Cookie Faq

1. What is a cookie?

A cookie is a small file that computers receive when they access certain websites. These files are text-only strings that are entered into the cookie file or "memory" of the browser on your computer. They typically contain the name of the server that the cookie has come from, the lifetime of the cookie, and a value.

The value of the cookie is usually a randomly generated unique number. The server, which sets the cookie, will use this number to recognize a user who returns to a site or goes to the following page. When websites recognize their users in this way they can provide more customized services.

It is bad practice for any personal data such as name, email address or credit card number to be "saved" or "logged" in a cookie. Cookies can only be read, and therefore used, by the server that issues them.

2. What is a browser?

A browser is the program or software you install on your computer that enables you to navigate from website to website, or from web page to web page, and to read the content that is presented. Common browsers include Internet Explorer 6, Netscape 6 and AOL.

Remember that if you use a different computer in different locations, e.g. at work and at home, you may use a different browser for each. For more information, please see the CNET Glossary definition. on how to set the cookie controls in the browser you are using on your computer.)

3. What does my browser do?

When you type an address of a web page (e.g. www.tacklewarehouse.fishing) into your browser, that web page is not stored on a server ready and waiting to be delivered. Every web page that you request via your browser is created for you in response to your request. Thus what you request with your browser is not a web page, but a list of requests to get content from the various servers on which the content for that page is being stored.

It is rather like a recipe for a cake—you have a list of ingredients (requests for content) that make a cake (web page) when put together in the correct order. As soon as you move onto the next page, the page that you have seen "disappears". This is what creates the dynamic nature of websites.

Different companies may deliver the content required to make up the page. For example, the main content of the website might be provided by the company that owns the website, but that company may contract with third parties to provide complementary or supplementary content such as photo or video content, weather reports, stock and share price tickers etc. For each piece of content, your browser will use the relevant code request on the list of ingredients to call the right server and get relevant content.

Each request for content will involve the sharing of the following information:

1. The IP address, or the "address" of your browser. This will be allocated to your browser by your Internet Service Provider (ISP) or employer when you log on to the Internet using their services. It is usually allocated on a temporary (or dynamic) basis, i.e. it is only allocated to your browser for the duration of that session online.

Without an IP address, a server would not be able to send you the content you have requested because the server would not be able to locate your browser. This means that in any request for online content, there are at least two IP addresses involved, the IP address of the server(s) where the content is stored (which is included in the address of the web page, e.g. http://www.iabuk.net) and the IP address of the browser on the computer to which the content is to be delivered. A request may also involve the IP addresses of any other computers in the transaction chain, such as your ISP's proxy server.

2. The "http" part of the request will also be shared. It may indicate to the server storing the content the type and version of the browser to which the content is to be sent and the type and version of the operating system that is being used. This is important for ensuring that the content you have requested is compatible with and can be "seen" by your browser.

Each request for content from a server is recorded in a log file. The log file generally includes the date and time of the request, the IP address to which the content was sent, the cookie ID, the type and version of the browser to which it was delivered, and an identification code for the content sent.

A site will typically use a session cookie because the servers that the pages are held on can recognise your browser from the pages that you request. This ensures that you can move from one page to another quickly which is particularly important for e-commerce sites where you need to move the goods that you have selected to a shopping cart, and then go to a virtual checkout desk to pay. You can decide whether to allow your browser to accept these types of cookies by changing the settings

4. So how do cookies get onto my browser?

As explained in every time your browser requests the content for the web page that you want to look at, it must exchange some information with the server on which that content is stored. A cookie may be involved as part of that information sharing. This is how it works:

You type http://www.tacklewarehouse.fishing into your browser to make a request for content.

If this is the first time your browser has requested content from this server, the server will send the requested content to your browser) along with a cookie, which will be stored in the cookie folder of your browser.

If you have requested content from this server before, and have accepted a cookie , when your browser requests the content from the server, it will include the cookie ID previously set by that server in the request.

5. Are all cookies the same?

There are two different types of cookies:

Session cookies are temporary cookies or unique IDs that are associated with your browser for the duration of a visit to a site. Once you have left the site, the session cookie ID will disappear. This means that the next time you visit that site, you will appear to be a completely new visitor. There will be nothing about your browser that lets the site know that you have visited before).

Persistent cookies remain on a visitor's browser for longer than the visit to the website itself, although the length of time that the cookie will remain on your browser will depend on how long the cookie user has programmed the cookie to last

6. What are session cookies used for?

Cookies are a standard way of enabling a web server to remember your browser.

A site will typically use a session cookie because the servers that the pages are held on can recognise your browser from each page that you request, thus ensuring that you can move from one page to another quickly. This is particularly important for e-commerce sites where you need to move the goods you have selected to a shopping cart, and then go to a virtual checkout desk to pay. You can decide whether to allow your browser to accept these types of cookies by changing the settings.

