I just read Ms. Slind-Flor’s December 20, 1999 article (Gold Diggers), lauding and praising Jeff Bezos’ army of attorneys fighting to stop Barnes & Noble’s Web site from using “one-click” order technology.
Let’s get consider exactly what Mr. Bezos & Co. have been granted a patent on. “One-click” ordering is in reality nothing more than a single record in a database, and a single piece of information, known as a “cookie” stored in the user’s web browser software. Cookies were created by Netscape Communications Corp. A cookie is a small piece of information that (based upon parameters provided at the time it is set) govern what servers the data will automatically be sent to, as well as how long the information is valid (i.e. an expiration date/time).
