Cookies Crumble As Key Tracking Tool

Concerned about their privacy, consumers are increasingly deleting cookies from their computers, making Internet advertising measurement more difficult.

Now ubiquitous in online advertising, cookies are used to collect anonymous information about Web surfers, which is used for ad targeting and to measure its effects on e-commerce.

But cookies are now threatened by consumers fed up with computer intrusions, according to a recent Jupiter Research survey of 2,300 Web users. Over half of respondents said they cleared cookies from their hard drives at some point last year, and 38 percent said cookies are an invasion of privacy.