Harvard Book Store: What is a Cookie?

What is a cookie, and why do we want you to have one?

A cookie is a piece of information that helps a server keep track of its users. In most cases, cookies do not contain personal information about you or other information that you wouldn't want to be stored on someone else's web server. However, cookies have gotten some bad press, so we'd like to assure you that our cookies won't harm you in any way.

If your browser tells you that our server "wishes to set a cookie," it's telling you that our server wants to assign you a unique session ID that will allow it to keep track of what you're ordering while you move around our site. This session ID is a randomly generated number that contains absolutely no personal information about you. This number is the only piece of information contained in your cookie. Your cookie is visible only to our server.

If your browser is set to automatically accept cookies, then you will not see the notification message that our server wishes to set a cookie. If your browser is set to warn you before accepting cookies, then you will see the notification -- we strongly suggest that you click "OK" to accept our server's cookie. (Note: you can change these settings in your browser -- in Netscape 3.0, it's under "Network and Security Preferences," and in Netscape 4.0, it's under "Preferences" and then in the "Advanced" settings.)

Because our server needs your session ID to remember what you've ordered, if you say "no" to its request to set a cookie, you will not be able to order books using our database. If you still feel uncomfortable with the cookie-setting process, you may choose to order books using our inquiry form.

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