DateLine 3/01/2001
Cookies are used by shopping carts to keep track of order data.
If you turn off cookies in your browser you cannot place an order.
A "cookie" is a small piece of information which a web server can store
temporarily with your web browser. This is useful for having your browser
remember some specific information which the server can later
retrieve.
As you browse the web, cookies are stored in your computer's memory.
When you close your browser, any cookie that hasn't expired is written to
a cookie file so they can be reloaded next time you visit that web
site.
A cookie file is not a secret way for a web server to find out
everything about you and what you have on your hard drive. The
only way that any private information could be in your
cookie file would be if you personally gave that information to a web
server in the first place and it decided to put that information into your
cookie file for some reason.
Also, each cookie is marked with
information about what web server it's for. There is absolutely no way
for a web server to get access to any private information about you or
your system through cookies, and there is no possible way that a virus
could be spread through the use of cookies.