When you visit a website, not only are you offered information or services, but your computer may also be offered a “cookie.” A cookie is a small file that is passed from a website to an end user’s (your) computer, often without your knowledge or consent. The cookie is used to save information about the interaction between you and the site, such as login credentials, preferences, and any work in progress. The cookie file is automatically stored by your browser (e.g., Internet Explorer or Firefox) on the local hard drive, and it can later be retrieved by the website.
In this new and updated guide, we’ll take a close look at the most secure browsers that also protect your privacy. A secure browser that protects your privacy is a critical tool for staying safe online and keeping your data secure from third parties. Even cookies which customise a website (such as providing a greeting message) are deemed to be non essential. Essential cookies are generally those which enable an online checkout process to work properly - or if required for technical or security purposes. Failure to comply with the Cookie Law can lead to fines of up to £500,000. Jan 07, 2018 When so much of your personal information is public, you automatically become vulnerable to identity theft, phishing, and other internet scams. Here are a few tips to follow for protecting your privacy online. For instructions, check the support website for your browser. Why cookies are helpful. Cookies are files created by sites you visit. They make your online experience easier by saving browsing information. With cookies, sites can: Keep you signed in; Remember your site preferences; Give you locally relevant content; We use cookies to improve our.
Cookies were invented in 1994 so that information could be saved between visits to a website. This lets you avoid logging in for every visit, and cookies are also used to keep track of preferences and works in progress (such as items in an online shopping cart). Today, just about all of the top websites use cookies for one purpose or another. Cookies are a very useful feature of the web and, without them, web sessions would have no history; you would have to enter your information over and over.
Third-Party Cookies
Initially, cookies were only shared between the website (the “first party” in the transaction) and the user (the “second party”). Soon after cookies were invented, however, their use was expanded to third parties—organizations not directly involved in the interaction—such as advertising companies displaying ads on certain websites.
When an advertisement is on a web page supplied by a first party, the advertising content and a cookie are passed from the advertising company (the third party) to the end user’s (your) computer. Later, when you revisit that same first-party website, or another site that uses the same advertising company, the third-party cookie can be retrieved by the advertising company. If the cookie contains a unique identifier, then information about your visits to different websites can be linked together.
Further, if any of the sites (such as social networking sites) collect personal information, this information might also be collected by the advertisers. In this way, advertising companies are able to track the websites that you visit and build up detailed personal profiles, which may then be used to target further advertising to you.
Third-party cookies raise privacy concerns because the transactions typically involve unknown third parties and are conducted without your knowledge or consent. Unless you pay attention to an often-confusing set of options in your browser software, the cookies are created and used invisibly, and the information that is gathered may be stored forever. In addition, the tracking and profiling done by advertising companies can be extensive; it is common for your computer to collect dozens of third-party tracking cookies.
Flash Cookies
Flash cookies (also called Local Shared Objects or LSOs) are created by Adobe’s popular Flash browser add-on for multimedia. Like traditional cookies, Flash cookies can be used to save state information, as well as preferences, between sessions. They are also used to track the websites that you visit. These cookies are normally not visible to you, the end user, and options to control or delete them are usually absent or very difficult to find. Flash cookies are frequently found on websites, and they are often used along with traditional web cookies. In fact, even if you delete web cookies, Flash cookies can be used to recreate them.
Flash cookies raise additional privacy concerns because they are more hidden than traditional web cookies, so you have to take extraordinary measures to remove them. Also, many privacy policies that describe the use of web cookies fail to mention Flash cookies, and procedures to opt out of web cookies often have no effect on Flash cookies.
Super Cookies
A third type of cookie, called “super cookies,” is also emerging. Super cookies use new storage locations built into browsers to save information about you. For example, the Internet Explorer browser has “userData” storage, while Firefox has “DOM” storage”. The emerging HTML 5 specifications also set aside web storage that can last either for a browser session or permanently (until deleted). These storage mechanisms are larger and more flexible than traditional cookies so more information can be stored. Like web cookies and Flash cookies, you, as a user, are often unaware that super cookies exist. You, as the user, are often not provided with tools to control the information that is stored.
