Cookies and Beacons

Cookies
Cookies are used to track user behavior on the web. They can be used to track individual user preferences, understand how users are using the site, for instance tracking how many times an article was viewed to gage its popularity or how users are responding to new design features of the site.

However, the most controversial cookies are the ones used by advertisers and marketers. These are often viewed as an invasion of privacy and just plain creepy. By keeping track at the type of websites users visit on the web, companies are able to see what types of products they’re interested in, what advertisements they’ve seen and from what location across the globe.

This may seem creepy, but from a business standpoint it’s beneficial because while it allows companies to see which ads users have seen, they take this data into account so that users aren’t constantly bombarded with the same ads time and time again. Providing some fresh content which may reach the user in a better way, and this is one way advertisers and marketers profile and target potential customers.

For instance, a user could visit a sporting goods site with enabled cookies and see a noticeably higher number of ads for that sporting goods website. This is particularly prevalent on social media sites such as Facebook.

There are a two types of cookies: session and persistent. As the names suggest, session cookies are only present during the user’s current online session, while persistent cookies assist websites in remembering the user’s preferences each time they view the sites to enhance the delivery of service. “Besides authentication, other website features made possible by persistent cookies include: language selection, theme selection, menu preferences, internal site bookmarks or favorites, among many others.”

If reading all of this is making you feel uncomfortable, sitting in your computer chair and looking at your screen, alas there is help! There is software available to disable or block cookies from tracking your behavior on the web! Check out Disable Tracking Software.

Beacons
A web beacon is similar to a cookie. It is a small, transparent image located on a webpage which monitors and tracks preferences of users on that website and trace their IP address. Web beacons can be detected in the website’s source code by searching for image tags which load from a different server. Users are given ID numbers and names remain anonymous to the data companies. The big question being asked here is if this is too intrusive regardless of whether they have your name or not, since these companies have a wealth of other information about you and Many users are unaware their activity is being tracked.

These can be used by companies to track if their emails are being opened and when. “This system has been abused by spammers who will identify active email accounts by sending emails that include pixel trackers. This is why many email systems will ask if you trust the sender before it displays images.”

In addition to cookies, beacons are useful to advertisers who display ads on someone else’s webpage. “Often advertisers will embed web beacons in their adverts to get an idea of how often an advert is appearing.”