Use of cookies policy on websites?

[334]

Why do websites need to tell me that they are using cookies for a "better user experience" etc..?

I live in the U.S. do I need to have a cookie policy and such?

[DunbarPappy®ϟϟ]

Those 'advisories' are a "feel good" ploy to get visitors to allow ALL cookies from websites they visit.
When you do that, they can set "3rd party" cookies, for which the site gets paid a set amount.
It's a revenue generating device, and I understand the motivation behind it.

Browsers in their 'stock' configuration have a cookie policy: let all the cookies in.

The problem for visitors is these very often jam up the screen with advertising, which is annoying; or worse: parties you know nothing about are building profiles of you & your habits while using the 'Net...to what end not even Satan himself could guess.
And since these are unregulated items, they can (and have) been used to cause visitors devices to misbehave, or even deliver malicious payloads.

In general, to get a site to function properly, you allow "1st party" (or "Session") cookies, and block 3rd party cookies.
Since the 'Net is so dynamic, advertisers have managed to get around the blocking devices users have, to get their junk thru.
A lot depends on what browser is used.
Firefox can be configured/modified to do a decent job (see: http://ca.answers.yahoo.com/question/ind...202AA4cljP )
Chrome was very good for starters, but like every decent thing Google introduces, it's has morphed into one big spying apparatus.

GRC's 'cookie operation' (how this stuff works):
http://www.grc.com/cookies/operation.htm
For an honest evaluation of your browser's cookie 'asset' handling, what info may be 'leaking', etc., go here:
https://www.grc.com/cookies/forensics.htm