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I might remember wrong, mind you... "but". A long while ago, browsers were compliant, in that they only allowed first-party cookies by default, and users had t

I might remember wrong, mind you... "but". A long while ago, browsers were compliant, in that they only allowed first-party cookies by default, and users had to opt-in (by going into the browser's settings) to allow third party cookies to work. This was difficult to do for most, but not many sites were unusable without third party cookies enabled, and there weren't that many sites to begin with, so it was "fine": not many users even touched that setting if they weren't affected. Once there were more sites in total, and once more of them were nigh unusable without third party cookies enabled... there was a problem. A big one. Users had to be told how to configure their user-agent to make the site work. Instructions had to be provided for all common browsers. It was a mess. User-agents could've solved this by making the UI/UX better: the user could have an easy-to-use interface to enable third-party cookies per-session, per-site, per-something... ... but instead they ended up implementing the easiest way out, and browsers (no longer user-agents now...) started defaulting to third party cookies being allowed by default. I guess using something like lynx, today, gets one a glimpse into how it was, and how it could have been.

weinzierl 6y ago
That's not what I remember. From my memory and largely based on my experience with Phoenix/Firefox, the option to block third party cookies changed between exposed in the GUI, hidden and exposed but defunct.
- gpvos 6y ago
  I think the transition happened a little before Phoenix/Firefox started. The option "ask" had certainly become unusable some years before, and blocking third party cookies altogether already made many sites unusable at that time.
masswerk 6y ago
I actually recall options as: deny all cookies, allow first party cookies, allow all cookies, ask. (The latter one soon became unrealistic, but it was definitely in some of the earlier Netscape browsers.) Default was "allow first party cookies". Edit: Just rechecked, Netscape Communicator 4.7 (as of Nov. 1997) had the exclusive options (radio buttons) () Accept all cookies () Accept only cookies that get sent back to the originating server () Do not accept cookies and an additional checkbox [] Warn me before accepting cookies (the latter triggering a prompt for any attempt to set a cookie not already denied by the previous options). Edit 2: I got it (NS4.7) to display a cookie warning: The server 192.168.1.2 wishes to set a cookie that will be sent back to itself. The name and value of the cookie are: test=ABC This cookie will persist until Jun 7 10:42:41 2020 Do you wish to allow the cookie to be set? [Cancel] [OK] Mind (a) that all vital data is included in the message and (b) the kind of general competence expected from an average user, back in the day (long before URLs were deemed too complicated).
- mfontani 6y ago
  Yup, there you go! I wasn't that far off :^)

weinzierl 6y ago

That's not what I remember. From my memory and largely based on my experience with Phoenix/Firefox, the option to block third party cookies changed between exposed in the GUI, hidden and exposed but defunct.

gpvos 6y ago
I think the transition happened a little before Phoenix/Firefox started. The option "ask" had certainly become unusable some years before, and blocking third party cookies altogether already made many sites unusable at that time.

masswerk 6y ago

I actually recall options as: deny all cookies, allow first party cookies, allow all cookies, ask. (The latter one soon became unrealistic, but it was definitely in some of the earlier Netscape browsers.) Default was "allow first party cookies". Edit: Just rechecked, Netscape Communicator 4.7 (as of Nov. 1997) had the exclusive options (radio buttons) () Accept all cookies () Accept only cookies that get sent back to the originating server () Do not accept cookies and an additional checkbox [] Warn me before accepting cookies (the latter triggering a prompt for any attempt to set a cookie not already denied by the previous options). Edit 2: I got it (NS4.7) to display a cookie warning: The server 192.168.1.2 wishes to set a cookie that will be sent back to itself. The name and value of the cookie are: test=ABC This cookie will persist until Jun 7 10:42:41 2020 Do you wish to allow the cookie to be set? [Cancel] [OK] Mind (a) that all vital data is included in the message and (b) the kind of general competence expected from an average user, back in the day (long before URLs were deemed too complicated).

mfontani 6y ago
Yup, there you go! I wasn't that far off :^)