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Delete Cookies, Inflate Net Traffic Estimates

eldavojohn writes "In my browser, I regularly go to the tools menu and clear my private data. This includes my cookies. As a result, people like me who destroy cookies by the thousands may be inflating estimates of Web traffic by up to 150 percent. People have good reasons for clearing out cookies — we've heard about bad cookies before (and I think the FCC is still investigating the issue). But every time you delete cookies, many of the sites you've visited count you as a new visitor next time."

1 of 217 comments (clear)

  1. Boo Hoo by Strilanc · · Score: 0, Flamebait

    This is ridiculous, "whine whine, we can't count unique visitors because people are disabling cookies" You couldn't count them before! People don't match up one to one with computers. I can use multiple computers and a computer can be used by multiple people.

    If only there were some mathematical field, meant to deal with uncertainties like this.