An Introduction to

STATE MANAGEMENT/COOKIESby Elise ChisholmMay 12, 2010

STATE MANAGEMENTWhat is it?

State management technology allows websites to identify you, maintain information about you, and even track your online movements.

STATE MANAGEMENTBefore state management, the web was like a vending machine. It had little regard for your identity, what products you want, and how many purchases you’ve made. You couldn’t buy multiple products at one time, and there was no “oneclick” feature to remember your personal information.

There are two types of state management:

Server sideClient side

STATE MANAGEMENTClient side Server side

Cookies Application state

View state Session state

Control state Profile properties

Hidden fields Database support

Query strings

Client side – minimal security but faster performance

Server side – higher security but can lead to scalability issues when information store is large

COOKIESWhat are they?

Cookies are small files that websites place on your browser. Information travels back and forth between your browser (Firefox, Internet Explorer, etc.) and the websites you’re visiting.

They’re usually a combo of letters and numbers

COOKIESFor example: If I visit Google for the first time, Google places a cookie on my browser. The next time I visit Google – seconds, days or weeks later – my browser sends Google that same cookie with a cookie ID number that allows Google to recognize my computer.

COOKIESCookies enable websites to remember your login details every time you visit, and help online stores to keep track of which items you’ve added to your shopping cart. All search engines and most websites use cookies.

COOKIES

Third party cookies serve up ads that are relevant to your interests, control the number of times you see an ad, and measure the effectiveness of ad campaigns.

There are two types of cookies: first party cookies and third party cookies.

First party cookies Third party cookies

Travel back and forth between your browser and the website you’re visiting, allowing that website to store information about your preferences

Travel back and forth between your browser and the website of a company that’s displaying an ad on the site you’re visiting (usually an ad serving company)

COOKIESWhere did they come from?

1991 Tim Berners-Lee creates the first web browser

1994 Lou Montulli and Netscape’s New Enterprise Server Division develop cookies

1996 Cookies become public knowledge thanks to the Financial Times

1996 Netscape announces option for alerting users about cookies

PRIVACYMost of the time there’s no personally identifiable info in a cookie file (like name, email address, phone number).

Cookies can’t be used to run programs on your computer, access info on your hard drive, or deliver viruses.

Google has five privacy principles that describe how the company approaches privacy and user information.

PRIVACYYou can control which cookies get sent to your browser.

To refuse cookies on Firefox or Internet Explorer (if you’re on a PC), click on Tools, Options, Privacy, Show Cookies, Remove.

REFERENCESInformation sources:Duffy, J. (2004, September/October). State management. Component Developer Magazine.

Retrieved May 2010 from http://www.code-magazine.com/article.aspx?quickid=0409061.

Fink, G. (2008, June 30). ASP.NET client side state management. .NET Zone. Retrieved May 2010 from http://dotnet.dzone.com/news/aspnet-server-side-state-manag.

Google (2010). Google privacy: a look at cookies. Retrieved May 2010 from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XfZLztx8cKI.

MSDN (2010). ASP.NET state management recommendations. Retrieved May 2010 from http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/z1hkazw7.aspx.

Shah, R. & Kesan, J. (2009). Recipes for cookies: how institutions shape communication technology. New Media & Society. Retrieved May 2010 from http://nms.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/11/3/315.

REFERENCES

Information sources (continued):Shillan, C. (2004, March). Deferred ASP.NET session state management. MSDN. Retrieved May

2010 from http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa479324.aspx.

Tech Republic (2003, March 12). Retrieved May 2010 from http://articles.techrepublic.com.com/5100-10878_11-1058704.html?tag=rbxccnbtr1.

Tech Republic (2003, March 19). Retrieved May 2010 from http://articles.techrepublic.com.com/5100-10878_11-5030436.html.

REFERENCES

Images sources:Amazon.com (2010). Retrieved May 2010 from http://www.amazon.com/.

Google (2010). Google privacy: a look at cookies. Retrieved May 2010 from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XfZLztx8cKI.

Google (2010). Retrieved May 2010 from http://www.google.com/.

Mozilla Firefox (2010). Retrieved May 2010 from http://www.google.com/firefox?client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official.

THANK YOU