Chris Carter

Professor Dietel-McLaughlin

Multimedia Writing & Rhetoric

7 April, 2014

Internet Cookies: beneficial or malicious?

Introduction:

As the technological world has transformed, certain advancements in the Internet

have deteriorated Internet privacy. One of, if not the biggest tool used by websites to

track web users without their knowledge is Internet tracking files, known as cookies.

Cookies are small files of text placed on computers that are able to track information

about its users. Cookies have grown from harmless pieces of text into notorious privacy

invaders. Since the development of cookies, marketing companies have been tracking

consumers to learn about target markets, shopping habits and consumer interests. When

businesses realized they could learn a lot of information about their consumers for free,

they exploited exploited on he opportunity. Since the implementation of cookies, they

have become ubiquitous across all web browsers and Internet sites. In a study performed

by the Wall Street Journal in 2010, the up and coming business of spying on Internet

users is becoming one of the fastest-growing businesses on the Internet. Although

cookies can be used beneficially to improve Internet users’ online experience, they are

more often than not used to obtain personal information about users without their

Carter 1

knowledge or consent. Internet cookies have been one of the leading causes in

consumers’ loss of trust in the Internet and Internet businesses..

History:

With the development of cookies in 1994, two things happened: the Internet

became more efficient and users, although they didn’t know it at the time, lost all

hope of privacy. Prior to 1994, Netscape Web designers Lou Montulli and John

Giannandrea worked on developing cookies in order to find a way/place to store user

data more efficiently than the current method of storage in the URL. (What does

this entail/mean? Define briefly for context maybe) Once Montulli and Giannandrea had

developed the cookies, Netscape incorporated them into their browsers; in 1994,

however, the public was not informed of the implementation of cookies. This was

likely due to the fact thatand the cookies were only initially used by Netscape to

determine if visitors to Netscape’s web site were repeat visitors or first time users,

without storing any personal user information. Two years later, in 1996, The Financial

Times broke the silence on this secret implementation of cookies and reported to the

public that cookies have been tracking and invading privacy on everyone’s

computers— causing an uproar.

John Schwartz (?-add information on who he is why he is an authority)

eloquently describes the effects of the implementation of cookies:, “Cookies

Carter 2

fundamentally altered the nature of surfing the web from being a relatively

anonymous activity, like wandering the streets of a large city, to the kind of

environment where records of ones transactions, movements and even desires could

be stored, sorted, mined and sold.” (Pg. 4George 4)Page 4 of what??? Not good enough

citation) Before cookies, the Internet had no way to track users. In the article,

Deconstructing Code, the authors Rajiv Shah and Jay Kesan, (SAY THEIR NAMES)

the articulate the analogy of arelate pre-cookie Internet to a vending machine: (I’m

trusting this is correct MLA format, look it up if youre not sure)

In early web browsers, the Internet was a stateless place. A stateless

web is analogous to a vending machine. It has little regard for who

you are, what product you are asking for, or how many purchases you

make. It has no memory. Statelessness on the web made commerce

difficult. Without a state mechanism, buying goods is analogous to

using a vending machine. (298).

Before cookies, the process of ordering through an online retailer such

as Amazon entailed filling out all billing, shipping and other various forms

each time you visited the site to make a purchase. Now, with cookies, users

can quickly press checkout and be taken to a page simply e confirming all

their previously entered data is up to date. From that page, a quick click on a

confirmation purchases all items in your shopping cart without users evern

needing to open their wallet.

Carter 3

What are cookies?:

Before divingwe dive into the ethical aspects of cookies, let us first

definefind out what they technically are’re. The Internet is fullilled of with

thousands of complex definitions; , however, Max Oppenheimer explains

cookies in his article in the Nebraska Law Review as “files stored on a user's

computer (the client) on instruction from a second computer (the server)

when the client's web browser software (browser) communicates with the

server's website.” (Oppenheimer 385)(MLA). They are generally used by web

browsers to improve websites and by companies to track individuals

movements on the Internet.

t.

2 types of cookies: There are two main types of cookies, transient and stored

(persistent). Transient cookies, also known as session cookies, are placed in the

computers memory for the duration of a users’ browsing session and are

automatically deleted from the computer when the browser is closed. Transient

cookies are usually used by commercial websites to keep track of items placed in the

consumers shopping cart. With transient cookies, users don’t have to worry about

information being written on their hard drive or any information being collected

from the users’ computer. Stored cookies retain users preferences, identify

Carter 4

individual users, analyze users’ web browsing within a website, collect info on the

number of visitors to a site and the average time spent on particular pages by

storing information on the users’ computer. Stored cookies, also called persistent

cookies, allow third party companiescookies(companies?) to place a cookie on a users’

computer.

