Cookies for mortals

I know that the title is a bit controversial, but after a lot of reading, analyzing and working on cookies, my opinion concludes that everyone knows about cookies but no one knows exactly what to do with them.

If you have a website or you are a user of these and you are interested in the subject and you want practical and simple information on how to deal with them, welcome to this modest article by Business Adapter.

What is a cookie?

Let’s start at the beginning and briefly define a cookie as a small, simple file that stores and retrieves information when you browse, and that your browser stored on the hard drive of your computer or other device you use during your visit. The recorded information may be returned to the web site owner’s servers or to the servers of authorized or contracted third parties for subsequent visits.

They can be used for many things, for example, to recognize you as a user, obtain information about your browsing habits, send you advertising or personalize the way in which web content is displayed to you.

As you will see, a cookie can know a lot about you and that personal information is protected by the General Data Protection Regulation (RGPD) that defends us as citizens and users, requiring the owners of the web, we are the users who decide how much we want these cookies know about us.

In order to do so, companies must comply with the GDPR in its entirety and, with respect to the use of cookies, ask the user’s authorization to activate them.

User consent

The owner of a website must request express consent to the user, to activate the cookies available on its website, but it must provide complete information beforehand, so that we can freely decide which cookies can be used while browsing its website. That is, information on:

Whether or not they are necessary for your visit

If they are not unnecessary, (e.g. advertising) you should be allowed to disable them easily.

If they are necessary they cannot be deactivated because they are essential to visit the web. For example:

Cookies that recognize you as a registered user
Security Cookies
User interface customization cookies

If they are their own or from external collaborators

With this we will know if our data are treated by the owner of the website and/or by other collaborators.

Utility

We will know if they serve to send advertising, recognize us as a user of the web, etc..

Duration

We must be informed if the cookies are Session, that is, they are active while you visit the web, or if they are Persistent and therefore remain installed on your device and activated again when you visit the web again. If you detail the minutes, days, months or years, the better.

Cookies in browsers

But not only web pages, install cookies, also your browser records your visits and can define your preferences, habits, etc., which is why browsers also ask you for consent, although not clearly and concisely. Too much information that causes us to desist reading it and inform well and it is easier to accept everything.

But there is a solution for Private browsing. To do this go to the top right of your browser and click on the 3 dots that you will see in the upper right corner and the drop-down will show you options such as: Incognito window, New InPrivate window, or similar, as each browser calls it in a way.

This solution allows you to browse without browsers tracking your visits.

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How to accept or reject cookies?

Accepting or rejecting cookies should be a very simple process, with a maximum of 2 clicks being acceptable.

The usual thing is that when opening a web it is essential to visualize the informative Window on existing cookies in the web and this one, allows you by means of buttons, to Accept or to Reject the unnecessary cookies. Example:

I have a website and I can’t identify the necessary ones from the unnecessary ones.

If you are not familiar with the world of cookies, this tool will surely help you to identify them: CookieServe, which will show you in a simple way what cookies your website installs:

How should this information be displayed to Users?

Your data protection company should draw up a Cookies Policywhere the information exposed here appears, among other additional necessary and personalized information for your activity, among other obligations that you must comply with the Data Protection Law, which you must comply with and deliver to inspection in case of requirement.

If you do not have expert professionals, do not hesitate to contact without commitment to Business Adapter and we will give you the assistance you need

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