Tracking Cookies

[Potatoman]

Today, Adaware found a tracking cookie. Obviously i have deleted it, but are they anything to particularly worry about? What are they? Thanks PM.

[lady_p_gold]

Well they can grow and multiply if you don't regularly run Adaware and also Spybot is good, I wouldn't worry too much everyone I know gets them all the time.

[rojash]

Tracking cookies are largely harmless, and are just a way for a site to keep track of returning visitors or visitors referred from other sites.

[jake-the-peg]

How harmless they are depends on your perspective.

If you don't mind keeping a history of every site you visit and when and what you do there and handing that history over to a marketing weasel then they're fine because that's what tracking cookies do.

However this sort of data collection and the directed marketing that comes from it largely funds the Internet.

See here for an overview

http://www.slate.com/id/2129656/