Cookies were initially were developed to benefit websites and their users. To this

day, cookies serve as a largelyhugely beneficial part of the Internet. For users,

cookies have made the Internet much more efficient, streamlined, personable and

convenient. By remembering a users’ items in their shopping carts, log in name and

passwords, preferences and game scores, users experience an much more enhanced

internet.

Cookies have allowed websites to access information which can serve to enhance

the website for consumers. Websites collecting non-intrusive data can determine how

many visitors arrive, whether these visitors are new versus repeat visitors, and determine

the frequency of the users’ visits. Most websites use this data for internal purposes such

as improving their site. Some websites even make this information available to the public

for various reasons. Public information on site visitation data is not only used to show

transparency in what a website’s cookies are tracking, but also to market how popular a

website is. One website in particular, www.drudgereport.com, an aggregate news

website, posts the numerical value of visits in the last 24 hours, 31 days, and past year.

For news sites, cookies are immensely beneficial in finding out how many people

Carter 5

actually visit the site, and comparing those numbers to the numbers of other news sites.

Cookies have helped businesses operating on the internet come a long way by helping

with efficiency, however, cookies have also been detrimental to businesses operating on

the internet as they have caused consumers to lose trust.

The privacy and trust of Internet users has been compromised because cookies

neglect to ask users for consent. The definition of consent, according to Merriam-Webster

is: “to agree to do or allow something: to give permission for something to happen or be

done.” The typical form of consent comes on an 8.5 x 11 inches size paper that must be

signed before a person does some activity that might include death such as skydiving.

While the internet would require a different version of consent, there has yet to be one

designed for internet websites to use. A cookie’s job is to track and collect data on users;

most people would believe that this would require the users’ consent. While required, this

does not seem to be what is happening with the use of cookies.

When the previously mentioned Netscape Web designers Montulli and

Giannandrea implemented cookies into the Netscape browser in 1994, there was no

notice informing the public that cookies were being placed on users’ computer,; albeit

these first cookies were only used by Netscape to determine if visitors were first timers or

repeats. In 1996, the New York Times published an article informing the public for the

first time about cookies and privacy. The public, according to Rajiv C. Shah and Jay P.

Kesans article, Deconstructing Code, were outraged. The public had every right to be

angry; Netscape had implemented the new technology into their browsers and neglected

to inform users what cookies were or of their existence. Users felt that their privacy had

been invaded. What they had previously believed of the Internet—that it was like using a

Carter 6

vending machine in that no information about the user is collected—was false. This was

the first public incidence that caused consumers to lose trust in the Internet.

In Richard George’s book, Ethics, Business and the Internet, George states that

“the privacy issue arrives when internet users do not know that they are being tracked and

identified, and they unknowingly become the subjects of an individual and personalized

database. If users give some personal information on one site, that does not mean that

they give that site the right to sell or use the information as it wishes” (6). Third party

cookies are cookies from third parties (not the website you intended to visit) that obtain

your information by getting permission from the first party website (website you intended

to visit) to embed cookies into their site to track your information. Ironically, first party

websites must give consent to third party websites to allow them to embed cookies to

track its users, yet first party websites do not ask for users’ consent to be tracked in the

first place. In return for embedded cookies, the third party will generally pay first party

websites. Third party websites are not widely known advertising websites. They collect

your data, monitor what your click on, what you search for, and what you shop for. Once

they compile this information, they show you specific targeted advertisements based on

your user profile. One such company, DoubleClick, has created over 100 million profiles.

Richard George explains that third party “cookies enable one-on-one marketing, in which

products are advertised only to those likely to want them” (9). The issue lies in the fact

that websites never obtained consent from users to have their information tracked. Most

of these advertising websites claim they are “online ad network devoted exclusively to

the visual arts.” (Nectar Ad, nectarads.com), however, that is really just a disguised way

of saying they’re tracking you and advertising to you based on your history.

Carter 7

When I began writing this essay, my computer had 3,225 websites’ “stored

cookies or other data” (found by going to Safari, Preferences, Privacy, Cookies).

