- By Monica Nuñez
If you use any form of digital media, you’ve likely been annoyed by those persistent messages asking you to accept cookies when visiting a new website—or even an old favorite.
Browser cookies, much like their carb-heavy counterparts, are small amounts of text that your computer “eats.” These cookies help website owners enhance your experience by tracking your interactions with their content and functions.
Lou Montulli, a well-known browser developer, coined the term “cookies” in the 1990s. He used them to deposit small identifiers in our browsers, allowing websites to remember what you viewed on previous visits, how much time you spent on specific pages, where you clicked, what you bought, and even which sites you visited next.
With this information, developers began to customize and personalize your subsequent visits, even “following” you around the internet to remind you of their products, offerings, and sometimes even what you left in your online shopping cart.
You’ve probably experienced the unsettling feeling when your TV or satellite radio plays an ad for a product you researched on your phone or tablet. Or, after clicking on those Jimmy Choos at Gilt.com, you find your visits to CNN.com, People.com, Facebook, Instagram, or your social platform of choice filled with ads for Jimmy Choos or similar shoes.
That’s the power of cookies and the reason behind those pesky messages you have to agree to. By allowing websites to drop a cookie in your browser, you’re generally giving them the right to collect information that tailors advertising and activities to you. It doesn’t mean that rejecting cookies allows you to avoid advertising altogether—it just means it will be more relevant to you if you accept them, like showing you alternatives to the shoes you looked at instead of ads for dog food.
So, should you accept the cookie policy? As with many things in digital life, it depends. If you know the website and are genuinely interested in the product, why not? If it’s a shady site you stumbled upon, you might want to leave, cookies or not.
New advertising laws now regulate online activities. The European Union’s GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) and California’s CCPA (California Consumer Protection Act) are examples. These regulations protect all citizens, regardless of their current location, imposing heavy fines and reputational damage on violators.
That’s why you see all those “We use cookies” messages and “Taxes and fees included” notices. Just like real cookies, it’s a good idea to clean them out occasionally to make your browser lighter. And consider accepting them from reputable sites so that the ads and offers you see are more relevant.
Now you’re an expert in cookies! But why the name? The popular theory is that they’re named after fortune cookies, which carry a small piece of text inside. Montulli himself said the name comes from the “magic cookie” used by UNIX developers in the 1970s. Choose the explanation that resonates with you—but remember, don’t eat too many, especially if you don’t know who made them.
