In this Christmas season, our houses receive a visit from a gentleman in red, with a bag on its back. It comes down the chimney and leaves gifts for well-behaved children. But as we know, not all children were that well behaved during the year. However, Santa does not mind to close his eyes to some naughtiness if he has a glass of milk and a plate of cookies waiting for him.

Does Santa like cookies? That is a good question if you come across him someday. For now, it remains without an answer.

But do not think that Santa is the only one eating cookies. All of us, in almost every website we visit, eat some small cookies. So what are they?

Simply put, these are a way for a website to store some information on your computer or smartphone. In its upside, these can be used, for example, to store your login information, so that you do not have to write your password every time you enter a social network. For most websites, this information is also used as a way to count visitors and how they interact with it.

Unfortunately, like most technologies, it also has a more complex side.  Some websites use third-party cookies, also known as non-essential because they do not impact the way we use a website. This way, a non-related company can gather information about users, that can later be used as a valuable marketing tool. The famous cookie pop-ups allow us, as users, to manage and control some of the information that is gathered.

The ever-increasing awareness of user privacy has made some companies change the way they use cookies on its website and systems. For example, the Firefox web browser already includes, by default, a request for websites to use as little cookies as possible. This approach will lead to a shift in the way this technology is used, but it is important for us, as users, to keep our attention to this topic.

For 2021, there is no doubt that we will keep leaving our cookies in the fireplace for Santa, we just have to hope he keeps giving us some good presents.