According to Keynote systems, an Internet performance tester, 86% of websites have 3rd

party trackers. The cookies and cache stored on my computer came from many sites I use

such as Facebook and Khan Academy, but the majority of stored data was from sites I

had never heard of such as adjug.com, adlooxtracking.com, admeta.com, eqworks.com,

lanistaads.com, nectarads.com, nuggad.net, martiniadadnetwork.com,

mlnadvertising.com and picadmedia.com. With so many URLs being listed that I had

never heard of, I began to investigate. I searched all of the aforementioned websites and

the results intrigued me even more. Four of the ten websites took me to an almost blank

page with only a few words on it that at first seemed like a dead end. Further

investigation (searching the URL or part of the text on the dead end page in Google)

yielded the main page for all four websites with fake or dead end addresses. About half of

the websites appeared to be very cheesy and rudimentary, while the other half looked as

professional as Notre Dame’s homepage. NuggAd, for instance, markets to potential

users (first party websites and businesses) by showing case studies on their current

clients. Their client list ranges from companies I have never heard of to companies we

see or use on a day-to-day basis: Kodak, Chevrolet, HP, L’Oreal, Adidas, National

Geographic and Burger King. NuggAd’s advertising campaign for Burger king shows

that their targeted advertisements caused “brand awareness to uplift over 23%” and

“purchase intention among users who know of the King Savers menu is 245% higher than

among users who don’t” (nuggad.com). To the general public, this seems like a very

effective marketing firm. To those who know how these firms operate will know that the

Carter 8

firm gathered data from cookies to deliver “2.7 million ad impressions” to “a premium

site popular with students and/or 16-24 year olds” (nuggad.com).

Richard George weighs in his on the ethical aspect of third party advertising:

“What is unethical is the use of third party cookies and the gathering, collating and using

of personal information without the subjects informed consent.” (9) The ethical issue in

play not only involves not obtaining consent before third party’s track users but also

when these third party sites make profits from creating a profile about you. Tracking sites

are able to essentially view your entire browsing history, giving them the access to create

a profile about all of your habits and shopping preferences. At no point in a users’

experience on a webpage are they informed that they will be tracked for any purposes.

This again is a losing consumers trust as websites are violating individual’s privacy. The

website also has no right to make money for selling advertisement space when the

advertisements are collecting information on users of the website. If the website would

like to make a profit from contracting outside sites to put advertisements on their site then

users should either be compensated or users must give consent to be tracked. A study by

TrustE found that 80% of people are aware of targeted advertising and over 50% of

people “do not like it”(TrustE Privacy Index, 2013 consumer confidence edition). It is

important to remember that it is up to the discretion of the website whether they chose to

contract their banner advertising to advertising companies which would involve

embedding third party cookies into their website. With online businesses manipulating

information and selling users’ information, it’s easy to understand why 89% of the public

is avoiding business with companies they do not believe protect their privacy. The

exchange of installing tracking cookies in return for finances, the failure to obtain consent

Carter 9

from users, and manipulation of data has caused consumers to lose trust in the Internet

and Internet businesses.

There has been huge controversy in the last couple of years over what is called

price discrimination. Price discrimination is “the action of selling the same product at

different prices to different buyers, in order to maximize sales and profits.” (New Oxford

American Dictionary). Recently, cookies have been used to employ price discrimination

on Internet businesses. Online pricing strategy, employed by many ecommerce sites, uses

a person’s location, their browsing history, and their web browser to determine pricing.

Consumers are furious over the fact that trusted businesses are tracking this data and that

these businesses are discriminating. In 2010, Capital One Financial was utilizing

technology to determine which credit card to show to online visitors (WSJ). Capital One

had been gathering data from consumers and then made an “educated” guess on their

demographics, showing them credit cards that fit their demographic. Consumers feel as if

there has been a much bigger breach of privacy when websites are changing prices based

on consumers demographic. Consumers also feel that companies are being unethical

when they manipulate data to gain customers and advertise.

Unfortunately for U.S. Internet users, very little has been done to protect their

online privacy. Web browsers still set up their default settings to allow cookies, many

companies make the choice to track users and allow third party sites to track their users as

well, and some companies participate in price discrimination. . The only progress that has

been made thus far regarding Internet privacy has happened in the European Union. The

EU passed the cookie law, a privacy law adopted by all European Union states in 2011.

