Everything you need to know about Cookies but were afraid to ask!

Cookies: The Law

The Law began in the EU following concerns that some information may be collected by websites that website users would prefer not to share. The issue of informed consent arises from this. So it is now required that website owners provide information about cookies and about how to switch them off, so that users are able to give or withhold consent in relation to their use.

The UK Govt Information Commissioners Office (ICO) has advised website owners that they may assume that their website users have given 'implied consent' in relation to the use of cookies so long as they (the website owners) are 'satisfied that users understand that their actions will result in cookies being set'. Without this understanding the website owner does not have the informed consent of the users. More explicit consent may be required when particularly sensitive personal information is collected.

So what is a cookie?

A cookie is a piece of information stored as a small text file on your computer's hard drive. When you visit a website one or more cookies may be created and stored on your computer. The information contained in the cookie can be referred to by the website whenever you make a return visit. Ever wondered how an online shop manages to remember that you'd placed something in your shopping basket but hadn't actually gone through the checkout? The information about the products you'd selected was stored in a cookie on your computer. The cookie was then read by the website on your return visit.

Two types of cookie may be used; a 'session cookie' remembers bits of information but expires at the end of your visit to a website and a 'persistent cookie' may be be used to remember bits of information between separate visits to the website.

There are also 'First Party Cookies' - cookies set by the website itself, and 'Third Party Cookies' - cookies set by the providers of content that appears on the website you are visiting (content providers such as YouTube use cookies to manage the way a video runs on a website).

Cookies have been around for a long time and are now a quite essential part of the way the Web works.

Are cookies important?

Some cookies are more important than others. In some cases they are used to simplify and ease your way through a website by remembering bits of information (like the shopping cart contents mentioned above). Cookies may also be used to provide anonymous visitor information so the website owner can see how many people are using the website. In some cases, the content delievered via the website may be dependent on using cookies in some way - which means that such contain will not appear unless cookies are used.

Should I be worried about cookies?

The short answer is 'No'. Cookies are not computer programs, they don't actually do anything except store little bits of data. They have nothing to do with computer viruses. They're about as inert as text printed on a piece of paper.

How to stop a website using cookies

It is possible to block some or all cookies, and you can delete cookies that have already been set; but you need to bear in mind that by doing this some of the functionality of the website you are visiting may be lost

You can modify your web browser so that it notifies you when cookies are sent to it or you can completely refuse cookies. You can also delete cookies that have already been stored on your hard drive.

To manage cookies on your computer or Internet device such as a phone or pad then you can do this through your browser settings; the Help function within your browser should tell you how. Alternatively, you may wish to visit www.aboutcookies.org, which contains comprehensive information on how to do this on a wide variety of desktop browsers.

About the cookies we use

Session cookies - we use various cookies of this type to help keep track of shopping baskets, in-site navigation and suchlike. Disabling these is likely to impair your experience of the website.

Google Analytics - we store information about visits to the website to help us monitor and develop the site. No personal information is stored and the information collected does not enable anyone to contact you.

Email Newsletters - where we invite subscription to a newsletter, cookies are used to help us track interaction with the emails we send - the cookie tells us who has received and opened the email and, if the email contains clickthroughs to web pages, which pages have been visited.

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News

Fon for All & Well 3 Million &

Would-be world WiFi network, Fon, has amassed more than three million hotspots, the organization claimed today. In fact the total of Fon hotspots now stands at 3.35 million – an increase of over 200% year-on-year, Fon officials said. In contrast, its main competitor Boingo, a WiFi hotspot aggregator, has some 211,000 hotspots around the world. Fon attributes its growth to the surge in use of WiFi devices, and the appeal of its “free WiFi” proposition. 

Backed by such industry heavyweights as Google and Skype, Fon says its growth is accelerating. This is in no small part down to the distribution partnerships it has struck with telecoms around the world.  Financially it appears to be doing well too – it ended the year with revenues of €28 million, up from €5 million the year before. The company effectively allows users to hook up to Fon hotspots anywhere in the world, free of charge, so long as they in turn share a bit of Fon WiFi at their homes. The Spanish company produces 802.11n ‘Fonera’ WiFi routers that, when connected to ADSL/broadband networks, make it possible to safely broadcast two dedicated WiFi signals, one of them encrypted and private and the other available to Foneros.

According to Fon founder Martin Varsavsky “Fon is about six times larger than the Boingo, iPass and T-Mobile WiFi networks all combined. As many more people purchase tablets and smart-phones in the coming year and as operators choose Fon WiFi to offload the fifty-fold increase in data traffic these users are expected to generate by 2015, we expect our community to continue to grow.”

Fon’s big-hitting telco partners include BT, MTS (Comstar-UTS) Russia, SFR France, SoftBank Japan and ZON Portugal. BT is also an investor, along with Skype, Google and Sequoia Capital.