Cookies: Privacy Risks, Attacks, and Recommendations

2020; RELX Group (Netherlands); Linguagem: Inglês

10.2139/ssrn.3761967

ISSN

1556-5068

Autores

Paul Georg Wagner,

Tópico(s)

Privacy, Security, and Data Protection

Resumo

Consumers access the Internet through web browsers like Chrome, Safari, or Firefox. These browsers leverage Hyper Text Transfer Protocol (HTTP) or Hyper Text Transfer Protocol Secure (HTTPS) to communicate with web servers and provide desired content. HTTP is a stateless, sessionless protocol, meaning it does not remember one browser request from another. To overcome this deficiency, browsers use a concept called cookies which are akin to the "assistant" described in the previous scenario. While many Internet users are unaware how cookies function and the potential harm cookies may cause, for others, cookies are the source of multiple privacy concerns. This paper will define cookies, describe cookie types, describe privacy risks associated with cookies, describe laws and compliance requirements associated with cookies, and finally, discuss several mechanisms consumers can implement to protect their privacy.

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