Carter 10

The law aims to provide online privacy protection to individuals by making them aware

of cookies, giving them the option to consent to their functions and controlling how much

information they can gather. The law essentially states that if cookies are used in a site,

the user must be informed in some way and give their consent. The implementation of

this law means that websites cannot store information or gain access to the information

stored on computers of an Internet user unless “is provided with clear and comprehensive

information about the purposes of the storage of, or access to, that information" and "has

given his or her consent" (aboutcookies.org). The only exception to the rule is cookies

that are used throughout the transaction of a purchase (some transient cookies). The

cookie law provides transparency between users and Internet businesses. With the

implementation of the law in 2011, the EU gave a 12-month grace period for websites to

accommodate the new law. The law has been highly regarded in terms of protecting

users’ Internet privacy.

With the U.S. government failing to hop on the bandwagon and join the EU in

making a cookie law I think that businesses in the U.S. should take the initiative. For

businesses looking to gain back consumer trust, a smart move would be to implement a

consent feature telling all users that its website uses cookies and be transparent about

what cookies its using along with what information those cookies are tracking, storing

and sharing. Essentially copying the EU outline of the cookie law, U.S. businesses could

potentially gain back consumer trust and new customers who respect a company that

respects their privacy.

Although the EU provides privacy security for users, businesses will be losing a

Carter 11

lot of potential buyers. The EU law limits tracking, hindering a company’s ability to learn

about their target market. Without the ability to learn about their market, companies

advertising and business plan may not be as efficient as it could have been with more

information. Before cookies were developed and used to track consumer’s habits and

interests, people often purchased products through brick-and-mortar stores and through

received catalogues from companies in the mail. Although it was much more tedious,

databases and profiles about consumers were easily constructed by recording addresses of

consumers who requested catalogues, information about consumer interests from

purchases and overall shopping habits of consumers, all of which is collected without the

consent of consumers. Cookies provide the same database for all of the same information

obtained through catalogues and in store purchases plus several other factors. There is

still a privacy issue that no consent is given for companies to profile them based on their

interests on the webpage and there is a huge ethical and privacy issue when companies

sell internet users information to third party websites. It may seem inevitable that

information is stored as the private world transitions to being public due to the Internet.

However, as the Internet continues to advance, it is important that both websites and their

users compromise blind convenience in order to ensure Internet safety in all future

advancements. For websites, cookies have allowed them to access information solely

used to enhance their website. Websites collecting non-intrusive data can determine how

many visitors arrive, whether these visitors are new versus repeat visitors and determine

how often a visitor visits the site. Most websites use this data for internal purposes such

as improving their site. Some websites make this information available to the public, for

various reasons. Public information on site visitation data is not only used to show

Carter 12

transparency in what their cookies are tracking but also market how popular their website

is. One website in particular is www.drudgereport.com, an aggregate news website, posts

the numerical value of visits in the last 24 hours, 31 days, and past year. For news sites,

cookies are immensely beneficial in finding out how many people actually visit their site

and comparing those numbers to the numbers on others news sites.

Consent: The privacy and trust of Internet users has been low because cookies

don’t ask users for consent. The definition of consent, according to Merriam-Webster is:

“to agree to do or allow something: to give permission for something to happen or be

done.” A cookie’s job is to track and collect data on users; most people would believe

that this would require the users consent, however, this is not the case.

When the aforementioned Netscape Web designers Lou Montulli and John

Giannandrea implemented cookies into the Netscape browser in 1994, there was no

notice informing the public that cookies were being placed on users’ computer. Albeit

these first cookies were only used by Netscape to determine if visitors were first time or

repeat. (transition better) In 1996, the New York Times published an article informing the

public for the first time about cookies and privacy. The public, according to Rajiv C.

Shah and Jay P. Kesans article, Deconstructing Code, were outraged. The public had

every right to be angry; Netscape had implemented the new technology into their

browsers and neglected to inform users what cookies were. Users felt that their privacy

had been invaded. What they had previously believed of the Internet, that it was like

using a vending machine in that no information about the user is collected, was false.

This was the first public incidence that caused consumers to lose trust in the Internet.

