Indeed, and part of the job of an exceptionally good developer is to avoid having the masses have to know about things they shouldn't need to know about. Don't laugh at people's ignorance when the whole point of User Interface/Experience Design is to ensure that people don't have to know how things work.
EDIT: coverdude in his/her reply to my comment makes an important point that I missed - it's not the masses being laughed at, it's the "journalist." Yes, point taken, the author really, really ought to know better.
I laugh at this author's ignorance because cookies have been small innocuous pieces of text for the last decade and a half. No one could have clued this guy in? He writes for the Wall Street Journal for Pete's sake.
EDIT: coverdude in his/her reply to my comment makes an important point that I missed - it's not the masses being laughed at, it's the "journalist." Yes, point taken, the author really, really ought to know better.