{"id":10305,"date":"2025-04-28T08:23:30","date_gmt":"2025-04-28T06:23:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.myagileprivacy.com\/?p=10305"},"modified":"2026-01-02T10:55:59","modified_gmt":"2026-01-02T09:55:59","slug":"third-party-cookies-what-are-they-and-how-do-they-work","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.myagileprivacy.com\/en\/third-party-cookies-what-are-they-and-how-do-they-work\/","title":{"rendered":"Third-party cookies: what are they and how do they work?"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2><strong>What is a Third-Party Cookie?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>A third-party cookie is a small text file created and stored on a user\u2019s device by a website other than the one the user is currently visiting. These cookies are set by external domains\u2014such as advertising networks or analytics providers\u2014and are mainly used to track user activity across multiple sites, providing data for targeted advertising and user behavior analysis.<\/p>\n<p>In recent years, attention toward third-party cookies has increased significantly among both website owners and users. Before the introduction of the GDPR, these cookies received little scrutiny: advertisers and third-party providers could collect personal data and track users without facing legal restrictions. In this article, we\u2019ll explore what third-party cookies are, the concerns they create for publishers and advertisers, and how to use them in a compliant way.<\/p>\n<h3><strong>First-Party vs. Third-Party Cookies: What\u2019s the Difference?<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>First-party cookies are created directly by the site you\u2019re visiting to improve your experience and enable site functionality. For example, first-party cookies can remember your login or site preferences.<\/p>\n<p><b>Third-party cookies<\/b>, however, are set by external domains\u2014different from the one you\u2019re visiting. When a website loads external resources like images, ads, or widgets, third parties can use those opportunities to insert their own cookies into your browser.<\/p>\n<h3><strong>Why Are Third-Party Cookies a Privacy Concern?<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>Third-party cookies raise privacy concerns because they allow data collection beyond the control of the main website. These cookies can gather information about users as they browse multiple sites, often sharing or selling this data to other companies\u2014usually without the user\u2019s explicit knowledge or consent. Many users are unaware that their data is being shared in this way during everyday browsing and shopping.<\/p>\n<h3><strong>How Are Third-Party Cookies Created?<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>Third-party cookies are generated when a website requests resources or loads scripts from external domains. However, storing these cookies and loading their scripts should always be subject to clear user consent.<\/p>\n<h3><strong>How Do Third-Party Cookies Work?<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>Ever noticed ads that seem to follow you from site to site? That\u2019s possible thanks to third-party cookies, which enable tracking for targeted advertising and cross-site analytics.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Other Tracking Techniques Beyond Cookies<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Besides cookies, there are more advanced techniques for tracking and storing user data\u2014one of the most sophisticated and controversial is <b>fingerprinting<\/b>.<\/p>\n<h3><strong>Types of Fingerprinting<\/strong><\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li><b>Browser Fingerprinting:<\/b> Collects information about a user\u2019s browser to help identify individuals.<\/li>\n<li><b>Device Fingerprinting:<\/b> Combines hardware and software characteristics to identify a device.<\/li>\n<li><b>Canvas Fingerprinting:<\/b> Uses HTML5 elements to generate a unique identifier for the user\u2019s device.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-10298 size-large\" src=\"https:\/\/www.myagileprivacy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/fingerprinting-en-1024x695.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1024\" height=\"695\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.myagileprivacy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/fingerprinting-en-1024x695.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.myagileprivacy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/fingerprinting-en-300x204.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.myagileprivacy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/fingerprinting-en-768x521.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.myagileprivacy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/fingerprinting-en.jpg 1406w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/p>\n<h3><strong>Are Third-Party Cookies Harmful?<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>While third-party cookies are not inherently dangerous, their use in tracking and targeted advertising has raised substantial privacy concerns among users.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>How to Check for Third-Party Cookies on Your Site<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>To see if your website uses third-party cookies, you can manually review them via your browser\u2019s developer tools or use free online cookie-scanning services.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Frequently Asked Questions<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p><b>What does the GDPR say about third-party cookies?<\/b><br \/>\nThe GDPR requires websites to obtain informed user consent before placing third-party cookies.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Is it safe to allow third-party cookies?<\/strong><br \/>\nIf you are concerned about being tracked online for advertising purposes, it\u2019s generally best to avoid accepting third-party cookies.<\/p>\n<h3><a href=\"https:\/\/www.myagileprivacy.com\/en\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>Get Reliable Consent Management with My Agile Privacy<sup>\u00ae<\/sup><\/strong><\/a><\/h3>\n<p>To simplify compliance and avoid penalties, consider using compliant consent management software like <a href=\"https:\/\/www.myagileprivacy.com\/en\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">My Agile Privacy<sup>\u00ae<\/sup><\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>What is a Third-Party Cookie? A third-party cookie is a small text file created and stored on a user\u2019s device by a website other than the one the user is currently visiting. These cookies are set by external domains\u2014such as advertising networks or analytics providers\u2014and are mainly used to track user activity across multiple sites, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":10310,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[75],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10305","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-compliance-updates"],"acf":{"visibilita_box_autore":false,"autore_associato":null,"elenco_faq_articolo":[{"domanda":"What is a third-party cookie?","risposta":"A third-party cookie is a small text file created and stored on the user's device by a website other than the one the user is actually visiting. It is generated by external domains and used primarily to track user activity across multiple websites, providing data for targeted advertising and online behavior analysis."},{"domanda":"What is the difference between first-party cookies and third-party cookies?","risposta":"First-party cookies are created by the website the user is visiting to improve functionality and experience, such as remembering a login. Third-party cookies, on the other hand, are added by external websites: as long as the page includes external resources (such as advertising banners or remote images), a third-party domain can place a cookie in the user's browser."},{"domanda":"Why are third-party cookies a privacy concern?","risposta":"Third-party cookies allow personal data to be collected without direct control by the visited website. They can track users across multiple sites, share or sell data to third parties without consent, and users are often unaware of what data about them is being collected and shared during their browsing session."},{"domanda":"What does the GDPR require regarding third-party cookies?","risposta":"The GDPR requires that the website must obtain the user's consent before installing third-party cookies."},{"domanda":"Are there tracking techniques other than third-party cookies?","risposta":"Yes, there are more advanced techniques such as fingerprinting, which includes Browser Fingerprinting (collects information from the browser to uniquely identify the user), Device Fingerprinting (combines hardware and software information to identify the device), and Canvas Fingerprinting (exploits HTML5 to generate a unique graphical signature of the device)."},{"domanda":"How can you check if a website uses third-party cookies?","risposta":"To check for the presence of third-party cookies on a website, you can manually inspect them using the browser's developer tools or use free online cookie scanning tools."},{"domanda":"Is it safe to allow third-party cookies?","risposta":"If you do not want third parties to track your activities for advertising purposes, it is better to deny consent. Third-party cookies are not necessarily harmful, but their use for tracking and targeted advertising raises serious privacy concerns."}],"url_esterno":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myagileprivacy.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10305","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myagileprivacy.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myagileprivacy.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myagileprivacy.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myagileprivacy.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10305"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.myagileprivacy.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10305\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15104,"href":"https:\/\/www.myagileprivacy.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10305\/revisions\/15104"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myagileprivacy.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10310"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myagileprivacy.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10305"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myagileprivacy.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10305"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myagileprivacy.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10305"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}