What Are Cookies?
 

BROWSER COOKIES:

Cookies are pieces of information that a website places on your device when you visit a website. Cookies may involve the transmission of information from us to you and from you directly to us, to another party on our behalf, or to another party in accordance with its privacy policy. We may use cookies to bring together information we collect about you. You can choose to have your device warn you each time a cookie is being sent, or you can choose to turn off all cookies. You do this through your browser settings. If you turn cookies off, you won’t have access to many features that make your guest experience more efficient and some of our services will not function properly. Please see the last section of this Cookies Policy for more information about how to manage or disable browser cookies.

We use several categories of cookies and each performs different functions. You can learn more about cookies and their functions generally by visiting an information website like http://allaboutcookies.org/.

FLASH COOKIES:

We may use local shared objects, sometimes known as Flash cookies, to store your preferences or display content based upon what you view on our site to personalize your visit. Flash cookies are different from browser cookies because of the amount of, type of, and how data is stored. Cookie management tools provided by your browser will not remove Flash cookies. Please see the last section of this Cookies Policy for information on how to disable Flash cookies.

If you disable Flash cookies, you won’t have access to many features that make your experience more efficient and some of our services will not function properly.

WHAT CATEGORIES OF COOKIES MAY BE USED?

The cookies that may be used on this website fall into the three categories described below. These descriptions can help you determine if and how you would like to interact with our websites and other online services.

STRICTLY NECESSARY COOKIES

These cookies are essential in order to enable you to navigate this website and use certain features. Without these strictly necessary cookies, the online services you have asked for cannot be provided.

PERFORMANCE COOKIES

We may place our performance cookies on your device. The information collected using our performance cookies is used by us or for our benefit, to improve our website experience or for other statistics gathering purposes.

Our performance cookies are used to generate aggregated, anonymous information about how you and other users use this website and its features. For instance, our performance cookies collect information about which pages on this website you visit most often, if you open or read the communications we send, which advertisements you view or interact with on this website or other websites on which our advertisements appear, and if you receive any error messages. The information collected may be used to improve users’ online experience generally, to collate statistics, or customize your online experience by showing you content we think you will like.  Our performance cookies do not collect information that identifies you personally; however, if you have a registration account with us, the information collected by us using our performance cookies may be associated with your registration account.

You can delete or manage performance cookies as instructed in the last section of this Cookies Policy.

FUNCTIONALITY COOKIES

We (or service providers operating on our behalf) may place our functionality cookies on your device. We do not share information collected using our functionality cookies with our advertisers or other third parties.

Our functionality cookies are used to remember choices you make (such as language preference, country location, or other online settings) and provide the personalized or enhanced features that you select. Our functionality cookies can be used to provide online services to you, or to prevent online services from being offered to you if you previously indicated you did not want to receive such services. Our functionality cookies collect anonymous information. If you delete these functionality cookies, any preferences or settings you selected will not be retained for later visits.

DISABLING/ENABLING COOKIES VIA YOUR BROWSER

There are a number of ways for you to manage cookies and other tracking technologies. Through your browser settings, you can accept or decline cookies or set your browser to prompt you before accepting a cookie from the websites you visit. You should be aware that you may not be able to use all our interactive features if you set your browser to disable cookies entirely.

If you use different computers in different locations you will need to ensure that each browser is adjusted to suit your preferences.

You can delete any cookies that have been installed in the cookie folder of your browser. The various browsers provide different procedures to manage your settings. Click on any of the browser links below for instructions.

o http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-vista/block-or-allow-cookies

o https://support.google.com/chrome/answer/95647?hl=en&p=cpn_cookies

o https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/enable-and-disable-cookies-website-preferences?redirectlocale=en-US&redirectslug=Enabling+and+disabling+cookies

o https://support.apple.com/en-gb/HT201265

If you are not using any of the above-listed browsers, then you should select “cookies” in the “Help” function for information on where to find your cookie folder.

It may not be possible for you to selectively opt out of all third-party advertising cookies placed on our website, though you can opt out of receiving cookies from us by clicking this icon . You should also be aware that disabling cookies does not disable other types of analytics products which we may use to collect generic information about how you and other visitors use our website.

