Cookies

About cookies:

Cookies are pieces of data, normally stored in text files, that websites place on visitors’ computers to store a range of information. They were created to overcome a limitation in web technology. Web pages are ‘stateless’ – which means that they have no memory, and cannot easily pass information between each other. So cookies provide a kind of memory for web pages. Almost all websites use cookies in some way or another, and every page you visit in those sites writes cookies to your computer and receives them back from it.

Types of cookies:

There are many different types and uses of cookies, but most can be classified as:

  • 1st party cookies – are only set or retrieved by the website while you are visiting it, so they cannot be used to track activity or pass data from one site to another. They can be Session or Persistent cookies:
    • Session cookies –  are only stored temporarily in the browser’s memory, and are destroyed when it is closed down. They are necessary for functioning of the site (i.e session cookie to store your login).
    • Persistent cookies  –  are saved on your computer so that when you close it down and start it up again, it will still be there. All persistent cookies do have an expiry date, and if that expiry date is reached, it will be destroyed by the computer. Persistent cookies help websites remember your information and settings when you visit them in the future. This result in faster and more convenient access since, for example, you don’t have to login again or select language.
  • 3rd party cookies – the host domain for a cookie is different to the one in the browser bar when it was downloaded  (i.e. online advertising cookies, analytics cookies, etc).

This site use this type of  3rd party cookies:

  • Google Analytics – We anonymously measure use of this website to improve user  experience. We do not do this to track individual users or to identify them, but to gain useful knowledge about how the site is used so that we can keep improving it. Without the knowledge we gain from the systems that use these cookies we would not be able to provide the service we do.

How to control cookies (enabling/deleting):

All recent versions of popular browsers give users a level of control over cookies. Users can set their browsers to accept or reject all, or certain cookies. Users can also set their browser to prompt them each time a cookie is offered. You can also use Privacy settings tab on the right bottom of the page to enable or disable cookies. More about the settings to manage cookies in your browser, refer to the instructions for your browser.

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