We are committed to protecting your personal information when you are using our services. We strive to make our web site the best, safest and most enjoyable environments for topics regarding common knowledge. We have created this separate cookies policy in order to provide comprehensive information about how we use cookies across our website.
This policy provides the following information for users:
- Information about cookies
- Types of cookies
- How do we use cookies?
- Analytics on our website
- Advertising on our website
- Contacting Us
Information about cookies
What is a cookie?
Magic cookies of cookie for short is a small piece 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. Please see the section below Change your Browser Settings.
What do cookies do?
Cookies record information about your online preferences and allow to tailor the websites to your interests. Information supplied by cookies can help to analyse your use of our sites and help to provide you with a better user experience. For example, you may choose to personalize 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 the website 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 organizations that we use for different services. For example, we use external analytics services and these suppliers may set cookies on our 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 is needed to know who you are for more than one usage session. For example, if you have asked a website 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 utilize 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. You can manage which websites can store information in Flash cookies on your device via the website storage settings panel on the Adobe website.
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.
Analytics on our Website
The advertisements on our sites are served by a number of third party ad serving providers, including DoubleClick and amongst others. The cookies accompanying the adverts allow them and their advertisers to monitor the effectiveness of the ads (e.g. by using statistical analysis cookies) and make the ads more relevant to you (e.g. if you use our site from outside of the US, you may get ads from your local country). If you would like more information about the cookies used by the providers listed above, please see their privacy policies at: http://www.doubleclick.com/privacy/index.aspx
Further Information
Please contact us using our contact page.