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Does refusing cookies really protect your data?
Thanks for asking. Let's face it, we're so accustomed to seeing those little pop -up windows when we land on a website that we barely pay attention to them anymore.
Cookies have become ubiquitous and whether it's out of convenience or sheer habit, we tend to accept them without much thought.
But those innocuous seeming cookies actually harbour a wealth of information about us.
What exactly are they for then?
The UK's Information Commissioner's Office defines a cookie as a small file of letters and numbers that is downloaded onto your computer when you visit a website.
It also says that cookies are used by many websites and can do a number of things, e .g. remembering your preferences, recording what you have put in your shopping basket and counting the number of people looking at a website.
In concrete terms, website owners use these tiny files to track how users engage with their platform.
Cookies gather details like logging credentials, browsing preferences and even potential purchase interests to build a user profile.
This data not only allows websites to tailor the user experience, but also to monitor user activity.
It's worth noting that there are various different types of cookies.
First of all, you've got session cookies, which expire once the browsing session ends, and then you've got persistent cookies, which instead linger on a user's device for an extended period, retaining their data.
Persistent cookies can be used to remember users' preferences or actions across one or more sites?
So what happens if we choose to refuse cookies?
Since 2018, when GDPR rules came into effect, websites have been obligated to inform users of their right to accept or decline cookies.
Users can also select which specific types of cookies they're willing to accept, hence those big and often scrollable pop -ups.
While you can still access most websites after declining cookies, your browsing experience may suffer a bit due to seeing less personalised content.
However, certain websites and in particular those which are heavily reliant on advertising revenue may restrict access to their content, putting it behind a paywall for those who decline cookies.
If I refuse cookies, does that mean the website won't have any information about me?
You would think so, wouldn't you?
But actually that's not necessarily the case.
In December 2023, BBC Science Focus reported on research which found that declining cookies also yields information about users.
That's because typically younger individuals are more inclined to accept cookies, while a specific demographic tends to reject them.
According to the research, Americans over the age of 34 are more likely to decline cookies, possibly because older people tend to be less trusting of tech companies.
Elizabeth Daly is an IBM research scientist and was one of the authors behind that study.
She's quoted by Science Focus as saying, ''The advertisers might have five pieces of information from one person who's accepted the cookies and only two pieces of information from the person who's declined it, the website they're on currently, and the fact that they've declined it, but there's more information encoded in that decision.'' So, in essence, when you refuse cookies, the website may infer certain demographic characteristics about you, prompting it to adjust its content based on those characteristics.
There you have it. Now you know whether refusing cookies really protects your data.
In under three minutes, we answer your questions and help you understand the true meaning behind the trends, concepts and acronyms that are making headlines.
Listen along and you will really know for sure!
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