You open a site to read the news, do a search for a gift, check a flight for a holiday. Nothing strange, it's everyday life on the internet.
Yet, without realising it, your every action leaves an invisible trail: little digital crumbs called biscuits (web biscuits). No, they are not cookies, but bits of data that tell a lot about you. Perhaps too much.
In these lines, Green Web Solutions explains in a simple way what they are, why limiting them might be a good idea and how to do it, even if you are not a technology expert.
Biscuits (web biscuits): what they are, why limit them and how to defend yourself
I cookies (web biscuits) are small files that websites save on your computer or smartphone while you browse. They serve, in theory, to make your life easier: they remember your login, store your shopping cart, save the language you have chosen. Nothing wrong with that, so far.
The problem arises when these tools are used not to serve you, but to observe you. Many cookies are not created by the site you are visiting, but by external companies - advertising, marketing, analytics - that follow your online movements to build a detailed profile of you: what you search for, what you buy, what you read, what you like. It is an invisible but capillary system, which over the years has become the heart of digital business.
Here are some examples of personal information that cookies and other tracking tools can collect:
- your IP address (the number that identifies you as an Internet user),
- geolocation (to pinpoint your approximate location),
- the browser type, operating system and other details of your device,
- the site of origin, the keywords searched and the browsing history (sites and pages visited, dwell times, times),
- actions performed such as clicks, taps and swipes (clickstream),
- audio and video content viewed or advertisements viewed or clicked on,
- purchasing behaviour (products seen, added to cart or bought),
- personal preferences (such as language or categories of interest),
- access credentials and unique tracking IDs and personal data provided voluntarily (e.g. name, email or telephone number).
Limiting the use of cookies is not only a matter of principle, but also of common sense.
Firstly, because web biscuits track you everywhere. As soon as you open a site, you are often already under observation by dozens and dozens of 'digital eyes' monitoring your every move.
The data collected helps build a detailed profile of you: behaviour patterns, surfing style, assumed age and gender, interests, habits, tastes, even possible political or religious leanings. This profile is tracked and recognised in all your online activities through techniques such as fingerprinting, which allow us to identify you even without cookies and predict your future actions.
As well as being sold to third-party companies, this data is used to show you tailored advertising or to influence the search results and news you see. The risk, besides handing over this personal data to companies, governments and institutions, is to end up in a 'bubble' where you are only offered content that confirms your ideas, isolating you from the rest of the world.
That's not all. In some sectors, such as travel, web biscuits are used to alter prices according to your searches: if you check a flight too many times, the price may go up on purpose. In addition, cookies can slow down browsing, weighing down the browser, and in some cases can even be stolen by malicious attackers.
Last but not least, we have to be realistic: we are facing a global monopoly at the corporate level. The biggest technology companies like Alphabet (Google), Meta (FB, IG and Whatsapp), Amazon, Microsoft, Apple, etc belong to a handful of institutional investor groups (e.g. BlackRock, Vanguard, StateStreet, etc) (info easily verifiable because the data is public). These companies then aggregate data on a global and general level and this aggregate 'big data' then allows general profiling of the masses and also 'feeding' AI.
Finally, there is the issue of opacity: cookie consent requests are often ambiguous, with clearly visible 'accept all' buttons and options to reject them hidden under various menu levels. A real trap for our privacy.
After taking stock of the situation, they follow 7 simple strategies to defend yourself against web biscuitsbecause there is no need to become a computer expert or live with paranoia. Just adopt some good habits to limit the damage and regain some control over your privacy.
1. Surf in private or incognito mode
Almost all browsers offer this function. It is not total protection, but it prevents the creation of permanent cookies and automatically deletes the history when the window is closed.
2. Block third-party cookies
In your browser settings you can disable the most invasive cookies - those created by companies other than the site you are visiting. This is a good compromise between functionality and privacy.
3. Install an adblocker
Browser extensions such as uBlock Origin or Privacy Badger block many advertisements and prevent tracking by third parties. They are free, lightweight and easy to use.
4. Periodically compartmentalise or delete cookies.
A clean every now and then is good for you. You can do this from your browser settings. This way you eliminate data accumulated over time and reduce tracking.
You can also use different browsers to isolate your online activities: for instance, you could dedicate one browser exclusively to the use of Google services, and use another for the rest of your surfing. Following the same principle, you can install 4 or 5 separate browsers, each reserved for a specific type of activity, search or access to certain accounts, thus reducing cross-tracking.
5. Use search engines that do not profile you.
Alternatives such as DuckDuckGo or Startpage allow you to search online without having each of your words stored for advertising purposes.
6. Choose privacy-conscious browsers.
You have to choose a browser that really respects what you set in points 1 and 2. There are browsers that are designed more carefully to respect your personal data and block many tracking cookies automatically. We recommend Firefox or Waterfox (an open source project created by the Mozilla foundation), BUT with the appropriate changes in the browser's hidden 'about:config' options menu, in order to gain real privacy (otherwise part of the data ends up at Google and Mozilla anyway). There are also other good projects such as Bromite, Epic or Librewolf. We didn't mention 'good' on purpose, watch out for lures... 😉
7. Refuse web biscuits when you can.
If a site asks you for permission to use cookies, take a few seconds to look for the 'Reject all' or 'Customise choices' option. It is often not immediately visible, but worth looking for.
For the more determined - or for those with special needs - there are more advanced tools. Browsers such as Tor, the use of a VPN, or specific configurations that block all types of tracking. But beware: these solutions are not suitable for everyone and may slow down surfing or complicate the enjoyment of certain content.
Web biscuits are not an absolute evil: they can be convenient, sometimes even indispensable. But in an age where every click is recorded, profiled and monetised (and instrumented for the purposes mentioned), being aware of how they work and learning how to limit them is an important step in defending one's privacy.
No grand gestures are needed. All it takes is little tricks to remain the master - at least a little - of one's digital identity. Because, after all, when something on the Internet is free, we often pay the real price with our data... and it is not hard to see how this could lead to dystopian drifts from 1984.
