Tech Talk: Internet Cookie Quiz

Contrary to popular belief, Internet cookies can't collect personal information about a user from his or her computer.

Internet cookies are produced by a central server for a Web site and uploaded onto a user's computer when he or she first enters a site.

State information is details about your computer and preferences. For example, if you've been to a site before, you're in a state of being a return user. State information can also be stored specifics -- for instance, your zip code when receiving automatic local weather updates from a site.

Cookies can't look at other cookies, only the information on the cookie it placed on a user's computer.

To erase cookies, you'll have to go into your Temporary Internet Files folder.

Targeting is essentially focused marketing to Internet users based on information (like past purchases) found in their cookies.

DoubleClick produces cookies that can track users across the Internet, not just on one site.

The White House memo forbade the use of persistent cookies. These are cookies that remain active, even after a user has exited out of his or her Web browser.

Web bugs are tiny files hidden in banner ads that upload cookies onto a user's machine when he or she clicks a banner ad.

Cookies are written in name-value pairs. The name may be as simple as "UserID," and the value is a string of numbers and characters, the actual ID tag for the user's computer.