A Study of User Attitudes toward Persistent Cookies

This study seeks to identify and evaluate individual users awareness and opinions toward persistent cookies to provide valuable insight into the need for additional marketing education and privacy protection for users of these virtual markets, as well as provide a foundation for subsequent research into the use of such covert online data collection methods.

Abstract

In the tumultuous environment of rapid development standards and guidelines known as the Internet, the rights of the individual frequently are swept under by the mad rush of organizations to exploit the commercial potential of this brave new world. Civil and legal institutions are just now catching up to the problems faced and expected in this environment. Individual privacy, personal security, and the protection of property represent some of the most fundamental rights citizens have come to expect. One of these areas under scrutiny is the use of persistent cookies. This study seeks to identify and evaluate individual users awareness and opinions toward persistent cookies. The findings should provide valuable insight into the need for additional marketing education and privacy protection for users of these virtual markets, as well as provide a foundation for subsequent research into the use of such covert online data collection methods.