Well…

Even though these chocolate chip cookies look tasty and now I am craving cookies; this isn’t exactly the right “cookie” I was referring to. I was curious to why the smartest people in the world, you know the ones that created our computers and got us on the World Wide Web, would call a tracking tool a cookie? Wasn’t there any better names available? If you know how our computer cookies got their name or why they are called cookie, please reply back and share your stories with me. I would like to know more about cookies and how they got their name. Also, if you have a good chocolate chip cookie recipe, please reply back and share that with me too!

I did a little research online and seen where a Netscape employee may have had something to do with the naming of computer cookies. His name was Lou Montulli and it was his idea to take the “magic cookie“; which was a package of information for computers and in existence already, and apply it to web communications. He was playing around with this in 1994 and since it was basically the same technology of the magic cookie, it appears Lou would just call it a cookie, when it came to using it with the Internet.

Hey Lou…

If you’re reading this blog post right now, could you lend me a little help with removing cookies on my computer system now and getting my settings fixed, so they will also be enabled for certain websites? I would be very happy to hear from you and I would even share some of these chocolate chip cookie recipes, that I should be getting any minute now!

Even though people like Lou Montulli and others were playing around with cookies in 1994, it would take a couple of years later, before we (the innocent public) would learn about them. On February 12, 1996 the Financial Times would publish an article on cookies and it was this article that alerted most people in the general public, that this type of technology was even available. This article was the spark that got everyone talking and the media wouldn’t let this story go. The rights to privacy and all of that came out in the last half of the 1996 year. Since a cookie privately stores information about an Internet user and tracks them online; the public and politicians were not too thrilled about this new cookie technology. Even though cookies had been around for more than a year and was already obtaining, recording, and tracking this information, the issues of privacy did come up.

Two hearings took place in 1996 and 1997 concerning cookies. These hearings were hosted by the U.S. Federal Trade Commissions group and not sure exactly what took place in these hearings or what the outcomes were. Since it is now 2010 and those hearings took place more than a decade ago, I believe it’s safe to assume the cookie technology would be allowed to live and thrive online.

Do you believe computer cookies are an invasion of privacy? These cookies have helped a lot of business-minded folks to collect a variety of information on computer users. They have been able to use this information and market certain products or services to people they believe would have an interest in it. The cookie technology has worked like a cash machine, for those that have tried to use the valuable information for financial gain. A lot of websites that use a “checkout” button or some form of “shopping cart” button use cookies to help consumers order multiple products and convenience on their return visits.

I like having some cookies for filling out screen names, passwords, and other data forms; which stays stored on my computer and prevents me from having to retype this information again. I don’t like the cookies that contain a lot of information and take away from our computer’s memory source. Using up too much memory can cause your computer to slow down and become sluggish. You have to go delete these cookies and free-up space, so you can gain speed again online. It really doesn’t matter if you love’em or hate’em; it appears they are here for the long run. People 100 years from now will still probably be asking the same question. Why the name cookie?