Persistent Cookie Functions
Persistent cookies are text files that are placed on a computer when the user visits certain websites, either directly, or indirectly, through banner advertisements. The basic function of persistent cookies is to store information for an extended period of time, which can range from a few days to several years. Persistent cookies are created with an expiration date, after which they are automatically deleted.
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Web Browser
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Persistent cookies provide a Web server -- a server process running at a website that sends out Web pages in response to requests from Web browsers -- with a mechanism for storing and retrieving information on remote computers. Once a persistent cookie is placed on a computer, the Web browser includes the cookie in the Hypertext Transfer Protocol request it sends to the Web server every time it accesses content from the same website. Collectively, persistent cookies can be used to store information about Web browsing habits over many pages and over periods of time.
Legitimate Function
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Persistent cookies can be used, legitimately, to store information such as registration information and user preferences, which allow a website to recognize the same computer on subsequent visits until the cookie expires. As a result, returning visitors can bypass the login requirements of the website and enjoy a personalized Web browsing experience, based on their preferences for language, currency and so on.
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Security
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However, persistent cookies can be designed to store almost any information, including sensitive, personally identifiable information, such as passwords and credit card numbers. As a result, persistent cookies can also be used by unscrupulous individuals or to track Web browsing habits and record information without the knowledge or consent of Web users. Furthermore, persistent cookies exist as simple text files, so can easily be copied, or stolen, and used to impersonate the user whose details they contain.
Managing Cookies
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Privacy concerns over persistent cookies have led to the inclusion of settings in most major Web browsers to accept or reject all cookies or cookies of a particular type. It is important to note, however, that rejecting all cookies will mean that any Web applications that depend on the cookie function will not function properly, or may not function at all. Most major Web browsers include a facility to accept first-party persistent cookies, which originate from the website that the user is actually visiting, but to reject third-party persistent cookies, which originate from other websites.
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References
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