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Quote:Internet cookies might not be as reliable an indicator of distinct Web site visitors as previously thought, according to a Monday report from Internet research company comScore.

A growing number of Internet users have taken to erasing their computer's cookies, which are unique identifiers inserted on a user's computer that reveal what Web sites someone has visited. While this might not seem like a catastrophic event, the deletion of these cookies could lead to inflated traffic reports for a particular Web site, according to the report...

Quote: Web server-based measurement of online traffic can produce highly inflated figures on web site audiences following the deletion of software “cookies” that record online traffic, Internet traffic researchers comScore Inc. reports.

Site-server audience figures can be inflated up to 2.5 times the actual number of unique online visitors, comScore says in a new white paper, “The Impact of Cookie Deletion on the Accuracy of Site-Server and Ad-Server Metrics: An Empirical comScore Study.” Measurements of unique online audiences count each visitor only once per month regardless of how many times he or she visits a site, and web sites automatically create cookies to identify each unique visitor. If the cookie is deleted, a site server will record a returning visitor as someone new, inflating the recorded number of unique visitors...