Great Internet Cookie Crumble Will Leave Risky Morsels
The little data files that helped companies stalk users around the web are vanishing. But that doesn’t mean a return to privacy.
Wave goodbye.
Photographer: Cristina Quicler/AFP/Getty Images
Thanks to the humble cookie, our favorite websites can remember us, greeting our return visits like a conscientious barista. But it’s through these small files that some egregious privacy abuses have occurred. Cookies will disappear this year, though a problem solved may be a problem caused.
The cookie, invented by a 23-year-old Netscape engineer 30 years ago, was initially intended to act as an identifier so users didn’t have to keep logging in. It has long been co-opted, however, by the advertising industry as a way to snoop on what users are up to. Loading even the most basic web page these days means that dozens of tracking cookies are quietly placed on your computer. Suddenly, what had been a quick search for a one-off purchase ignites a frenzy, with every website coordinated in its determination to service what it thinks is your new passion for collecting mattresses or whatever.