The Network Connection

Get Thee to a Bakery

The topic of the moment is cookies. So, has this columnist's sweet tooth finally got the better of him? Is it just before lunch, and thoughts are turning to confections? Just what kind of cookies are we talking about? Not the doughy kind. A visit to the "Onelook Dictionary" (www.onelook.com/) tells us what cookie means in Internet parlance. One look lets you search for a term in a number of different online dictionaries. It found references to cookie in seven different online computer dictionaries. So, I guess cookies are pretty popular items on the Internet.

Netscape devised the cookie standard (officially known as "Magic Cookies" ) and was first to include cookie support as a feature of their browser, but Internet Explorer can also use cookies as well. Internet cookies don't have raisins, but they do have a "raison d'etre." (Sorry, I couldn't resist.) An Internet cookie is information stored by your Web browser to track or verify information used during a session with a world wide Web site. It's necessary because the normal method of interacting with a WWW page is that your browser connects to the Web site, downloads the page and its graphics, and then disconnects. Any subsequent actions (follow a link, download a file, view a picture, etc.) just repeat the same process, with each transaction being a separate and independent connection to the host Web server. Normally, there is no continuity between sessions. For example, you might click the "Next" button on a Web page, but to the Web server, it's just a request for information that is independent of any other requests it may have had. In other words, the server does not track where you've been or what you've done (in fancy computer lingo, this is called "stateless communication").

The meat of the cookie

Cookies are handy things when you want to use the Web to conduct a multi-step transaction. Shopping is a good example. Imagine yourself at the grocery store. You ask the clerk, "how much is this Acorn Squash?" The clerk says, "$1.50." You say "OK, I'll buy it." The clerk say, "Buy what?" You say, "This Acorn Squash." The clerk says "Acorn Squash are $1.50." You say, "OK, sell me one." The clerk says "Sell you one what?" and etc. (If this reminds you of where you shop for groceries, then I think we use the same store.) If every question is a new transaction, it is difficult to efficiently accomplish your ultimate goal. A more reasonable model for shopping is that you use a container like a shopping cart to store the items you intend to purchase, and then you retrieve them at checkout time. During your shopping process, the items remain in your cart, i.e. in Web terms, there is a continuity of that information (what you want to buy) from page to page (browsing the wares). That information is stored in a cookie. Not surprisingly, many Web-based vendors use the analogy of the shopping cart when allowing you to add items to your intended purchase list.

The cookie itself is a line in a file stored on your computer. It is set through an HTML instruction in the Web page that tells your Web browser to store certain information. It usually contains the address of the Web server that generated it, the path to the page that set the cookie, and any additional information that is pertinent to the transaction. The next time you use that same browser to visit the same Web page, your browser sends the information contained in the cookie back to the Web server and the server can take action based on that information (for example, don't display frames, accept an order for software, recognize you as a previous visitor). By default, cookies only exist during your browsing session. Once you quit the browser, the cookie is gone. An expiration date for the cookie can also be set, in which case that cookie will stay around until it expires, and be transmitted every time you visit the associated Web page. (For more information about how cookies work, see www.netscape.com/newsref/std/cookie_spec.html.)

Are cookies bad for you?

There has been some concern expressed that use of cookies can lead to an invasion of your privacy and provide businesses with detailed data on your buying habits and interests. While there is potential for abuse in that regard, you needn't develop an irrational fear of cookies. There are some sensible steps you can take to protect your privacy. The first thing to realize is that the amount of information about you that can be automatically gathered via a Web browser is usually limited to your E-mail address (if you've configured it in your Web browser), your originating Internet node (which may change every time you connect if you are using a dial-in service), and your computer system type (Macintosh, Windows, etc.). The element of information that is added by a cookie with a long expiration date is what home pages you have visited. But remember, cookie information is only transmitted back to the site for which the cookie is set. In all but a few cases, cookies are usually transitory and only involve the Web server whose page you are viewing.

Ah, but when your mother said that too many cookies are bad for you, she was probably right. There are some companies which sell Internet advertising and whose adds will set a cookie back to the advertiser's server. This happens when you view the page on which the advertisement appears. If you click on the advertisement to find out more information, that Web server will be able to read the cookie and know where you saw the ad. Now advertising in itself is not a bad thing necessarily, and the cookies in question might just help the advertiser provide you with information of interest to you (while objectionable to some, advertising does support a number of services which are free to us who browse the Web). Left unchecked, however, some clever marketer will probably be able to gather enough information to create a detailed buying profile and possibly bother you with more information and attention than you want.

You control the cookies

Fortunately, Netscape and other browsers give you some control over who can and can't set a cookie on your browser. Netscape includes an option to warn you before accepting any cookie and gives you the opportunity to reject any that you don't wish set. For example, if a cookie is being set for a server that is different than the one you are accessing, you can cancel that cookie and it won't be set. Netscape Communicator version 4, includes a preference feature to do this automatically. You can also tell Netscape to reject all cookies, however, this may prevent you from taking full advantage of some Web-based services. The bottom line: your mother was right. A few cookies are okay as long as they don't spoil your appetite for dinner (or Web browsing).

Some Dessert!

Since this column is about cookies, it is only fitting that it have a dessert. You see in researching this column I began wondering about the origin of the word "cookie," and found in my dictionary that it was probably from the Danish word for small cake. This made me think, because this is the way I think, "I wonder what Hamlet might have said about cookies," since, of course, Hamlet was Prince of Denmark. In the process of researching that question I revisited a site that I hadn't been to in a while and rediscovered a great online resource. The Internet Public Library (www.ipl.org/) is hosted by the School of Information at the University of Michigan. As well as being a good starting point for all kinds of online research, it also includes a collection of online texts, including a whole section devoted to Shakespeare. In just a couple of clicks, I was viewing the complete text of Hamlet, which was quite a convenience, since my complete works was on my bookshelf at home. Check out (so to speak) the many texts available via the Internet Public Library. You can also find where "Hamlet, Cool Web Dude" might have said, "the browser's the thing wherein I'll catch the cookie of the king."

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