- By Alex David
- Mon, 06 Oct 2025 06:30 PM (IST)
- Source:JND
If you have spent any time online these days, it is highly likely that you have seen pop-up banners asking if you would like to "accept all" or "reject all" cookies (or something similar). While many people view this as a nuisance, cookies actually serve a much broader purpose than most realise, including the collection of your personal information!
Cookies can also enhance browsing by, for example, remembering your logins, remembering products in your shopping cart, and managing your language preference. On the other hand, cookies can also allow advertisers and other third parties to track your online activity to create a detailed profile of your habits. Understanding how cookies function – and the risks they can present – will help you make privacy choices.
What Are Cookies and How Do They Work?
Websites you visit may collect or store information in your browser in files called cookies. The main purpose of cookies is to store data that will improve your experience (not data that is required for you to browse the internet).
Types of Cookie There are four main types:
Essential cookies: Necessary for websites to function, such as logging in or shopping carts. These cannot be disabled.
Functional cookies: Store settings such as the language, theme or region.
Analytics cookies: Help companies improve site performance by collecting data on how users interact with a site.
Advertising cookies: Follow your browsing from site to site in order to target you with specific ads.
Some cookies vanish when you close your browser (session cookies), while others remain on your device for weeks or months (persistent cookies).
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Accepting vs Rejecting Cookies
When you select “accept all”, you accept all cookies — including those which we (eg, journalists or app providers) use to collect anonymised data about our readers, and also those which third parties leave on your device to show you personalised advertising across the internet.
If you “reject all,” in anything but the most simplistic implementations, except for essential cookies, then there might be many instances where you lose functionality such as auto-login or personalised recommendations.
Part of the reason for increasing cookie consent banners is the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which was introduced in the EU in 2018 and states that website users must be permitted to grant their permission before personal data can be processed.
The Problem of Consent Fatigue
The reason is that since companies are required to show you the cookie pop-up on many sites, people suffer from so-called consent fatigue, which makes them accept all and not think about privacy.
To help fight back, a more recent solution called Global Privacy Control (GPC) gives browsers the ability to send your privacy preferences by default. But adoption has been minimal, and so for most people, they still must tinker with their cookie settings.
You can also take control by:
- Regular removal of cookies through browser options.
- Reviewing permissions on each website.
- Testing how much tracking occurs behind the scenes with privacy tools like the Electronic Frontier Foundation’s “Cover Your Tracks.”
Balancing Convenience and Privacy
Cookies are not inherently evil — they make the Internet better and faster. But there are also hidden privacy trade-offs.
The key is balance:
- Accept cookies that are necessary or tracking to improve website usability.
- Block or Restrict Those That Track.
- Employ privacy tools that will help you determine if and how your data is stored, transferred or shared.
By frequently checking and modifying your cookie choices, you can diminish unwanted tracking while still having a superior online browsing experience. This allows for fuller knowledge of who receives access to your information on the web, and allows for more control and security over what you are sharing when online.