New study shows how internet cookies crumble

Do men put a greater premium on online privacy? A new study conducted by Burst! Media finds that men are much more likely to delete internet cookies than women. A survey of 10,000 internet users age 14 and older finds that 54.5 percent of males report deleting cookies from their computers while 41.8 percent of women do so. It suggests men are either more internet savvy or want to protect their privacy more. The study also revealed that there’s a large segment of people who know nothing about or have ever heard of cookies, 30.4 percent. Cookies are pieces of code stored on a computer that help deliver and measure internet marketing campaigns. But fears over security threats seem to have internet users removing them from their systems. Just over 42 percent agreed with the statement “Internet cookies make my computer susceptible to viruses” and another 42 percent agreed with “Internet cookies make my computer unsafe for personal information.” Slightly more than 31 percent said they deleted cookies from their computers because their spyware program suggested they do so.