Carter 13

In Richard Georges book, Ethics, Business and the Internet, George states that

“the privacy issue arrives when internet users do not know that they are being tracked and

identified, and they unknowingly become the subjects of an individual and personalized

database. If users give some personal information on one site, that does not mean that

they give that site the right to sell or use the information as it wishes.” (6) Third party

cookies are cookies from third parties (not the website you intended to visit) that obtain

your information by getting permission from the first party website (website you intended

to visit) to embed cookies into their site to track your information. Ironically, first party

websites must give consent to third party websites to allow them to embed cookies to

track its users, yet first party websites do not ask for users consent to be tracked. In return

for embedded cookies, the third party will generally pay first party websites. Third party

websites are generally advertising websites that you will never hear of. They collect your

data; monitor what your click on, what you search for, and what you shop for. Once they

compile this information they show you specific ads targeted at you based on your

profile. One such company, DoubleClick, has created over 100 million profiles. Richard

George explains that third party “cookies enable one-on-one marketing, in which

products are advertised only to those likely to want them.” (9) The issue lies in the fact

that websites never obtained consent from users to have their information tracked.

According to Keynote systems, a website performance tester, about 86% of websites have

3rd party trackers. Most of these advertising websites claim they are “online ad network

devoted exclusively to the visual arts.” (Nectar Ad, nectarads.com), however, that’s

really just a formal way of saying they’re tracking you and advertising to you based on

your history. (You just devalued your good quote, I think that is my point, to show how

Carter 14

the internet sites cover up and make their true function seem less harmful than saying

they “track internet users without their consent.”)

When I began writing this essay, my computer had 3,225 websites “stored cookies

or other data” (found by going to safari, preferences, privacy, cookies). According to

Keynote systems, an Internet performance tester, 86% of websites have 3rd party

trackers. The cookies and cache stored on my computer came from many sites I use such

as Facebook and Khan Academy, but the majority of stored data was from sites I had

never heard of such as adjug.com, adlooxtracking.com, admeta.com, eqworks.com,

lanistaads.com, nectarads.com, nuggad.net, martiniadadnetwork.com,

mlnadvertising.com and picadmedia.com. With so many URLs being listed that I had

never heard of, curiosity got the best of me and I began to investigate. I searched all of

the aforementioned websites and the results intrigued me even more. Four of the ten

websites took me to a page with only a few words on it that at first seemed like a dead

end; until further investigation (searching the URL or part of the text on the dead end

page in Google) yielded the main page for all four websites with fake or dead end

addresses. About half of the websites appeared to be very cheesy and rudimentary while

the other half looked as professional as Notre Dame’s homepage. Most of these

advertising websites claim they are “online ad network devoted exclusively to the visual

arts.” (Nectar Ad, nectarads.com), however, that’s really just a formal way of saying

they’re tracking you and advertising to you based on your history. NuggAd, for instance,

markets potential users (first party websites and businesses) by showing case studies on

their current clients. Their client list ranges from companies I’ve never heard of to

companies we see or use on a day-to-day basis. Kodak, Chevrolet, HP, L’Oreal, Adidas,

Carter 15

National Geographic and Burger King. NuggAd’s advertising campaign for Burger king

has shown that their targeted advertisements caused “brand awareness to uplift over

23%” and “purchase intention among users who know of the King Savers menu is 245%

higher than among users who don’t” (nuggad.com). To the general public, this seems like

a very effective marketing firm, to those who know how these firms market will never

know that the firm gathered data from cookies to deliver “2.7million ad impressions” to

“a premium site popular with students and/or 16-24 year olds” (nuggad.com).

Richard George weighs in his opinion on the ethical aspect of third party

advertising, “what is unethical is the use of third party cookies and the gathering,

collating and using of personal information without the subjects informed consent.” (9)

The ethical issue in play not only involves not obtaining consent before third party’s track

users but also when these third party sites make profits from creating a profile about you.

Tracking sites are able to essentially view your entire browsing history, giving them the

access to create a profile about all of your habits and shopping preferences. At no point in

a users experience on a webpage are they informed that they will be tracked for any

purposes. This again is a violation of privacy as websites are violating individual’s

privacy. The website also has no right to make money for selling advertisement space

when the advertisements are collecting information on users of the website. If the website

would like to make a profit from contracting outside sites to put advertisements on their

site then users should either be compensated or users must give consent to be tracked. A

study by TrustE found that there is an 80% of people are aware of targeted advertising

and over 50% of people “do not like it”(TrustE Privacy Index, 2013 consumer confidence

edition). It is important to remember that it is up to the discretion of the website whether

Carter 16

they chose to contract their banner advertising to advertising companies which would

involve embedding third party cookies into their website. With online businesses

manipulating information and selling users information, it’s easy to understand why 89%

of the public avoiding business with companies they do not believe protects their privacy.

