This document explains what cookies are, how they are used, and how you can gain
control over the cookies stored on your computer by using the Cookie Manager in
&brandShortName;.
A cookie is a file created by an Internet site to store information on your
computer, such as your preferences when visiting that site. When you visit a site
that uses cookies, the site might ask &brandShortName; to place one or more cookies
on your hard disk.
Later, when you return to the site, &brandShortName; sends back the cookies that
belong to the site. This allows the site to present you with information customized
to fit your needs.
Cookies can also store personally identifiable information. Personally identifiable
information is information that can be used to identify or contact you, such as
your name, e-mail address, home or work address, or telephone number. However, a
Web site only has access to the personal information that you provide. For
example, a Web site cannot determine your e-mail name unless you provide it. Also,
a Web site cannot gain access to other information on your computer.
When you use the default cookie settings, this activity is invisible to you,
and you won't know when a Web site is setting a cookie or when &brandShortName;
is sending a Web site their cookie. However, you can set your preferences so that
you will be asked before a cookie is set.
Setting Up Cookie Rules
By default &brandShortName; accepts all cookies. If you want to gain more control over
what cookies are stored, follow these instructions:
Select Tools > Options... from the menu to show the Options window.
Click the Privacy panel and then click on the Cookies label.
Check the but ask before accepting checkbox.
After this is done, you may decide exactly which cookies should and should not be saved.
Other Settings
There are also other options that affects how cookies are managed by Mozilla
Firebird. They are not needed for the cookie rules to work but are explained
anyway:
Enable Cookies If you don't want any sites to store
cookies on your computer, uncheck this option. Note that some sites may not work
properly when cookies are disabled.
for the originating Web site only If &brandShortName;
stores a site's cookie, it will return the cookie only to that particular site.
&brandShortName; will not provide one site with cookies set by another. Since a Web
site can only receive its own cookies, it can learn about your activities while you
are at that site but not your activities in general while surfing the Web.
However, sometimes a Web site displays content that is hosted on another site.
That content can be anything from an image to text or an advertisement. The other
Web site that hosts also has the ability to store a cookie in &brandShortName;, even
though you haven't visited the site directly.
Cookies that are stored by a site other than the one you are visiting are called
third-party cookies or foreign cookies. Web sites sometimes use third-party
cookies with transparent GIFs, which are special images that help sites count
users, track email responses, learn more about how visitors use the site, or
customize your browsing experience. (Transparent GIFs are also known as web
beacons or web bugs.)
When this checkbox is checked, it blocks these foreign cookies from being saved.
for the current session only If this option is selected,
the cookie information will be removed when you restart &brandShortName;. Web sites
requiring the use of cookies will still work, but if you restart &brandShortName;,
the Web site will think that you logged into the site for the first time again.
Accepting and Blocking Cookies
Assuming that you've enabled the cookie rules explained above, you'll see a dialog
whenever a site tries to save a cookie on your computer:
Allowing a Cookie To allow this particular cookie, just
click Allow. If you trust the site and don't want this dialog to be
shown each time the site tries to save a cookie, check the Use my choice for all
cookies from this site checkbox and then click Allow. &brandShortName;
will remember this and never ask about cookies for this site again. If you later regret
your choice, read about the Cookie Manager.
Blocking a Cookie If you don't want this cookie to be
saved, click Deny. If you don't trust the site or suspect that it's compromising
your privacy, check the Use my choice for all cookies from this site
checkbox and then click Block. &brandShortName; will then put this site
on the list of blocked sites and never save cookies for it. This choice can be
undone using the Cookie Manager.
The Cookie Manager
The Cookie Manager is where you can view and remove cookies as well as managing the
list of sites that are allowed or not allowed to store cookies on your computer.
The Cookie List
The Stored Cookies tab lists all cookies currently stored on your computer.
You can select them to display more information about them.
To remove a cookie from the list, select it and click Remove Cookie. To
remove all cookies, click Remove All Cookies. (This is the same as clicking
the Clear button from the Privacy panel
of the Options window.)
Don't allow sites that set removed cookies to set future cookies
Even if you remove cookies now, you will reacquire those same cookies the next time
you return to the Web site. To prevent that from happening, select this checkbox.
When this checkbox is selected, Web sites for the cookies that you are removing are
added to the list of sites whose cookies will automatically be rejected.
Important: You must check this option before you start to remove cookies,
or the sites will not be added to the list of blocked sites.
The Site List
This is the list of sites that are either allowed or not allowed to store cookies on
your computer. In the Status column, you can see if a site is blocked or allowed.
To remove a site from this list, select it and click Remove Site. To clear
the list completely, click Remove All Sites. This will reset the cookie
rules and you will see dialogs for each cookie again.
