Analytics cookies
This site uses analytics cookies. Cookies are small chunks of info saved on your computer or other device via your browser. Most websites use them.On this site, analytics cookies are automatically set and managed by Blogger (a blogging platform owned by Google), because this blog is hosted on Blogger. Google doesn't provide a setting for blog owners to stop the use of Blogger analytics cookies, so I can't disable them - but you can disable cookies altogether, if you wish (see below).
Analytics data are automatically shared with Google, as they collect and analyse the data for blogs. Google has provided no option to limit this data sharing on Blogger hosted blogs, although other Analytics sites can disable Analytics data sharing with Google. This is what Google says it uses the data for (more detailed info). Google doesn't seem to require Blogger uses to include a detailed notice about Analytics data usage, but here it is from Google's terms:
This website uses Google Analytics, a web analytics service provided by Google, Inc. (“Google”). Google Analytics uses “cookies”, which are text files placed on your computer, to help the website analyze how users use the site. The information generated by the cookie about your use of the website (including your IP address) will be transmitted to and stored by Google on servers in the United States . Google will use this information for the purpose of evaluating your use of the website, compiling reports on website activity for website operators and providing other services relating to website activity and internet usage. Google may also transfer this information to third parties where required to do so by law, or where such third parties process the information on Google's behalf. Google will not associate your IP address with any other data held by Google. You may refuse the use of cookies by selecting the appropriate settings on your browser, however please note that if you do this you may not be able to use the full functionality of this website. By using this website, you consent to the processing of data about you by Google in the manner and for the purposes set out above
Cookies and other web analytics tools, by automatically collecting standard internet log information and details of visitor behaviour patterns, enable site owners to improve their sites through analysing how visitors are using their site, eg how many people visited a particular webpage.
This information in itself doesn't identify anyone: it includes IP addresses, but not names or email addresses. I won't try to find out who visits this site, and I won't associate any data gathered from this site with any personally identifying information from any source. If I do want to collect personally identifiable information through this site, I'll make that clear and explain what I intend to do with it.
Other cookies
Blogger also automatically sets a session cookie, which is a Blogger cookie. I hope Google will explain to Blogger users and their visitors what it's for. I suspect it's just operational, and hopefully essential for Blogger blogs to work.If you click on the Google+, Facebook, Twitter, BlogThis etc icons at the bottom of a blog post, that will trigger scripts from Google, Facebook etc. Those scripts might well set cookies, but it should be for Google, Facebook etc to explain what those scripts do, as I don't know. Those icons are inserted as a Google service.
Disabling cookies or scripts
To stop information collection through your browser via cookies, please follow the instructions here or here to disable cookies.However, none of them explain how to accept or reject cookies in a granular way, eg allow cookies from site X but block cookies from site Y. As cookies are typically set by Javascript scripts, if you use Firefox you can install the excellent extension NoScript to control scripts running in your browser, though explaining its use is beyond the scope of this site, and certainly no one else seems to mention it! There are cookie control extensions for Firefox too. The Opera browser allows per-site control.