http://live.pirillo.com/ – Bayliss in the chat room wants to know what a tracking cookie is and what it does.

A cookie is a plain txt file that sits on your computer in a temporary folder that stores data about a browsing session. If you log into a website it generally sets a cookie to temporarily store your information so you don’t have to log in every time you change a page.

A tracking cookie is a cookie that tracks your browsing behaviors. Marketers use this data to understand how users use their partner websites and optimize their networks for the average user that visits their networks.

Some people hate cookies, claim they’re spyware, and always delete them. Personally, we’re not exactly worried about them: unless you’ve shared your personal information, the tracking cookies are only going to report browsing habits which helps generate a bunch of marketing statistic.

Really, we think the only time you need to worry about cookies is when you’re on a public computer – like at school or an Internet cafe. In this instance, you should clear the cookies after you’re done so any stored information – such as login information – will not be stored on that computer.

What do you think? Are cookies really dangerous?

Want to embed our What is a Tracking Cookie? video in your blog? Use this code:

<object width="425" height="350"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/c77gopt_KB8"></aram><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/c77gopt_KB8" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="350"></embed></object><br /><a href="http://chris.pirillo.com/">Chris</a> | <a href="http://live.pirillo.com/">Live Tech Support</a> | <a href="http://media.pirillo.com/">Video Help</a> | <a href="http://feeds.pirillo.com/ChrisPirilloShow">Add to iTunes</a>

Formats available: MPEG4 Video (.mp4), Flash Video (.flv), MP3 Audio (.mp3), Microsoft Video (.avi)

What is a Tracking Cookie?