Over 50% of the 100 most popular web sites use a type of surreptitious cookie without their knowledge. Cookies are tiny text files which identify a computer to a server as a unique user when the user visits certain pages. They are stored on the computer's hard drive. A recent survey shows that there is code in Adobe's popular Flash media player which can track users' online behaviour. That code is just like standard cookies, except that it is not stored on the user's browser and so it is very hard to stop, even for users who have deleted standard cookies. 54 of the 100 web sites researched used Flash cookies but only four of them mentioned this in their privacy policies. The Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations 2003 prohibit the storing of information on a user's computer unless they are given clear and comprehensive information about the purposes of the storage of or access to that information and are given the opportunity to refuse the storage of or access to that information. Based on the research by the University of California, many web sites appear to be in breach of this law.
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