Revenge of the cookies

When using many e-commerce enabled web sites cookies are sitting behind the scenes to help you along your purchase path storing nuggets of information that make this a more fluid customer experience. An easily identifiable example of this occurring where you use a virtual basket dropping your favourites into this as you charge around the site looking for more bargains and must have items. A cookie helps your browser remember and have a memory of this as it stores this with your session potentially saving people from needing to be in a logged on state but merely a one time visitor. This genius piece of computer witchcraft came under some scrutiny when companies deployed these cookies to follow you around the internet and trigger placement adverts in later sites and provide analytics back on your interweb movements. As a result all firms have to publish there cookie policy much more openly now and ensure you opt into any such evil plotting. On visiting a site recently I found a website had such dedicated and hard working cookies that it would not allow me to remove things from the basket but kept putting then back. You will buy that polka dot bow tie even though you've changed your mind. Ha. See, it's back in your shopping basket. Now buy it!  Epic commitment from the cookie and demons in the system. 

Web stalking adverts

Internet cookies that sit in the background of your computer and then allow companies to push advertising to you as you navigate the Internet are scary to the informed and borderline witchcraft to the Internet novice. The latest EU legislation that has forced companies to be more open about their cookies policy doesn't seem to be working as all companies are doing is the bare minimum and then carrying on as before with banner advertising featuring throughout. Does this placed advertising enhance the customer experience and result in epic experiences?  Having more opportunity to buy something I looked at last week is useful if I had forgotten but for most of us that is not the case. Unusually this piece of legislation makes sense to me and stopping cookies that follow me round the Internet would lead to a more epic customer experience.