December 12, 2005

Not All Cookies Are Bad

Richard Kuper
The Kuper Report

Cookies (the ones that can be placed on your computer system, not the ones you eat), are not always bad things. Unfortunately many of the anti-adware and anti-spyware programs currently on the market seem to have difficulty differentiating acceptable cookies from non-acceptable cookies. An example of an acceptable cookie is one that is created when you are shopping online. In order to properly track where you may have found a particular link (so the source can get credit, which is only fair), a cookie may be put on your computer. The kind of information stored might be what site referred you, and how many days have passed between your original visit to a store from that referral and your actually purchasing something. The reason for this is that sometimes the referring site may be entitled to a small referral fee from the store you shop at. This does not affect the price you pay, but is instead a thank-you to the referring site for helping to spread the word about the store. This cookie expires after a certain number of days (different stores have different numbers of days). These are not bad cookies, but preventing them from being stored is bad for the referring sites (they don't get the credit they deserve) . I'm sure you agree that is very unfair.

Anti-spyware and anti-adware programs need to be more conscientious and not classify these cookies as bad and immediately purge or quarantine them. Help get this problem addressed. Forward this article to the maker of your favorite anti-spyware and anti-adware programs.