The exchange of installing tracking cookies in return for finances, the failure to obtain

consent from users, and manipulation of data has caused consumers to lose trust in the

Internet and Internet businesses.

There has been huge controversy in the last couple of years over what is called

price discrimination. Price discrimination is “the action of selling the same product at

different prices to different buyers, in order to maximize sales and profits.” (New Oxford

American Dictionary). Recently, cookies have been used to employ price discrimination

on Internet businesses. Online pricing strategy, employed by many ecommerce sites, uses

a person’s location, their browsing history, and their web browser to determine pricing.

Consumers are furious over the fact that trusted businesses are tracking this data and that

these businesses are discriminating. In 2010, Capital One Financial was utilizing

technology to determine which credit card to show to online visitors (WSJ). Capital One

had been gathering data from consumers and then made an “educated” guess on their

demographics, showing them credit cards that fit their demographic. Consumers feel as if

there has been a much bigger breach of privacy when websites are changing prices based

on consumers demographic. Consumers also feel that companies are being unethical

when they manipulate data to gain customers and advertise.

Carter 17

Unfortunately for U.S. Internet users, very little has been done to protect their

online privacy. Web browsers still make their default settings allow cookies, many

companies make the choice to track users and allow third party sites to track their users as

well, and some companies participate in price discrimination. . The only progress that has

been made thus far regarding Internet privacy has happened in the European Union. The

EU passed the cookie law, a privacy law adopted by all European Union states in 2011.

The law aims to provide online privacy protection to individuals by making them aware

of cookies, giving them the option to consent to their functions and controlling how much

information they can gather. The law essentially states that if cookies are used in a site,

the user must be informed in some way and give their consent. The implementation of

this law means that websites can’t store information or gain access to the information

stored on computers of an Internet user unless “is provided with clear and comprehensive

information about the purposes of the storage of, or access to, that information" and "has

given his or her consent" (aboutcookies.org). The only exception to the rule is cookies

that are used throughout the transaction of a purchase (some transient cookies). The

cookie law provides transparency between users and Internet businesses. With the

implementation of the law in 2011, the EU gave a 12-month grace period for websites to

accommodate the new law. The law has been highly regarded in terms of protecting users

Internet privacy.

Although the EU provides privacy security for users, businesses will be losing a

lot of potential buyers. The EU law limits tracking, hindering a company’s ability to learn

about their target market. Without the ability to learn about their market, companies

Carter 18

advertising and business plan may not be as efficient as it could’ve been with more

information. Before cookies were developed and used to track consumer’s habits and

interests, people often purchased products through brick-and-mortar stores and through

received catalogues from companies in the mail. Although it was much more tedious,

databases and profiles about consumers were easily constructed by recording addresses of

consumers who requested catalogues, information about consumers interests from

purchases and overall shopping habits of consumers, all of which is collected without the

consent of consumers. Cookies provide the same database for all of the same information

obtained through catalogues and in store purchases plus several other factors. There is

still a privacy issue that no consent is given for companies to profile them based on their

interests on the webpage and there is a huge ethical and privacy issue when companies

sell internet users information to third party websites.

Internet users in the United States are facing a tough uphill battle with Internet

privacy. Cookies are being used without consent of Internet users to gather data for

internal purposes, marketing purposes, and profit purposes.

The online businesses using cookies in an unethical way are losing business and

trust from customers as 89% of U.S. Internet consumers are concerned about their

Internet privacy.

Carter 19

Works Cited

De George, Richard,T. Ethics, Business and the Internet. Bloomington, IN : Poynter Center, Indiana University, 2002.

Dhanendran, Anthony. "The New Rules on Internet Cookies." Computer Act!ve (2011).

Harding, William, et al. "Cookies and Web Bugs: What they are and how they Work Together." Information Systems Management 18.3 (2001): 17-24.

Lu, Long-Chuan, Hsiu-Hua Lu, and Shih-Ting Chang. The Role of Individualism and Collectivism in Consumer Perceptions Toward e-Retailers' Ethics. Vol. 2., 2011.

Mayerschonberger, Viktor, and Mayer-Schönberger. "The Internet and Privacy Legislation: Cookies for a Treat?" Computer Law Security Review: the international journal of technology law and practice 14.3 (1998): 166-74.