We may occasionally use session cookies to improve your user journey by recognising when you have seen certain information pages that you would only need to view once and ensuring that your journey is not interrupted by consequent visits to such pages within a session

7. What are persistent cookies used for?

A persistent cookie enables a website or server to remember you on subsequent visits and can offer ongoing services or functions.

For example, on where to fish we may offer you the ability to store a location. On your first visit, you may choose to set brick farm lakesl as your preferred location and our site may record that preference in a persistent cookie set on your browser. When you revisit the site, it will use the cookie to ensure that the content is set to your preferred location. You can decide whether to allow your browser to accept these types of cookies by changing the settings

8. What information is in my cookie?

It depends on how the website or third party has set up their cookie feature, but generally the value of your cookie will be a randomly generated string of characters. This is because the cookie user does not need to know specifically who you are for most purposes. It is enough just to remember that it has seen your browser before.

Some sites do "write" personal information about you into the cookie that they set on your browser, but they can only do so if you have provided them with that personal information in the first place. If they do include your personal information in your cookie, it should be encrypted so that it cannot be read by anyone who has access to your browser and therefore the cookie folder of your browser.

Some cookie users use a combination of these methods—they will create a cookie with a unique but anonymous value which is set on your browser. On their server side, they will create a file that logs this unique but anonymous value alongside any personal information that you have provided.

For example, a website selling books might set a cookie on a user's browser with the value "1234". On their server, they may have a file that tells them that user "1234" is Simon Jones of 3 Acacia Avenue who has previously bought legal textbooks from their site. This means that next time the site "sees" cookie ID "1234" requesting a page from their site, they can send a welcome message such as "Hello Simon, today we are offering discounts on legal text books. Please click here for more information".

If a website wants to include information about you in a cookie, or wants to link a cookie with personal data about you, they will need to comply with existing data protection legislation. This means that we must inform you about this use of your name or credit card details when you provide them with the information, and we must also provide you with an opportunity to stop that happening.

9. So what can't cookies do?

Cookies are just a string of text, therefore they cannot look into your computer and find out information about you, your family or anyone else.

10. How do I manage cookies from my browser?

There are a number of mechanisms for managing the use of cookies. If you use different computers in different locations, you will need to ensure that the browser on each computer you use has been adjusted to suit your cookie preferences

You can delete any cookies that have been installed in the cookie folder of your browser. For example, if you are using Microsoft Windows:

• open Windows Explorer;

• click on the "Search" button on the tool bar;

• type "cookie" into the search box for "Folders and files";

• select "My computer" in the "Look in" box;

• click "Search now";

• double click on the folders that are found;

• select any cookie file;

• hit the delete key.

The tackle warehouse ltd accepts no responsibility for users deleting cookie files from their machines, and cannot help troubleshoot problems arising from such actions.

All browsers enable you to set your cookie preferences before you begin surfing the Web.

If you are using Netscape Navigator 3.0, go to the "Options" menu, then to "Network preferences" and then to "Protocols". Check the box that says "Show an alert before accepting a cookie". Then go into your Netscape folder (usually c:\program files\netspace\navigator) and delete the file called "cookies.txt." Under Windows 95, you could also use the "Find" option on the start menu to find the file called "cookies.txt".

In Internet Explorer 3.0, go to the "View" menu, then to "Options", then to "Advanced". Check the box that says "Warn before accepting cookies". Then go into your cookies directory (usually c:\windows\cookies) and delete all the files you have there. Once you delete these files, you will have no more cookies, and you will be prompted every time a website attempts to send a cookie to your system. At that time, you can choose to either accept or cancel the cookie.

If you are using Netscape 4.0+, go to "Edit" in the menu bar, click on "Preferences", click on "Advanced", and tick the box that says "Warn me before accepting a cookie". Now go to your "Start" button, click on "Find", click on "Files and folders", type "cookies.txt" into the search box that appears, and click "Find now". When the search results appear, drag all files listed into the "recycle bin". Now shut down and restart Netscape.

In Internet Explorer 4.0, go to the "View" menu, then to "Internet options", then to "Advanced". Tick the box that says "Prompt before accepting cookies". Then go into your cookies directory (usually c:\windows\cookies) and delete all the files you have there. Once you delete these files, you will have no more cookies, and you will be prompted every time a website attempts to send a cookie to your system. At that time, you can choose to either accept or cancel the cookie.

In Internet Explorer 5.0+, go to the "Tools" menu, then to "Internet options", then to the "Security" tab. Highlight the "Internet" zone (selected by default). Select security level "high" for this zone. Click on "OK". Then go into your cookies directory (usually c:\windows\cookies) and delete all the files you have there. Once you delete these files, you will have no more cookies and your browser will no longer send or receive new cookies.

