One day Mickey was watching TV at his home when he heard Minnie calling him out
Minnie – Hey Mickey
Mickey – Hi Minnie, how are you
Minnie – I need to talk to you
Mickey – Okay come inside
(Minnie came rushing through the door)
Mickey – Hi Minnie. Take a breath, What happened?
Minnie – I have a class today afternoon, where I need to explain about COOKIES
Mickey – Okay, so what’s the problem
Minnie – You know I went for a short trip this weekend and almost forgot to prepare
Mickey – Okay, do not worry
Minnie – No Mickey, you do not understand, I have a class today and I do not know anything
Mickey – Do not worry, You will know all about cookies in the next 5 min
Minnie – Wow
Mickey – Let me tell you a story
Minnie – Oh Yes
Mickey – Do you remember when you were a little kid, you liked to watch Funny Animal Videos on your computer
Minnie – Oh Yes, they were funny
Mickey – And you had a favorite website, whenever you went to that site on your computer you could see all your videos right away
Minnie – Yeah!
Mickey – Ok so do you also remember, once you went away to your granny’s house on vacation and there you tried to access your Funny Animal Videos website on your Granny’s computer? Do you know what happened?
Minnie – Yeah, it did not show me my favorite videos, I had to again search for them
Mickey – Exactly! When you visit any website on a computer, the browser stores some data or information to remember your choices
Minnie – Okay
Mickey – This data or information is called Cookies. A cookie is like a special note that the website writes down and saves on your computer
Minnie – Okay and that’s why my choices were saved on my computer but not on my Granny’s computer
Mickey – Yes, Cookies are like little notes that you leave for yourself around the house
Just like you might leave a note on the fridge reminding yourself to buy milk or a note on the calendar reminding yourself of an important appointment, a cookie is a little piece of information that a website leaves on your computer to remind you of something or use it for showing data based on your earlier choices
Minnie – Wow, I am getting it now, Tell me some real-world example
Mickey – For example, if you visit an online store and add items to your shopping cart, the website might leave a cookie on your computer to remember the items in your cart
That way, when you come back to the website later, your shopping cart will still be there, just like how you might find a note on the fridge reminding you to buy milk
Minnie – Wow, it happened to me many times while online shopping
Mickey – Now, Cookies are also like little notes that you leave for other people
Just like you might leave a note on your desk for a coworker, a website can leave a cookie on your computer that can be read by other websites
This can be useful for tracking and analytics purposes, just like how you might leave a note on your desk for a coworker to follow up on a task
Minnie – Wait a minute, is this how I get ads showing me products based on my earlier search from different websites
Mickey – Yes, Exactly. Cookies are used to store information about the user, such as their preferences, browsing history, login credentials, etc
Minnie – Ok so that is why on some websites I see a message that:
“This website uses Cookies”
and I have the option to Accept or Reject
Mickey – Yes, and this is The Cooke Law that requires websites to get consent from visitors to store or retrieve any information on a computer, smartphone, or tablet
You might have recently heard about The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), This is the European Union Cookie Law
Minnie – I feel so good now
Mickey – So can you now explain What is Cookes to your class
Minnie – Yes, with confidence
Mickey – So do you want to go home now
Minnie – No Mickey, let’s sit here for some more time. You are my best friend
Mickey – I am always here for you 🙂
