With the rise of the internet, which serves as an international network of computers providing users access to vast amounts of information from all over the world, new privacy issues have emerged. This work addresses the resulting question of whether the use of cookies and web bugs by public and private internet service providers is permissible under data protection law, and if so, what conditions this permissibility depends on. This question of whether and how cookies and web bugs are used on the WWW will be examined after explaining the fundamentals, through a comparison of US and German law, incorporating supranational regulations. Self-regulation, its significance, and data protection practices are also taken into account. In addition to presenting the current situation, the author evaluates the identified differences and similarities and concludes with a look at future developments.