TYPES OF COOKIES AND OTHER TECHNOLOGIES USED BY GOOGLE

Some or all of the cookies or other technologies described below may be stored in your browser, app, or device. To manage how cookies are used, including rejecting the use of certain cookies, you can visit https://g.co/privacytools. You can also https://policies.google.com/technologies/cookies?hl=en-US#managing-cookies (though browsers for mobile devices may not offer this visibility). Other technologies used to identify apps and devices may be managed in your device settings or in an app’s settings.

Functionality

Cookies and other technologies used for functionality allow you to access features that are fundamental to a service. Things considered fundamental to a service include preferences, like your choice of language, information relating to your session, such as the content of a shopping cart, and product optimizations that help maintain and improve that service.

Some cookies and other technologies are used to maintain your preferences. For example, most people who use Google services have a cookie called ‘NID’ or ‘ENID’ in their browsers, depending on their cookies choices. These cookies are used to remember your preferences and other information, such as your preferred language, how many results you prefer to have shown on a search results page (for example, 10 or 20), and whether you want to have Google’s SafeSearch filter turned on. Each ‘NID’ cookie expires 6 months from a user’s last use, while the ‘ENID’ cookie lasts for 13 months. Cookies called ‘VISITOR_INFO1_LIVE’ and ‘YEC’ serve a similar purpose for YouTube and are also used to detect and resolve problems with the service. These cookies last for 6 months and for 13 months, respectively.

Other cookies and technologies are used to maintain and enhance your experience during a specific session. For example, YouTube uses the ‘PREF’ cookie to store information such as your preferred page configuration and playback preferences like explicit autoplay choices, shuffle content, and player size. For YouTube Music, these preferences include volume, repeat mode, and autoplay. This cookie expires 8 months from a user’s last use. The cookie ‘pm_sess’ also helps maintain your browser session and lasts for 30 minutes.

Cookies and other technologies may also be used to improve the performance of Google services. For example, the ‘CGIC’ cookie improves the delivery of search results by autocompleting search queries based on a user’s initial input. This cookie lasts for 6 months.

Google uses the ‘CONSENT’ cookie, which lasts for 2 years, to store a user’s state regarding their cookies choices. Another cookie, ‘SOCS’, lasts for 13 months and is also used to store a user’s state regarding their cookies choices.

Security

Cookies and other technologies used for security help to authenticate users, prevent fraud, and protect you as you interact with a service.

The cookies and other technologies used to authenticate users help ensure that only the actual owner of an account can access that account. For example, cookies called ‘SID’ and ‘HSID’ contain digitally signed and encrypted records of a user’s Google Account ID and most recent sign-in time. The combination of these cookies allows Google to block many types of attack, such as attempts to steal the content of forms submitted in Google services.

Some cookies and other technologies are used to prevent spam, fraud, and abuse. For example, the ‘pm_sess’, ‘YSC’, and ‘AEC’ cookies ensure that requests within a browsing session are made by the user, and not by other sites. These cookies prevent malicious sites from acting on behalf of a user without that user’s knowledge. The ‘pm_sess’ cookie lasts for 30 minutes, while the ‘AEC’ cookie lasts for 6 months. The ‘YSC’ cookie lasts for the duration of a user’s browsing session.

Analytics

Cookies and other technologies used for analytics help collect data that allows services to understand how you interact with a particular service. These insights allow services to both improve content and build better features that enhance your experience.

Some cookies and other technologies help sites and apps understand how their visitors engage with their services. For example, https://analytics.google.com/analytics/academy/?hl=en_US uses a set of cookies to collect information and report site usage statistics without personally identifying individual visitors to Google. ‘_ga’, the main cookie used by Google Analytics, enables a service to distinguish one visitor from another and lasts for 2 years. Any site that implements Google Analytics, including Google services, uses the ‘_ga’ cookie. Each ‘_ga’ cookie is unique to the specific property, so it cannot be used to track a given user or browser across unrelated websites.

Google services also use ‘NID’ and ‘ENID’ cookies on Google Search, and ‘VISITOR_INFO1_LIVE’ and ‘YEC’ cookies on YouTube, for analytics.

