Cookie 5 7 9 – Protect Your Online Privacy Screen

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  • An encrypted message may protect your privacy — because (hopefully) no one else can read it besides you and your recipient — but encryption does not protect the metadata, and thus your anonymity.
  • Feb 17, 2019 In recent years, the usage and complexity of browser cookies has increased significantly. This largely went unnoticed by most users. To be sure, minimize this invasive monitoring by reading on. In this post we’ll summarize how Cookies gather information about you. Learn how to manage web cookies to protect your online privacy.

Last modified: February 17, 2019

Most internet users have heard of the concept of “cookies” that store information about websites they’ve visited. On the other hand, many people don’t realize the scope of information that these cookies capture and how they can be used to monitor your behavior. In recent years, the usage and complexity of browser cookies has increased significantly. This largely went unnoticed by most users. To be sure, minimize this invasive monitoring by reading on. In this post we’ll summarize how Cookies gather information about you. Learn how to manage web cookies to protect your online privacy.

Cookies normally do not compromise security, but there is a growing trend of malicious cookies. These types of cookies can be used to store and track your activity online. Cookies that watch your online activity are called malicious or tracking cookies. These are the bad cookies to watch for, because they track you and your surfing habits, over. Cookies record your personally identifiable information so they can help auto-fill forms on browsers. This information may include your name, address, account login credentials, and more. If you prefer to protect your privacy when it comes to cookies, you may want to delete them.

What is the Purpose of Browser Cookies?

Cookies are a tool website owners use to track your behavior on their site. They store this information about you for future visits. Information contained in these cookies could e.g. include:

  • your IP address,
  • browser version information,
  • user ID assigned by the site owner,
  • the dates you visited the site,
  • what pages you viewed or
  • which actions you took on the site.

They combine this information into an unique profile assigned to you. Cookies usually don’t contain any personal information about you, e.g. your name or phone number. Instead, marketers use these hardware details and build a “profile” on you they can study and analyze.

One of the most common examples of cookie monitoring is “retargeting” advertising. In short, a business will continue advertising to you long after you’ve left their website. Ever notice how you’ve visited a site and then something from that website (or closely related to it) starts showing up in your Facebook ads? Facebook partners with a massive number of web service providers. They allow them to continue advertising to you on social media after you visit their website. This is just one example – most social media platforms and large websites employ this method of advertising.

How to Manage Web Cookies

This invasive tracking should be concerning to privacy-minded users. The most effective way to prevent cookie usage on your PC is to simply turn them off. But note that this may break some functionality of certain websites.

An acceptable compromise may be to enable cookie deletion upon closing the browsing session – most modern browsers have this ability. You can take this a step further and use the various private-browsing modes available on your browser.

Learn hear how to use:

  • Incognito mode in Chrome
  • Private mode in Firefox

In short, prevent cookies by using these modes. These modes delete the activities you perform during these session. They also delete any temporary files created during the session.

Each OS stores them in a different location. Research where the directory is located on your PC and review the files before deleting or keeping them.

How Do I Manage Cookies?

You can usually delete cookies from the Privacy or History area, available from the Settings or Options menu in the browser. In most browsers, the same menu can be reached through:

  • Ctrl+Shift+Del keyboard shortcut for Windows or
  • Command+Shift+Del if you’re on a Mac.

To emphasize, the steps involved in deleting cookies can differ depending on what web browser we’re talking about.

Implement a VPN System for an Added Layer of Protection

There are steps you can take on your local PC to minimize the impact of web cookies. In addition, use hide.me VPN to mask your computer’s details. In doing that, you will supply a false IP address to the marketers that use cookies. One of the most concerning data points contained in a web cookie is the IP address of the user it belongs to. An IP address contains sensitive geographic information. They use this to pinpoint your exact location. By using cookies web site owners can even pull up your personal information via your internet service provider.

Use hide.me VPN and your true IP address will stay masked from the website you’re communicating with. The website sees only the VPN server’s IP. That is because all traffic goes through hide.me VPN servers. That way your IP stays hidden. This creates an effective diversion that prevents your geographic location being revealed to the website owner. Paired with the practices mentioned in the second section of this post, a VPN will create an airtight seal against the invasive monitoring by cookie owners.

Summary

In conclusion, most users don’t realize the extent to which they are being tracked and monitored by web cookies. Addressing cookies is an effective way to limit the information you provide. But, there are many other methods to be vary of. These are outside the scope of this post. At last, utilize the recommendations in this post. Prevent cookies on your PC. In addition, use hide.me VPN to enjoy the peace of mind of your activity remaining private.

If you have any other concerns that need addressing, contact our Support team directly.

edaa for Internet Users

Welcome to a guide to online behavioural advertising and online privacy.

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On this website you'll find information about how behavioural advertising works, further information about cookies and the steps you can take to protect your privacy on the internet.

This website is written and funded by the internet advertising industry and supports a pan-European industry initiative to enhance transparency and control for online behavioural advertising. See here for further details.

edaa for Companies

The Programme is a self-regulatory initiative aimed to foster transparency in the online advertising environment for all, through delivering consumer-facing information and control solutions with regard to how data is used for interest based advertising. These solutions are self-regulatory in nature and correspond to industry best practice. They do not provide for or infer legal compliance (including with GDPR) which businesses themselves are responsible for, and should not be seen as such, though many companies may choose to adopt these self-regulatory tools as part of a broader ecology of statutory and self-regulatory solutions. The cross-industry self-regulatory initiative was developed by leading European bodies to introduce pan-European standards to enhance transparency and user control over data used for interest based advertising. This type of advertising increasingly helps to support the cost of providing content free at the point of access to consumers, and a range of services and applications that internet users can enjoy at little or no cost. The self-regulatory initiative is based upon a set of European Industry Self-Regulatory Principles for Data Driven Advertising and EASA’s BPR on OBA.