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When it comes to privacy on the Internet, some tiny cookies can brew up big discussion.
Internet cookies are small strings of text placed on users' hard drives during the exchange of data that happens when a browser points to a Web site. The fact that an Internet site can place something on a hard drive makes some people really edgy. At first glance, it may seem like a clandestine move to get all the secrets stored on our hard drives. But cookies aren't evil. Gateway's cookies have no way of disclosing your name or any personal information. They just use random data tags to identify you as a distinct, unnamed visitor to our Internet site.
So what are cookies used for?
Cookies can actually make your Internet experience better. Many sites, especially those that offer electronic commerce, use cookies. For one thing, cookies can store a password or ID that some Internet sites require, freeing you from typing them in every time you land on the site. They can also remember preferences you enter and then tailor a site to each user's unique tastes. Many sites also have cookies that create "shopping carts" to hold all the items you select for purchase. That lets you pay for them all at once.
What does Gateway use cookies for?
Gateway uses cookies to track where users go on our site. Our cookies embed a random identifying number on each user's browser. Then we note where your number shows up on our site. That data lets us determine what content people like and where to put things to make them easy to find.
The Gateway cookie is like your neighborhood
Our cookie lets us do all the things that are good practice in real stores. It lets us track what parts of our store are the most popular, just as store employees can visually watch traffic patterns and analyze the day's sales results. But our cookie actually gives us less information than a real store owner would get, since it can't send us your name or address, gender, age or other things a store owner often knows.
Your browser can detect cookies
Many popular browsers can be made to flash you a message when a Web site asks to place a cookie and also ask if you want to accept the cookie. The most current versions can automatically disable cookies without first asking you to decline the cookie. The function is found under Edit|Preferences|Advanced in Netscape Communicator and View|Internet Options|Advanced in Microsoft Internet Explorer.
If you set your browser to ask you every time we attempt to set the cookie and say no, it's very likely the site will ask you over and over again if it can place a cookie every time you make a move. If you set your browser to alert you to cookies, you'll quickly find out how common cookies are. Most browsers will automatically accept cookies if the browser is not set to alert you to cookie requests. Some newer browsers, however, also have a feature that automatically declines attempts to set cookies without notifying you.
Gateway sets one cookie
We tag your browser when you first hit our site. But, if you refuse our request to place a cookie, we'll keep asking to place one every time you move through our site. It's not that we have 100 cookies, just one that repeatedly requests to be set. We've programmed our site to set the cookie whenever an untagged user moves to any screen. We do that because not every user comes through the front door. Some link in to specific parts of our site from banners, bookmarks or by typing a distinct URL. So we check for our cookie whenever a browser hits any page and try to set the cookie if you don't already have one.
Sharing our cookie policy
Gateway has decided to use a cookie to track user traffic patterns on our site. Our cookies simply identify your browser with a number so we can separate out unique users. A lot of sites use cookies, but not a lot of them explain why. We want you to know where we stand on cookies, how ours work and what we use the resulting data for. If our policies on cookies change, you'll be the first to know.
Gateway's Online Privacy Statement
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