1. What are Cookies?
Cookies are small text files containing a string of characters that can be placed on your computer or mobile device that uniquely identify your browser or device. What are cookies used for?
Cookies are not dangerous. They are not computer programs and cannot be used to circulate viruses.
Cookies allow a site or services to know if your computer or device has visited that site or service before. Cookies can then be used to help understand how the site or service is being used, help you navigate between pages efficiently, help remember your preferences, and generally improve your browsing experience. Cookies can also help ensure marketing you see online is more relevant to you and your interests.
2. Types of Cookies.
There are generally four categories of cookies: “Strictly Necessary”, “Performance”, “Functionality”, and “Targeting”. We routinely use all four categories of cookies on the Service. You can find out about each cookie category below.
3. Why we use Cookies.
We use cookies for the following reasons.
4. Cookies that we use.
As mentioned in section 2. above, we routinely use all of the 4 general cookie categories (“Strictly Necessary”, “Performance”, “Functionality” and “Targeting”). While cookies of these types may not be present at all times on any/all pages, they may be cookies that we either plan on using, or use only in certain aspects of our service.
Most, if not all, of our pages will contain cookies that fall within the “Targeting” and “Performance” cookie categories. The most commonly found cookies for this will be provided by Google Analytics.
4a. Google Analytics
The common cookies used by google analytics on and within our sites are as follows:
Cookie Name | Expiration | Description |
---|---|---|
_ga | 2 years | Used to distinguish. |
_gat | 10 minutes | Used to throttle request rate. |
_utma | 2 years from set/update | Used to distinguish users and sessions. |
_utmt | 10 minutes | Used to throttle request rate. |
_utmb | 30 minutes from set/update | Used to determine new sessions/visits. |
_utmc | End of browser session | Used for historical interoperability. |
_utmz | 6 months from set/update | Stores the source of user acquisition. |
_utmv | 2 years from set/update | Used to store visitor-level custom data. |
Note: If you wish to opt-out of providing analytics data for Google Analytics, you may do so at the following link: https://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout
Note2: Further and more detailed information on how google analytics uses cookies may be found here: https://developers.google.com/analytics/devguides/collection/analyticsjs/cookie-usage?csw=1#HowGAUsesCookies
5. How long will Cookies stay on my device?
The length of time a cookie will stay on your computer or mobile device depends on whether it is a “persistent” or “session” cookie. Session cookies will only stay on your device until you stop browsing. Persistent cookies stay on your computer or device until they expire or are deleted.
6. How do I change my cookie settings?
Most web browsers allow some control of most cookies through the browser settings. To find out more about cookies, including how to see what cookies have been set and how to manage and delete them, visit http://www.aboutcookies.org/ or http://www.allaboutcookies.org/
Note: These sites are in no way endorced by our selves and we are not responsible for the content they may contain. We feel that these sites provide an adequate description and source of information about the use of cookies and how they work.
7. Closing Notes
While this policy defines some specific cookies that we use, we are in no way limited or bound to use only the cookies that have been mentioned. The cookies that we use may change on an infrequent basis, but they will always conform to the categories explained in section 2. above (“Strictly Necessary”, “Performance”, “Functionality” and “Targeting”).
For a more comprehensive list of cookies that are currently in use on the site, you may email [email protected].