Cookies are small pieces of data stored on a user’s web browser by websites they visit. These data files are designed to hold information about the user’s interactions with the website, allowing the site to recognize and remember the user on subsequent visits.

Cookies serve various purposes, such as:

  1. Session Management: Cookies help maintain user sessions, allowing websites to remember users as they navigate different pages or perform actions on a site.
  2. Personalization: Websites use cookies to remember user preferences and settings, providing a more personalized and efficient browsing experience.
  3. Tracking and Analytics: Cookies are often used for tracking user behavior and gathering analytics data. This information helps website owners understand how users interact with their site.
  4. Authentication: Cookies can store authentication information, allowing users to stay logged in across multiple visits without having to re-enter their credentials.

It’s important to note that while cookies offer functionality and convenience, concerns have been raised about privacy and security. Some cookies, particularly third-party cookies, can be used for tracking users across different websites, leading to debates around user privacy and the need for regulations to protect individuals online [1].

In this project, the goal is to find out how are cookies managed in the Costa Rican web space regarding the security and privacy of users.

[1] Matthias Gotze, Srdjan Matic, Costas Iordanou, Georgios Smaragdakis, and Nikolaos Laoutaris. 2022. Measuring Web Cookies in Governmental Websites. In Proceedings of the 14th ACM Web Science Conference 2022 (WebSci ‘22). Association for Computing Machinery, New York, NY, USA, 44–54. https://doi.org/10.1145/3501247.3531545