I usually don't stay logged in accounts important to me very long because I'm paranoid about cross-site tracking using cookies. The solution, I think, would to be to change the way firefox handles cookies, such that I can specify that a firefox tab's cookies be isolated from the rest of my browsing. So, two questions for the HN community:<p>1. Is keeping old cookies a security risk?<p>2. How can I keep different sites cookies separate?
Umm... Cookies from different sites are already separate. A cookie is set for a particular domain and your browser only allows servers in that domain to read it. You don't have to worry about some random site reading a cookie set by your bank's website.<p>What may be of concern are the tracking and analytics cookies. Let's say you visit a site that displays ads served up by a third party. The ad firm sets a cookie with a unique identifier. Later on you visit some other site that displays an ad from the same ad firm. The ad firm is able to read the cookie they set earlier. Now you're being tracked (not personally, but as a unique web user) and ads can be tailored to your browsing habits.