Cookie-Less Tracking
A person’s browsing habits can also be tracked without cookies. One such method involves “web bugs”, which are small, invisible image files placed on a web page or hidden in an e-mail message. When you view the page or message, the image is downloaded from a server that can keep detailed logs. These logs record such information as your location, Internet address, the page or message you are reading, and the current date and time.
When people view web pages, their browsers can reveal a lot of information. The browsers can be queried to determine their detailed characteristics, including version number, window size, settings, add-ons, and customizations. The combination of information, often called “device fingerprinting,” can be quite specific to an individual machine. An experiment conducted by the Electronic Frontier Foundation suggests that this information may be unique to about one in one million people.
Web Privacy Tools
Unfortunately, protecting privacy while browsing the web is not an easy task. Web browsers provide some tools for storing and clearing cookies. However, the default is to store all cookies indefinitely and the privacy tools are often hard to find and use. Browsers can be set to block cookies, but many websites require that you, as a user, allow cookies to use the service. Even blocking third-party cookies can impair the experience of some services, so users are faced with the onerous task of allowing some cookies and not others. If you do configure your browser to delete stored cookies, this often only clears traditional cookies, without removing super cookies and Flash cookies.
Some browsers have recently implemented a “private browsing mode,” designed to protect privacy. In Firefox, for example, web cookies are deleted when a private browsing session is ended. Unfortunately, super cookies and Flash cookies are not always affected by these settings, so they are still stored during private browsing sessions. In order to clear all the different forms of cookies and web storage, you generally have to install and use special add-on applications. Some popular tools for Firefox, for example, are the BetterPrivacy, NoScript, and Targeted Advertising Cookie Opt-Out (TACO) plug-ins.
Conclusion
Cookies are powerful tools that give the web a memory, making for a better user experience. They do, however, also pose privacy concerns because they are often used without your knowledge or consent, and can be used to track your web habits and build detailed personal profiles about you.
To protect your privacy on the web, you need to learn about the cookie controls provided in your browser. You should also investigate some specialized tools that can control all cookie types. Unfortunately, however, even if you do make the effort to control cookies, there is little that you can currently do to protect against cookie-less tracking methods.
The OPC is studying this issue. We raised concerns about tracking practices in our Report on the 2010 Consultations on Online Tracking, Targeting, and Profiling, and Cloud Computing. We will continue to address our concerns with industry, as appropriate.
Additional Reading
Eckersley, P. (2010) Browser versions carry 10.5 bits of identifying information on average.
Krishnamurthy, B. and Wills, C.E (2010). On the leakage of personally identifiable information via online social networks. ACM SIGCOMM Computer Communication Review, 40(1), 112—117.
McKinley, K. (2008). Cleaning up after cookies.
Schoen, S. (2009). New cookie technologies: Harder to see and remove, widely used to track you.
Soltani, A., Canty, S., Mayo, Q., Thomas, L. and Hoofnagle, C. (2009). Flash cookies and privacy.
Wall Street Journal. (2010). What they know.
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Privacy settings
By adjusting Internet Explorer's privacy settings, you can affect how websites monitor your online activity. Archicad 22 build 3006 download free. For example, you can decide which cookies are stored, choose how and when sites can use your location info, and block unwanted pop-ups.
Cookies
Cookies are small files that websites put on your PC to store information about you and your preferences. Cookies can make your browsing experience better by letting sites remember your preferences or letting you avoid signing in each time you visit certain sites. However, some cookies might put your privacy at risk by tracking sites that you visit. For more info, see Delete and manage cookies in Internet Explorer.
Do Not Track
When Do Not Track is turned on, Internet Explorer will send a Do Not Track request to the sites you visit and to the third parties whose content is hosted on those sites to let the sites know that you would prefer not to be tracked. For more info, see Do Not Track.
InPrivate Browsing
Browsers store some info—like your search history—to help improve your experience on the web. When you use InPrivate Browsing, info like passwords, search history, and page history is deleted once you close the tab.
To open an InPrivate Browsing session, right–click the Internet Explorer icon on the taskbar, and select Start InPrivate Browsing.
To turn off add-ons in InPrivate Browsing sessions
Keka 1 1 254. Open the desktop, and then select the Internet Explorer icon on the taskbar.
Select the Tools button , and then select Internet options.
