Cookie

Overview

A cookie is a small piece of text data that a website stores in the user's browser. It's a technology devised in 1994 by an engineer at Netscape, created to make up for HTTP being "stateless." Cookies are used so that websites can "remember" users, for example to keep you logged in, remember your language setting, or hold your shopping cart.

Types of cookies and what they're for

Cookies fall into several types depending on their purpose. Session cookies are temporary cookies that disappear when you close your browser, and they're used to keep you logged in. Persistent cookies have an expiration date and remain even after you close the browser. They're used to remember things like your language setting or theme (dark mode).

First-party cookies are cookies set by the website you're visiting. Third-party cookies are cookies set by a domain different from the site you're visiting, and they're mainly used for ad tracking. To protect privacy, Safari and Firefox limit tracking through third-party cookies by default. Google Chrome had planned to phase them out but withdrew that plan in 2024.

Cookies and privacy

Privacy concerns about cookies mainly come from tracking through third-party cookies. Ad networks use third-party cookies to follow users' browsing history across multiple sites they visit and build behavioral profiles. The phenomenon of "an ad for a product I just looked at showing up on another site" comes from this mechanism.

Legal regulations differ by region. In the EU, under the GDPR and the ePrivacy Directive, using cookies that aren't essential for a site to work generally requires the user's consent. The "Do you agree to the use of cookies?" banners shown on many websites are mainly a response to this EU legislation. Cookies for essential functions, such as keeping you logged in, can be used without consent.

Japanese law, on the other hand, doesn't require consent for using cookies in general. Japan's amended Act on the Protection of Personal Information (in force from 2022) requires confirming consent only when personally referable information (such as cookies) is provided to a third party and the recipient is expected to obtain it as personal data. In addition, the external transmission rules in Japan's amended Telecommunications Business Act (in force from 2023) require one of the following for mechanisms that send users' information to outside parties through cookies and similar means: notice, public disclosure, obtaining consent, or offering an opt-out. Consent is one of those options.

How question box services use cookies

The cookies a question box service sets itself are kept to a minimum, such as the ones that keep the owner's login session. On the other hand, this site uses third-party services such as Google for analytics and ad delivery, and these services may use cookies for ad delivery (such as the DoubleClick cookie). The details and how to turn them off are published in our privacy policy. Also, if your browser is sending a Do Not Track (DNT) or Global Privacy Control (GPC) signal, this site doesn't load analytics, and ads switch to non-personalized delivery.

In addition, the sender ID shown in the owner's dashboard is managed by a mechanism that doesn't depend on cookies, so it doesn't change even if you delete your browser's cookies. This design balances anti-abuse measures that aren't affected by your cookie settings with the experience of asking questions anonymously.