Advertising

Google uses cookies for advertising, including serving and rendering ads, personalizing ads (depending on your settings at https://myadcenter.google.com/?ref=privacy-policy&hl=en_US and https://adssettings.google.com/partnerads?hl=en_US), limiting the number of times an ad is shown to a user, muting ads you have chosen to stop seeing, and measuring the effectiveness of ads.

The ‘NID’ cookie is used to show Google ads in Google services for signed-out users, while the ‘ANID’ and ‘IDE’ cookies are used to show Google ads on non-Google sites. If you have personalized ads enabled, the ‘ANID’ cookie is used to remember this setting and lasts for 13 months in the European Economic Area (EEA), Switzerland, and the United Kingdom (UK), and 24 months everywhere else. If you have turned off personalized ads, the ‘ANID’ cookie is used to store that setting until 2030. The ‘NID’ cookie expires 6 months after a user’s last use. The ‘IDE’ cookie lasts for 13 months in the European Economic Area (EEA), Switzerland, and the United Kingdom (UK), and 24 months everywhere else.

Depending on your ad settings, other Google services like YouTube may also use these and other cookies and technologies, like the ‘VISITOR_INFO1_LIVE’ cookie, for advertising.

Some cookies and other technologies used for advertising are for users who sign in to use Google services. For example, the ‘DSID’ cookie is used to identify a signed-in user on non-Google sites and to remember whether the user has agreed to ad personalization. It lasts for 2 weeks.

Through Google’s advertising platform, businesses can advertise in Google services as well as on non-Google sites. Some cookies support Google showing ads on third-party sites and are set in the domain of the website you visit. For example, the ‘_gads’ cookie enables sites to show Google ads. Cookies that start with ‘_gac_’ come from Google Analytics and are used by advertisers to measure user activity and the performance of their ad campaigns. The ‘_gads’ cookies last for 13 months and the ‘_gac_’ cookies last for 90 days.

Some cookies and other technologies are used to measure ad and campaign performance and conversion rates for Google ads on a site you visit. For example, cookies that start with ‘_gcl_’ are primarily used to help advertisers determine how many times users who click on their ads end up taking an action on their site, such as making a purchase. Cookies used for measuring conversion rates are not used to personalize ads. ‘_gcl_’ cookies last for 90 days. See more information about cookies used for advertising https://business.safety.google/adscookies/?hl=en_US.
 

Personalization

Cookies and other technologies used for personalization enhance your experience by providing personalized content and features, depending on your settings at https://g.co/privacytools or your app and device settings.

Personalized content and features include things like more relevant results and recommendations, a customized YouTube homepage, and ads that are tailored to your interests. For example, the ‘VISITOR_INFO1_LIVE’ cookie may enable personalized recommendations on YouTube based on past views and searches. And the ‘NID’ cookie enables personalized autocomplete features in Search as you type search terms. These cookies expire 6 months after a user’s last use. Another personalization cookie, ‘UULE’, sends precise location information from your browser to Google’s servers so that Google can show you results that are relevant to your location. The use of this cookie depends on your browser settings and whether you have chosen to have location turned on for your browser. The ‘UULE’ cookie lasts up to 6 hours.

Non-personalized content and features are distinct from personalized content and features insofar as they are influenced by things like the content you’re currently viewing, your current Google search, and your general location.

MANAGING COOKIES IN YOUR BROWSER

Most browsers allow you to manage how cookies are set and used as you’re browsing, and to clear cookies and browsing data. Also, your browser may have settings letting you manage cookies on a site-by-site basis. For example, Google Chrome’s settings at chrome://settings/cookies allow you to delete existing cookies, allow or block all cookies, and set cookie preferences for websites. Google Chrome also offers Incognito mode, which deletes your browsing history and clears cookies on your device after you close your Incognito windows.

MANAGING OTHER TECHNOLOGIES IN YOUR APPS AND DEVICES

Most mobile devices and applications allow you to manage how other technologies, such as unique identifiers used to identify a browser, app or device, are set and used. For example, the Advertising ID on Android devices or Apple’s Advertising Identifier can be managed in your device’s settings, while app-specific identifiers may typically be managed in the app’s settings.