Many popular websites require that your computer accept \'cookies\" in order to

Question

Many popular websites require that your computer accept 'cookies" in order to run properly. These cookies often collect market-value data which the website can use to target ads or sell to other ad suppliers. It is sort of like taking your ID every time you shop at WalMart. In your opinion is this: a) an unreasonable intrusion into consumer privacy, b) an effective way to gather reliable market data and finally, c) would people also allow their computer webcam to be turned on when the ad runs to see how the consumer reacts….please explain your answers.

Explanation / Answer

In my opinion use of cookies is an effective way to gather reliable market data. Cookies gather the information when customers type on the website and the information is used by the companies understand the customer preferences and buying behavior. Though these actions are affecting the customer privacy the customers also are getting benefit out of it. When the websites store the information through cookies customers need not type their requirement again and it also send notifications to customers based on their product preference. Customers can make use of the notifications to identify the availability of the required product without searching and companies develop their promotional strategies as per the product demand. Cookies also save the user ids and passwords so that we need to retype them. If we do not want to share the information we have the provision to turn off cookies. Most websites give a notice while using cookies and we can decide whether to accept it or not. We can automatically block all the cookies without sending to third parties. Also we can turn on the cookies temporarily and delete cookies whenever we want. When we are using confidential information we can turn off or block cookies and later turn on to access other websites. Hence if we manage cookies effectively it is not going to affect our privacy and can be used as an effective way to gather reliable market data.

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