The Internet is a big place, but some would like to make it more like a small town.
The kind of place where everyone knows you, knows where you go, knows what you like. To make it that way, some Web sites use a little software device called a ''cookie.''
Cookies have been around for a few years, but recently, they are beginning to be associated with Big Brother and Men in Black. You know, those mysterious people or agencies that track and record everything we do for some unknown yet sinister purpose.
The people who worry about privacy in modern life point to cookies as an example of why we should stay away from computers and the Internet.
Cookies are really quite simple. And harmless - as long as you're not the paranoid type.
Crumbs of code
A cookie is a little bit of computer code that a Web site places in a file in your computer. Cookies are kept in text files, and you can read the files with any word processing program.
If you're using Netscape Navigator or Internet Explorer, look for a file called cookies.txt (or MagicCookie in a Macintosh). In Windows 95, look in a folder called Cookies in the Windows folder.
Open a cookie file, and you'll see lines of text, each line from a site you visited. Not every site gives you a cookie, but those that do record the URL (Web address), an identification number and some other tidbits of information that might be in English or computer gibberish.
The basic purpose of a cookie entry is to help the managers of a Web site track who's visiting that Web site and what those visitors are doing.
For example, let's say you have a Web site and want to know who's visiting. Your webmaster says the site had 10,000 ''hits'' - requests from computer for pages from the site. But he can't tell you if they're from 10,000 people or one hyperactive teen-ager.
So your webmaster drops a cookie in each visitor's browser. That cookie contains a unique ID number. Now he can give you more detailed information, such as of the 10,000 hits, there might have been only 500 different visitors.
Cookie files are very useful for large commercial sites, since the webmasters can track which areas of the site are popular. If the site requires you to create an account to use areas of the Web site, some of that account information might be saved in your cookie file, so it takes up space in your hard drive, not the Web site's computer.
Cookie files are important if you visit shopping sites that allow you to collect merchandise in a ''shopping cart,'' then go to the ''checkout'' to pay. Many shopping sites use cookie information to keep track of your merchandise selection. And some use it to customize the site for you when you return.
Companies that sell advertising on the Internet, such as DoubleClick http://www.doubleclick.com use cookies to customize ads, based on where the browser has been.
Are cookies for spying?
Some who object to cookies think that cookies are used to spy on people as they travel the Internet. For these folks, there are ways to thwart cookies - if you're willing to live with the consequences.
One way to thwart cookies is to tell your browser software to warn you if a Web site is giving you a cookie. In current versions of Navigator, look under ''preferences''; in Internet Explorer, look under ''options.''
If you refuse to accept cookies, you might be annoyed by sites that keep trying to give you one. If a site looks for a cookie and doesn't see one, it gives you one. If you refuse, it will again look for the cookie, not see it and send another. This can go on and on until you finally give up and take the cookies.
Another way to thwart cookies is to make the cookie file ''read only,'' or to edit the file after each Internet session and remove the cookie information.
Perhaps I'm naive, but I don't see the face of Big Brother here. To me, it's more like the electronic version of the attentive department store clerk, who offers to help pick out a tie for that new shirt and takes the time to learn the tastes of regular customers.
In that light, giving away cookies might be considered just part of good customer service.
For more information about cookies and how to thwart them, visit Cookie Central http://www.cookiecentral.com.
E-mail Charles Brewer with questions, comments and suggestions at CBrewer@enquirer.com Charles Brewer's columns can be found at http://enquirer.com/columns/brewer