Time to turn off cookies? Making sense of Google’s Chrome changes

livemint.com:

Google was going to dump its cookie jar into the garbage. For now, it’s back on the shelf. The company reversed course on Monday and said it isn’t getting rid of the software cookies that track you across the web.

Instead, it says it will make it easier for you to turn them off. So now what? Do you block them yourself? Internet cookies have long been a standard part of web browsers and a major way advertisers track potential customers who view their products online. They’re the reason you see an ad for spatulas on some random website after you search for them on Amazon.

So, yeah, if you like spatulas following you around the internet and companies keeping tabs on you, keep cookie-ing on. If you don’t, turn them off. Privacy is a big reason other browsers have moved away from third-party cookies.

Confused? Hungry? Here’s where things stand now. There are two different types of internet cookies. First-party cookies are the best kind.

Like your grandma’s special chocolate-chip cookies, they were made at home—that is, by the website you’re using. They remember your login details and other preferences so you don’t have to punch in your username and password every time you come back to that website. Third-party cookies are the ones used for tracking you across different websites, typically for advertising—of spatulas and pretty much everything else.

This is why marketing companies pushed back on Google’s plans to get rid of them. Google had said it was going to ban third-party cookies from working in its Chrome browser, to better protect users’ privacy. Now, it’s saying cookies are here to stay, but it’s going to be easier for you to block them.