How is my personal information collected and what are cookies or web beacons?
It is safe to assume that many Web sites utilize some form of personal or user tracking information collection. The information can be collected in a variety of ways: directly by user-inputted information provided voluntarily, (i.e. registration forms, guest books, etc.); and indirectly through web beacons and/or cookies. A web beacon, sometimes referred to as a clear GIF (Graphics Interchange Format), or pixel tag, is a line of code that some Web sites install on some of their site pages to help learn more about how visitors interact with the content and services that are offered on the Web site. They can also be used to count the traffic to different areas of the Web site. A web beacon is usually invisible and doesn’t affect the content being seen on a Web site. Web beacons are not used to collect any personal information, but they allow the gathering of aggregated information about the use of the Web site. In fact, the majority of information collected by Web sites is better known a
