Defending Firefox from Interest-based Ad Cookies

[ Thanks to James Maguire for this link. ]

"Let's start by defining both cookies and how they are used to track your online behavior.

"Cookies are small, plain-text files that reside on your computer and are managed by a web browser. If you have multiple web browsers installed on a single computer, each one maintains its own independent cache of cookies.

"As web pages are downloaded to a computer, cookies typically come along for the ride. Likewise, as you make requests for new web pages, your web browser may upload a cookie as part of the web page request.

"Cookies that come from the web page you are viewing (the one whose address is displayed by your web browser) are referred to as “first party” cookies. Those that come from other sources, be they ads on the web page or small independent pages (IFRAMES) included in what appears to you to be a single page, are "third party" cookies."

Complete Story

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