Cookie
Last updated
Last updated
HTTP cookies (also called web cookies, Internet cookies, browser cookies, or simply cookies) are small blocks of created by a while a is a and placed on the user's computer or other device by the user's . Cookies are placed on the device used to access a website, and more than one cookie may be placed on a user's device during a session.
Cookies serve useful and sometimes essential functions on the . They enable web servers to store information (such as items added in the shopping cart in an ) on the user's device or to track the user's browsing activity (including clicking particular buttons, , or recording which ). They can also be used to save for subsequent use information that the user previously entered into , such as names, addresses, , and .
Authentication cookies are commonly used by web servers to that a user is logged in, and with which they are logged in. Without the cookie, users would need to authenticate themselves by logging in on each page containing sensitive information that they wish to access. The security of an authentication cookie generally depends on the security of the issuing website and the user's , and on whether the cookie data is . may allow a cookie's data to be read by an , used to gain access to , or used to gain access (with the user's credentials) to the website to which the cookie belongs (see and for examples).
Tracking cookies, and especially , are commonly used as ways to compile long-term records of individuals' — a potential that prompted European and U.S. lawmakers to take action in 2011. European law requires that all websites targeting member states gain "" from users before storing non-essential cookies on their device.
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