Yes banner adverts read the cookies stored on your PC and then show you relevent and focused adverts. Searching in google for budgie feed... You we banners for budgie shows, bell and mirrors, look at ladies undies, trying to buy the wife a lovely birthday present, you see lingerie banner adverts.
Now this is why the law has recently changedf re cookies being put on your PC by the websites you visit. Many say it's an invasion of privacy. You will see many sites have a more prominent cookie warning from now on, however to meet the exact wording of the law, each and every European based website(doesn't include the rest of the world) should have an opt in/out cookie warning.
This could be a drop down, or pop up type of thing, but trust me the web is going to become a much more frustrating place.
You will continually having to say I agree or disagree to cookies on every new site you go to. Many sites require cookies to function (shop basket items are stored in cookies in most e comm websites) to this end a number of websites, should you say, no I don't want cookies, put you straight back to google!
Most websites use cookies to 'track' the visitor to find out about a website users habits. How do the visit the shop and move through the buying experience. Where are thier visitors coming from, are they target people who want to use thier website or are visitors, arriving and leaving straight the way because it's not about what they thought...
Cookies are not necessarily a bad thing, they are there to help people tailor the web experience to make it more personal and effective to the individual.... However when the general website user is asked the question, do you wish to use cookies, so that the above can be done most say, no, don't use cookies... That is where the problems will begin... A lot of stuff on the web will not work without cookies unfortunately.Edited by: Markmod1