A cookie is a simple text file that is stored on your computer or mobile device by a

website’s server. Each cookie is unique to your web browser. It will contain some

anonymous information such as a unique identifier and the site name and some digits and

numbers.

Most websites you visit use cookies to improve your user experience by allowing the

website to ‘remember’ you, either for the duration of your visit (using a ‘session cookie’) or

for repeat visits (using a ‘persistent cookie’).

Cookies may be set by the website you are visiting (‘first party cookies’) or they may be set

by other websites who run content on the page you are viewing (‘third party cookies’).

Cookies have lots of different jobs, like letting you navigate between pages efficiently,

storing your preferences, and improving your experience of a website. Cookies make the

interaction between you and the website faster and easier. If a website doesn’t use

cookies, it will think you are a new visitor every time you move to a new page on the site,

for example, even after you “log in,” if you move to another page it won’t recognise you

and it won’t be able to keep you logged in.