If you are using Netscape 6.0+, go to "Edit" in the menu bar, click on "Preferences", click on "Advanced", and select the "Cookies" field. Now tick either the box that says "Warn me before accepting a cookie" or "Disable cookies". Click on "OK". Now go to your "Start" button, click on "Find", click on "Files and folders", type "cookies.txt" into the search box that appears, and click "Find now". When the search results appear, drag all files listed into the "recycle bin". Now shut down and restart Netscape. Depending on your earlier choice you will either be prompted by new cookie sets or no cookies will be set or received.

11. What are web beacons and clear gifs?

Whenever you request a web page, your browser will request the content from the various addresses or servers it is being stored on. A web beacon (or web bug) may be one of the "ingredients" that is included in the components that make up the page that you have requested. Rather than requesting some text, an image or an advertisement—content that you can see—it may simply request a 1x1 pixel tag (a.k.a. a clear GIF, which stands for Graphic Interchange Format).

This 1x1 pixel tag is invisible to you. It works in the same way as any other request for content, i.e. a cookie ID may be sent with the request or, if this is the first time that your browser has requested content from the server, a cookie may be returned with the 1x1 pixel They are invisible because they are transparent images that are used to record specific activity on a website or web page rather than deliver content. If a visible image were to be sent to your browser, it would clutter up the page that you have requested with irrelevant content.

Web beacons and clear GIFs are used by websites to log certain activity on their web pages and websites. Their purpose will depend on what it is that the site wants to understand about how its visitors interact with their pages. For example, on tacklewarehouse.fishing we may use a web beacon to allow us to count individual pages of the site that have been accessed and produce reports to help us understand which content is popular with users.

Because a web beacon is really a request for the content included in the make-up of the web page that you have requested, it is not possible to opt out of or refuse their use. However, where they are used in conjunction with cookie IDs, they may be rendered ineffective by either opting out of the use of the cookie or by changing the cookie settings in your browser

12. What is P3P, and how does it affect privacy?

P3P (Platform for Privacy Preferences) is a method being developed by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) that will enable you to control, at a machine level, how websites use personal information about you. In simple terms, website owners will be able to translate their site's privacy policy into a machine-readable language that can be read by the latest versions of browsers

You will be able to set your privacy preferences in your browser before you begin to surf the Internet As you request content via your browser, the server that the content is stored on will send the content to your browser together with a privacy policy that your browser can read. Before your browser shows you the page, it will match the privacy promises in the privacy policy with the preferences that you have set in your browser. If there is not a match, you will be alerted so that you can decide whether to proceed or not

13. How does P3P help me with cookies?

The latest versions of browser technology, Internet Explorer 6 and Netscape 6, are P3P-capable. This means that they are capable of reading privacy policies at a machine level. However, they have only been developed so far with the capability of allowing you to manage your preferences in relation to cookies. This means that before you start surfing, you can decide how you want to manage both first party and third party cookies

Internet Explorer 6

• Click "File" on the toolbar of the browser;

• Click "Internet options" on the "Tools" menu;

• Click the "Privacy" tab;

• Move the sliding bar up or down to set how high or low you want your privacy preferences in relation to the use of first and third party cookies;

• Click "OK".

Having set your privacy preferences, you can check the privacy practices of any site or page that you are visiting:

• Click "File" on the toolbar of the browser;

• Click "View";

• Click "Privacy report".

This will show you a box indicating all the cookies and GIFs that are being delivered with that content. You'll see which ones have been blocked because their privacy practices do not match the privacy settings in your browser, and which ones have been accepted because their privacy practices do match your privacy preferences. If you click on "Edit", you will be able to set site-specific privacy preferences.

Netscape 6.2

• Click "Edit" on the toolbar of the browser;

• Click "Preferences";

• Click "Privacy and security";

• Click "Cookies";

• Select your preferences;

• Click "OK".

Having set your privacy preferences, you can make site by site privacy decisions:

• Click "Tasks" on the toolbar of the browser;

• Click "Privacy and security";

• Click "Cookie manager";

• Select your preferences for the use of cookies on the specific website that you are visiting.

Any time that you wish to delete any stored cookies:

• Click "Tasks" on the toolbar of the browser;

• Click "Privacy and security";

• Click "Cookie manager";

• Click "View stored cookies";

• Select an individual cookie and either click "Remove cookie", or to delete all stored cookies, click on "Remove all cookies".

14. What else can I do to protect myself when online?

• Before entering any personal data such as an email address or credit card details, check the privacy policy of the site you are visiting. If there is no privacy policy, go elsewhere.

• Do not provide more personal data than you are comfortable with. If you feel the questions are too intrusive, go elsewhere.

• Think before putting your personal details on a public site such as a bulletin board or chat room. Set up a different email address for such uses.