a return visitor who has set preferences.  Use the marketing data collected above.
• Many misconceptions about cookies.
• Can't read contents of other files with a cookie.
• Can't delete other files.
• Can't transmit viruses
• A cookie is a simple text file on the user's hard disk.  It contains information written by the web page (JavaScript in our case) to identify the user on a return visit.
• You can write any data you want: a unique key, the user's name, preferred language, etc.
• You can only read the cookies that you write.

Internet II: Day 4