I've been browsing several sites that in their headers show messages like:
This site uses cookies to improve your browsing. By browsing the site you will consent to its use.
It's okay that cookies are stored on the user's machine, but do you really need these warnings? Is there another reason behind it? I found almost nothing on the internet.
As stated in the comments, this is a law that involves the European Union. It is not necessary in other locations, but in all EU countries, or for European Union users who access your site, it is important and necessary that you show the warning of the use of cookies.
For this site to work properly, we sometimes put small data files called cookies on your device. Most major sites do this as well.
The Cookies Policy has been made to increase users' knowledge about how their information is being stored, managed and used through the use of cookies. In many cases it is also necessary to obtain the consent of the user, either through a button or checkbox .
You can read more about this subject here and here also in this related Google article. You can see as an example the cookie policy page for Facebook and Google .
Some interesting snippets, translated:
What are cookies?
A cookie is a small text file that a site stores on your computer or mobile device when you visit the site. It allows the site to remember your actions and preferences (such as login, language, font size, and other display preferences) over a period of time, so you do not need to continue to enter them whenever you return to the site or navigate from a page to another.
How do we use cookies? Some of our pages use cookies to remember:
- Your display preferences, such as contrast color settings or font size
- If you've already replied to a search popup that asks you if the content was useful or not (you will not be prompted again)
- Whether or not you have agreed to our use of cookies on this site
- In addition, some videos embedded in our pages use a cookie to anonymously gather statistics about how you arrived and which videos you have visited.
Cookies are also stored by Europa Analytics, the corporate service that measures the effectiveness and efficiency of the European Commission websites in EUROPA.
Do we use other cookies?
- Some of our pages or subsites may use additional or different cookies than those described above. If so, the details of these will be provided on your specific cookie warning page. You may be prompted by your agreement to store these cookies.
To find out why this type of warning, you need to understand what cookies are able to do.
Cookies are a feature of web browsers that store little information on your computer so sites can "remember" some information such as logins, preferences, and more.
However, advertising agencies and companies use to track Internet users to know their preferences, often commercial, which has led many anti-spyware programs to eliminate these types of cookies.
From time to time you can delete cookies, normal, the site will replace new ones, if you allow, every time you enter it, without stress, do periodical cleanups even.
However there is a mechanism called "evercookie" in which it allows a website to store some information on the computer, allowing the user to be always tracked.
Six steps are required to remove an evercookie from Firefox. There are four in Chrome. For Safari, on the Mac, a specific code was created. BleachBit cleaning software is able to erase Internet Explorer evercookies. On some devices, with the iPhone, erasing the evercookie is a real war. Of the private browsing modes, only Safari completely prevents evercookie.