On the Privacy tab, select the Disable toolbars and extensions when InPrivate Browsing starts check box, and select OK.
Location
Location Services lets sites ask for your physical location to improve your experience. For example, a mapping site can request your physical location to center the map for you. Internet Explorer will let you know when a site wants to use your location. When this happens, select Allow once to let a site use your location just one time. If you want the site to use your location each time you visit, select Always allow.
To turn off location sharing
If you don't want sites to ask for your physical location, you can turn off location sharing. Here's how:
Open Internet Explorer by selecting the Internet Explorer icon on the taskbar.
Click the Tools button , and then select Internet options.
On the Privacy tab, under Location, select the Never allow websites to request your physical location check box.
Pop-up Blocker
Pop-up Blocker limits or blocks pop-ups on sites that you visit. You can choose the level of blocking you prefer, turn on or off notifications when pop-ups are blocked, or create a list of sites that you don't want to block pop-ups on. Pop-up Blocker settings only apply to Internet Explorer.
To turn Pop-up Blocker on or off
Open Internet Explorer, select the Tools button , and then select Internet options.
On the Privacy tab, under Pop-up Blocker, select or clear the Turn on Pop-up Blocker check box, and then select OK.
Block all pop-ups
Open Internet Explorer, select the Tools button , and then select Internet options.
On the Privacy tab, under Pop-up Blocker, select Settings.
In the Pop-up Blocker settings dialog box, under Blocking level, set the blocking level to High: Block all pop-ups (Ctrl + Alt to override).
Select Close, and then select OK.
Turn off notifications when pop-ups are blocked
Open Internet Explorer, select the Tools button , and then select Internet options.
On the Privacy tab, under Pop-up Blocker, select Settings.
In the Pop-up Blocker settings dialog box, clear the Show Notification bar when a pop-up is blocked check box.
Select Close, and then select OK.
Cookie 6 0 11 – Protect Your Online Privacy Concerns
Tracking Protection
Tracking Protection helps prevent information about your browsing from being sent to third-party content providers on sites you visit. Think of a Tracking Protection Lists as a “do not call” list. Internet Explorer blocks any third-party content from sites on the list, and limits the info that those third-party sites can collect about you.
Security zones
By changing the security settings, you can customize how Internet Explorer helps protect your PC from potentially harmful or malicious web content. Internet Explorer automatically assigns all websites to a security zone: Internet, Local intranet, Trusted sites, or Restricted sites. Each zone has a different default security level that determines what kind of content can be blocked for that site. Depending on the security level of a site, some content can be blocked until you choose to allow it, ActiveX controls might not run automatically, or you might see warning prompts on certain sites. You can customize the settings for each zone to decide how much protection you do or don't want.
Change your security zone settings
Open Internet Explorer, select the Tools button , and then select Internet options.
Select the Security tab and customize your security zone settings in these ways:
To change settings for any security zone, select the zone icon, and then move the slider to the security level that you want.
To create your own security settings for a zone, select the zone icon, and then select Custom level and choose the settings that you want.
To restore all security levels to their original settings, select the Reset all zones to default level button.
Add or remove a site from a security zone
Cookie 6 0 11 – Protect Your Online Privacy Fence
Open Internet Explorer, select the Tools button , and then select Internet options.
Select the Security tab, choose one of the security zone icons (Local intranet, Trusted sites, or Restricted sites), and then select Sites. You can add sites to the zone you chose, or delete sites that you no longer want in this zone.
If you chose Local intranet in the previous step, select Advanced, and then do one of the following:
Add a site. Enter a URL into the Add this website to the zone box, and then select Add.
Remove a site. Under Websites, select the URL you want to remove, and then select Remove.
Turn on Enhanced Protected Mode
Enhanced Protected Mode makes it harder for malware to run in Internet Explorer.
Cookie 6 0 11 – Protect Your Online Privacy Act
To turn on or off Enhanced Protected Mode
Cookie 6 0 11 – Protect Your Online Privacy Screen
Open Internet Explorer, select the Tools button, and then select Internet Options.
On the Advanced tab, under Security, select (or clear) the Enable Enhanced Protected Mode check box, and then select OK. You'll need to restart your PC before this setting takes effect.