Oppenheimer, M. S. "Internet Cookies: When is Permission Consent." Nebraska law review 85 (2006): 383.

Papacharissi, Zizi, and Jan Papacharissi. "Online Privacy and Consumer Protection: An Analysis of Portal Privacy Statements." Journal of broadcasting electronic media 49.3 (2005): 259-81.

Carter 20

Queiroz, Anderson, and Ruy J. G. B. de Queiroz. Breach of Internet Privacy through the use of Cookies. ACM, 2010.

Sipior, Janice, Burke Sipior, and Ruben Ward. "Online Privacy Concerns Associated with Cookies, Flash Cookies, and Web Beacons." Journal of Internet commerce 10.1 (2011): 1-16.

Sreenivasan, S. "Taking in the Sites Finding Business Ethics on and about the Internet.(Business/Financial Desk)." The New York times (1998).

Zimmerman, R. "The Way the "Cookies' Crumble: Internet Privacy and Data Protection in the Twenty-First Century." New York University journal of legislation and public policy 4.2 (2001): 439.

Zimmerman, Rachel. "The Way the "Cookies' Crumble: Internet Privacy and Data Protection in the Twenty-First Century." New York University journal of legislation and public policy 4.2 (2001): 439.

"Burger King Campaign on IGN Increases Awareness for King Savers Menu." Nugg.ad. N.p., n.d. Web. 5 Apr. 2014.

Brain, Marshall. "How Internet Cookies Work." howstuffworks. com, printed Apr 21 (2003): 1998-2003.

"2013 US Consumer Data Privacy Study: Advertising Edition." 2013 US Consumer Data Privacy Study: Advertising Edition. N.p., n.d. Web. 26 Mar. 2014.

"How to Comply with the EU Cookie Law." How to Comply with the EU Cookie Law. N.p., n.d. Web. 23 Mar. 2014.

"2013 TRUSTe US Consumer Confidence Index." 2013 TRUSTe US Consumer Confidence Index. Harris Interactive, n.d. Web. 25 Mar. 2014.

Soltani, Ashkan, Jennifer Valentino-Devries, and Jeremy Singer-Vine. "Websites Vary Prices, Deals Based on Users' Information." The Wall Street Journal. Dow Jones & Company, n.d. Web. 29 Mar. 2014.

Shpanya, Arie. "Online Price Discrimination: A Surprising Reality in Ecommerce." Econsultancy. N.p., n.d. Web. 01 Apr. 2014.

Solon, Olivia. "A Simple Guide to Cookies and How to Comply with EU Cookie Law." Wired UK. N.p., n.d. Web. 02 Apr. 2014.

"Consent." Merriam-Webster. Merriam-Webster, n.d. Web. 07 Apr. 2014.

"Nectar Ads." Nectar Ads RSS. N.p., n.d. Web. 07 Apr. 2014.

Carter 21

"Cookie Law." Cookie Law. N.p., n.d. Web. 03 Apr. 2014.

Sessler, J. B. 1997. Computer cookie control: Transaction generated information and privacy regulation on the Internet. Journal of Law and Policy 5:627–677.

Withrow, Ian. "Web Privacy Matters." 'Web Privacy Matters' N.p., n.d. Web. 03 Apr. 2014.

Chris,

Thanks for submitting your research paper. This is a timely and important topic, one that definitely speaks to the future of online commerce and digital footprinting issues. I learned a lot from reading this paper, and you did a nice job of defining and tracing the origins of cookies, outlining their benefits for users and business owners, highlighting the ethical concerns in terms of privacy and consent, and nodding toward some steps the government might take to protect users. I was a little surprised that there wasn’t more of an appeal to business owners themselves as opposed to simply relying on legislation (as a result the sense of audience/purpose feels a bit vague at times), but there’s still enough of a subtle argumentative edge here for the essay to be successful. It may be worthwhile to revisit some organization of paragraphs and try to smooth out the logical connection between paragraphs. Additionally, strive for sentence-level clarity and do a solid sentence-level edit on this piece before you submit it to your final portfolio. Overall, though, this is an interesting and nicely executed research paper. Let me know if you have any questions, and thanks, as always, for your hard work!

Proposal: 10/10Annotated Bib: 10/10Paper: 152/180

Total: 172/200 = 86% = B

Carter 22