NFORMATION ABOUT COOKIES
What is a cookie?
A cookie is a small amount of data, which often includes a unique identifier that is sent to your computer or mobile device (referred to here as a “device”) browser from a website’s server and is stored on your device’s hard drive. Each website or third party service provider used by the website can send its own cookie to your browser if your browser’s preferences allow it, but (to protect your privacy) your browser only permits a website or third party service provider to access the cookies it has already sent to you, not the cookies sent to you by other sites or other third party service providers. A cookie will contain some anonymous information such as a unique identifier and the site name and some digits and numbers. It allows a website to remember things like your preferences or what’s in your shopping basket.
What is a browser?
A browser is an application that allows you to surf the internet. The most common browsers are Chrome, Internet Explorer, Firefox and Safari. Most browsers are secure and offer quick and easy ways to delete information like cookies.
What do cookies do?
Cookies record information about your online preferences and allow us to tailor the websites to your interests. Information supplied by cookies can help us to analyse your use of our sites and help us to provide you with a better user experience. For example, you may choose to personalise the content of a website in order to see the latest news and weather for your region. In order to do this, a cookie is placed on your device to remember where you live so that we deliver the information that has been requested by you. This is a prime example of how cookies are used to improve your experience of a website.
Change your Browser Settings
You can choose how cookies are handled by your device via your browser settings. The most popular browsers allow users to a) accept all cookies, b) to notify you when a cookie is issued, or c) to not receive cookies at any time. If you choose not to receive cookies at any time, the website may not function properly and certain services will not be provided, spoiling your experience of the website. Each browser is different, so check the “Help” menu of your browser to learn how to change your cookie preferences.
TYPES OF COOKIE
First Party Cookies
First party cookies are set by the website you are visiting and they can only be read by that site.
Third Party Cookies
Third party cookies are set by other organisations that we use for different services. For example, Swdcheritage.org uses external analytics services and these suppliers may set cookies on ours behalf in order to report what’s popular and what’s not. The website you are visiting may also contain content embedded from, for example, YouTube or Flickr and these sites may set their own cookies.
Session Cookies
Session Cookies are stored only for the duration of your visit to a website and these are deleted from your device when your browsing session ends.
Persistent Cookies
This type of cookie is saved on your device for a fixed period. Persistent cookies are used where we need to know who you are for more than one usage session. For example, if you have asked us to remember preferences like your location or your username.
Flash cookies
Many websites use Adobe Flash Player to deliver video and game content to their users. Adobe utilise their own cookies, which are not manageable through your browser settings but are used by the Flash Player for similar purposes, such as storing preferences or tracking users.
Flash Cookies work in a different way to web browser cookies; rather than having individual cookies for particular jobs, a website is restricted to storing all data in one cookie. You can control how much data, if any, may be stored in that cookie but you cannot choose what type of information is allowed to be stored.
Web beacons, clear GIFs, page tags and web bugs
These are all terms used to describe a particular form of technology implemented by many websites in order to help them to analyse how their site is being used and, in turn, to improve your experience of their site. They may also be used to target any advertising being served on the web page you are viewing.
A web beacon (or similar) usually takes the form of a small, transparent image, which is embedded in a web page or an email. They are used in conjunction with cookies and send information such as your IP address, when you viewed the page or email, from what device and your (broad) location.
HOW DO WE USE COOKIES?
Cookies enable us to identify your device, or you when you have logged in. We use cookies that are strictly necessary to enable you to move around the site or to provide certain basic features. We use cookies to enhance the functionality of the website by storing your preferences, for example. We also use cookies to help us to improve the performance of our website to provide you with a better user experience.
Typically, we use cookies to deliver the following services throughout the pages:
- To record what people like and don’t like on the website and the popularity of various elements of the website so that we can ensure that it works properly at points of high usage.
- Our website contain advertising and all advertising that is served on our websites will be clearly marked with the word “Advertisement”. Cookies may sometimes be used to deliver advertising and marketing messages relevant to you – a practice across the internet and known as behavioral marketing.
- To enable us to recognize your device so you don’t have to give the same information repeatedly;
- Google Analytics provide anonymised statistical information for us. They process IP addresses and information from cookies used on our sites so we know how many page views we have, how many users we have, what browsers they are using (so we can target our resources in the right way to maximise compatibility for the majority of our users) and, in some cases, in which country, city or region they are located.
- Importantly, this statistical information also allows us to determine how much we should charge for advertising, and if we are hitting our target audience. If we didn’t have these measurement tools to enable us to get our sums right on the advertising we would have less money to spend on improving our sites’ content.
