Cookie

PinkGal_2

I couldn't find appropriate section to post this so I am hoping that this post belong to the techie section as it is a question about a cookie.

I was cleaning up my cookies and have noticed a cookie "[EMAIL="user@reporting.tvlicensing.co.uk"]user@reporting.tvlicensing.co.uk[/EMAIL]" sometime ago so I deleted it. I have not visited tvlicensing website but I've seen their banner so I thought it was for that. Since deleting that cookie, I found another one lodged in my temp folder again. But this time I have not seen their banner.

This is what I found on another site:

I am suspicious about a cookie from reporting.tvlicensing.co.uk. Is my TV card squealing on me?
No. TV Licensing says it uses cookies "to gauge use of our website and measure response to our publicity and site usage". You'll get its persistent cookie (needed to fill in forms, etc) by going to the site, and probably a tracking cookie from any web page that displays one of its banner advertisements.

So I was thinking, "where did mine come from?"

I do not have a tv so I don't pay the license fee. Although my graphic card has a tv output (please let me know if you know a decent graphic card without tv output), I don't watch live/streaming tv and only watch on demands programmes using bbc iplayer (this is allowed without having a license by the way).

Does anyone know anything about this cookie? I would like to be on the right side of the law.

PG

fwor

No - you don't need to worry. A cookie can be set by a site that you visit that may have no visible link to tvlicensing.co.uk.

The cookie can only record information about that site and how you use it, not what hardware you have installed on your PC.

If you want you can configure your browser to refuse to accept cookies from any site unless you explicitly permit them. I've found that Firefox implements this very well - allowing exceptions for sites that you trust. And it also has plugins such as Noscript and Adblock that can improve your computer security as well.

esuhl

To add to what fwor said, a cookie is just a small text file. You can think of it like a "customer number". If you go to the TV Licensing website, they will see your "customer number" and realise that you are the same person who saw a TV Licensing advert on a particular website. They can keep track of the pages you look at on the TV Licensing website (and other sites hosting their banner ads and other content) and build up a vague profile of you, including the web browser you use, your operating system, whether JavaScript is enabled, etc. A cookie wouldn't (by itself) reveal your identity - you'd have to type your personal details in to the TV Licensing website for that to happen.

Some websites (like MoneySavingExpert.com) store a cookie on your PC with your user ID and password (in an encrypted form), which is how this site logs you in automatically on subsequent visits (assuming that you ticked the "remember me" box and haven't deleted the cookie).

If you want to block tracking cookies from a number of sites, you could install the Adblock Plus add-on for Firefox and use the "ABP Tracking Filter".

If you're interested, there's more info about cookies at the sites below:

http://computer.howstuffworks.com/cookie.htm
http://www.cookiecentral.com/faq/
http://webdesign.about.com/cs/cookies/a/aa082498a.htm

isofa

In Firefox go to Tools > Options > Privacy tab > click Exceptions and add tvlicensing.co.uk to stop any being stored (if you are setting the normal checkbox to "accept all cookies, except" else the reverse.

PinkGal_2

Thank you all for excellent answers!
I was thinking somehow my ip has been logged and that's identifiable if they really want to. Not that I am doing anything bad but don't like people secretly collecting info.

PG

espresso

Don't worry about it.




:eek: