Cookies are small data files that a web server stores in our browser when we visit a page. There are many types of  cookies . The purposes of these files are varied, among others, collecting information about the user’s browsing habits and their activity within the website, as well as storing access data to the site (username, password, page personalization, date of last visit). , etc.) making web browsing more comfortable for the user. Some  cookies  also allow the user to be tracked between websites, creating an anonymous profile aimed at use by online marketing companies.

Generally, they do not represent a problem if they are  cookies  for own use or within the site, since these have a functional mission. If, on the other hand, they are   third-party cookies , they can collect personal data that could put the user’s privacy at risk.

Types of cookies and functions

Although there are several classifications of  cookies  depending on who manages them and their purpose, in this article we will focus on the most common and used ones, which are classified according to the time they remain active:

• Session cookies:  data is collected only while the user remains on the website, then it is deleted.
• Persistent:  data is collected that can remain stored for a certain period of time defined by the website administrator.

 Types of cookies according to their purpose

Technical cookies: They allow the user to navigate through the website or platform and use the different options or services that exist there, such as, for example, controlling traffic and data communication, identifying the session, accessing restricted access parts, use security elements during navigation or store content for the dissemination of videos or sound or share content through social networks. These are session and persistent cookies.

Personalization cookies: They allow the user to access the service with some predefined characteristics based on a series of criteria on the user’s terminal, such as the type of browser through which the service is accessed, the regional configuration from which the service is accessed. , etc. Third parties such as Google, YouTube or Twitter use this type of persistent personalization cookies regarding their services.

Analytical cookies: These are those that allow us to quantify the number of users and thus carry out the measurement and statistical analysis of the use made by users of our website. To do this, your navigation on our website is analyzed in order to improve it.

Cookie legislation

Cookies   appear for the first time in the  LSSI-CE , Law on Information Society Services and Electronic Commerce, and the former LOPD, Organic Law on Protection of Personal Data, and from the beginning they raised many comments, both from users , as well as companies and particularly in the online marketing sector. A controversial aspect has been knowing when and how to ask for consent.

Currently, the LSSI-CE is still in force and data protection is regulated by the  LOPDGDD  (LOPD and Digital Rights Guarantee) and by the European Data Protection Regulation or  RGPD . In Europe,  cookies  have been the subject of the  e-Privacy directive , now in the Regulation proposal phase and therefore still subject to modifications. This regulation, once approved, will be mandatory for all EU member countries.

The Spanish Data Protection Agency has recently published a  Guide on the use of cookies  to guide web page designers and administrators and online marketing companies in the use of cookies  according  to current legislation.

Cases where it is not necessary to ask the user for consent

For a  cookie  to be exempt from the user’s consent, its expiration must be related to its purpose, being as minimal as possible, or being eliminated in a short period of time. Thus, GT29 (Working Group 29) currently replaced by the EDPB (European Data Protection Committee)  has interpreted  that the  cookies  that may be excluded from the consent request would be those whose purpose is:

•  “user input” cookies ;
•  authentication or user identification (session) cookies ;
•  media player cookies ;
• session cookies  for load balancing on the web server;
•  interface customization cookies ;
•  Plug  -in cookies  for exchanging social content.