Storing a user's identity and the pages downloaded as well as the services used allows a web server to establish an individual user profile that can be used for transferring specific information or advertisements to the user.
A cookie cannot transmit viruses. A web server cannot infiltrate your hard drive; it can only make your browser store the relevant cookie file.
A cookie can include your e-mail address only if you entered your address in an online form while visiting that site. Only then can the web server identify the user's address at a later visit.
The information stored in a cookie can be transferred only to web servers that were authorised when the cookie was established by registration of the Internet domain and the URL path. While clicking on the link to this web site, the browser compares the links URL path with the entries in the cookie. If the data match, the browser will send the cookie together with the request for that web page to the relevant web server. That way it can assure that no other server may get access to the cookie.
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