About Cookies

What information is in a cookie?

This depends on how a website has set up its cookie feature, but generally the content of a cookie is a randomly generated set of characters. For most purposes a website sending a cookie does not need to know who you are - it just needs to remember that it has seen your browser before (for more information, please go to the manage cookies section.).

Some websites do write personal information about you into a cookie, but this is only possible if you have provided them with the information in the first place. If personal information is stored in a cookie it is usually encrypted - coded - so that any third party who has access to the cookie folder of your browser cannot read it.

Some website servers use a combination of methods: on your browser they may create a cookie with unique but anonymous content; or on the server side they may create a file that logs that unique but anonymous content alongside any personal information that you have provided.

View a demonstration of how personal data linked to a cookie can provide you with personalised content on a web page.