Cookies – the short version
You already heard of cookies? Yes, me too! But I know what cookies are technically made for. The short part here is: I do not need them for this purpose at all.
Cookies – the longer version
Cookies is small text based information that the server requires your browser to store and resent with each request. This information can contain identifiers, which are then resend to the server each time the browser requests information. With this the server is able to distinguish which request is coming from which browser instance.
This may be necessary, when we want to provide personal data to the page visitor. This can be the case after login or for a shopping cart. But if you only wanted to download your buses' timetables, it's simply a mystery why the server needs to have this information. Anybody could go to the bus station to find out that information anyway.
Something concerning CSRF-Tokens: CSRF-Tokens are tokens, that are generated – most time – with the first page visit and then often stored in a cookie. The browser always sends this data to the server, which can then ensure that the visitor has previously visited the page with his browser. This locks out scripts sent e.g. via E-Mail.
This is really a big benefit in Web 2.0, where users can alter Information on the server. In this case we only want to provide information available for all people. It's nothing more then watch the timetable at the bus stop. There is no need for a cookie.
Your IP Address
Yes, as you see this page, you know that the browser downloaded the website from the web server. To do so, a TCP connection is established. This includes the server to know your IP address. Webservers usually store log messages in a log file including the ip address of the remote sending the request. We only analyze this log messages only for debugging purposes (to find errors, mistakes or misbehaviour).
But, this information is does not have any value for me, I do not use it at all and no, I also do not sell this information. From time to time, this information gets deleted anyway.