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8 Cyber Shopping and Privacy
to collect information is to use “Cookies.” Cookies are the most common privacy
invader as they can store and even track down information about online travels and
shopping without the user’s knowledge (Bass, 2000). Cookies enable Web sites
to track usage patterns and deliver customized content to visitors. Cookies are short
pieces of data, usually a string of random-looking letters, that a Web server places
on a computer’s hard drive. They are planted on the consumer’s computer by the
Web sites which are visited or surfed. Cookies help to know the movements of
consumers while surfing on the Web site. This information can be used by
companies to figure out the buying habits and tastes of consumers, and at times can
even be sold to third-party agencies for potential marketing.
Most consumers are blissfully unaware of the electronic footprint they leave
when they surf Web sites. There are sites available such as www.
privacy.net which
help to know how cookies keep details of the consumers. Cookies keep information
about computer’s identity (referred to as the IP address), computer’s
configuration, the route from computer to the destination computer system, the last Web
pages accessed and so on. Privacy campaigners fear that using cookies could lead to
senders’ identities being easily traceable.
While cookies don’t give a Web site any personal information, such as an
individual’s name or address, they create a unique identity for the browser so that
a site can recognize a person if he visits again using the same computer terminal. In
some ways, cookies benefit Web surfers; without them, people would have to enter
a user name and password over and over to see any personalized content on the
Web. However, cookies actually act like
hidden cameras or microphones capturing
computer users’ movements.
Cookies are meant to help consumers. Detailed marketing databases enable
companies to better match their products and services to consumer demands. By
performing statistical analysis of database information on consumers, the companies can
target their products in a more focused manner and consumers can get their wish list items
without spending the time searching for it.
How do advertising companies benefit from cookies?
When a browser
sends a request to a server, it includes its IP address, the type
of browser being used and the operating system of the computer. This information
is usually logged in the server’s log file. A cookie sent along with the request can add
only that the same server originally sent information. Thus, there is no additional
personal information explicitly sent to the server by allowing cookies. On multiple
client sites being serviced by a single marketing site, cookies can be used to track
browsing habits on all the client sites. The way this works is a marketing firm
contracts with multiple client sites to display its advertising. The client sites simply
put a tag on their Web pages to display the image containing the marketing firm’s
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