Information about cookies

  • Types of cookies
  • How we use cookies
  • Advertising cookies on our websites
  • Disabling cookies in your web browser
  • Further information and contacting us
  • Information about cookies

What is a cookie?

A cookie is a small amount of data, which often includes a unique identifier, that is sent to the browser on your computer or mobile device (both referred to here as a “device”) 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.

What is a web beacon?

Web beacons, clear GIFs, page tags and web bugs 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, the time you viewed the page or email, from what device, and your (broad) location. Unlike cookies, you cannot decline web beacons. However, setting your browser to decline cookies will stop web beacons from tracking your activity.

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 headed ‘Disabling cookies in your web browser’.

Types of cookie

Cookies may be set by our website (known as first party cookies) and can only be read by our site, or they may be set by other organisations (known as third party cookies) – for example, organisations that provide analytics services to us. This website may also contain content embedded from, for example, YouTube or Flickr and these sites may set their own cookies.

Some of our websites use Adobe Flash Player to deliver video content to users. Adobe utilise their own cookies, which are not manageable through your browser settings but are used by the Flash Player for 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.

All cookies we use are either session cookies (which are stored only for the duration of your visit to this website and are deleted from your device when your browsing session ends) or persistent cookies that are 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 username.

There are several different types of cookies:

Essential or ‘strictly necessary’ cookies

These are cookies which are essential for the running of our websites. Without these cookies, parts of our websites would not function. These cookies do not track where you have been on the internet and do not gather information about you that could be used for marketing purposes.

Functional cookies

Functional cookies are used to remember your preferences on our websites and to provide enhanced, more personal features. The information collected by these cookies is usually anonymous, so we cannot identify you personally. Functional cookies do not track your internet usage or gather information which could be used for selling advertising, but they do help with serving advertising.

Analytical performance cookies

Analytical performance cookies are used to monitor the performance of our websites, for example, to determine the number of page views and the number of unique users our websites have. Web analytics services may be designed and operated by third parties. The information provided by these cookies allows us to analyse patterns of user behaviour, and we use that information to enhance user experience or identify areas of the website which may require maintenance or improvement. The information is anonymous, so we cannot identify you personally, and it is only used for statistical purposes

Behavioural advertising cookies

Behavioural advertising cookies, which may be placed on your device by us or our trusted third party service providers, remember that you have visited a website and use that information to provide you with advertising which is tailored to your interests. This is often called online behavioural advertising (OBA) and is done by grouping together shared interests based upon web browsing history. Your web browsing history can be used to infer things about you (e.g. your age, gender etc.), and this information may also be used to make advertising on our websites more relevant to you. We may also make this information available to third parties. Although behavioural advertising cookies can track your activity around the internet they cannot identify you personally, even if you are signed in to our website. Without these cookies, online advertisements you encounter will be less relevant to you and your interests.

How we use cookies

Typically, we use cookies to deliver the following services throughout the pages of our websites:

  • To estimate our audience size and usage pattern and what visitors like and don’t like about our sites so that we can maintain them and help improve the services that we provide through them.
  • To store information about your preferences, and so allow us to customise our sites according to your individual interests.
  • To speed up your searches.
  • To recognise you when you return to our sites.
  • To deliver advertising and other marketing messages relevant to you, including online behavioural advertising described in more detail in the section called ‘Types of cookie’.
  • For more information, see the section below called “Advertising cookies on our websites”.

The information generated by cookies about your use of our sites (including your IP address) may be transmitted to and stored on servers within and outside the United Kingdom. The cookies may also transfer this information to third parties where required to do so by law, or where such third parties process the information on behalf of the organisation setting the cookie. By using this website, you consent to the processing of data about you by us and our service providers in the manner and for the purposes set out above. If any information generated by cookies amounts to personal information it is processed in accordance with our privacy policy <link>.

You may withdraw your consent and refuse to accept cookies at any time by activating the setting on your browser which allows you to refuse the setting of cookies. However, if you select this setting you may be unable to access certain parts of our site. Unless you have adjusted your browser setting so that it will refuse cookies, our system will issue cookies when you log on to our site. For more information, see the section called ‘Disabling cookies in your web browser’.

Advertising cookies on our websites

The advertisements on our sites, such as on deliciousmagazine.co.uk, are served by a number of third party ad serving providers, including DoubleClick, Advertising.com, Adviva.net (Specific Media), AdRevolver (BlueLithium-Yahoo!), 247realmedia.com and Eyeblaster, amongst others. The cookies accompanying the ads allow these providers 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 (behavioural advertising). If you would like more information about the cookies used by the providers listed above, please see their privacy policies at:

www.doubleclick.com/privacy/index.aspx

www.advertising.com/privacy_policy.php

www.specificmedia.co.uk/privacy.php

www.bluelithium.com/privacy_policy.html

www.247realmedia.com/EN-US/privacy-policy.html

www.eyeblaster.com/privacy.as

www.rubiconproject.com/privacy/

Disabling cookies in your web browser

Safari

Go to the Safari menu.
Click on ‘Preferences’.
Click the ‘Security’ tab.
Under ‘Accept Cookies’, set it to accept, reject, or selectively accept cookies.

Firefox 3.0+

Click on ‘Tools’ in the menu bar
Click on ‘Options…’
Click on the ‘Privacy’ Tab in the top section
From the drop down box select ‘Use custom setting for history’
Un-tick the box that says ‘Accept cookies from sites’
Click OK and Close the screen.

Internet Explorer 7.0+

Click on ‘Tools’ in the menu bar
Click on ‘Options’
Click on ‘Privacy’ Tab on top section
Click on the ‘Advanced” button
Select ‘Prompt’ for both ‘First Party cookies’ and ‘Third Party Cookies’
Click OK and Close the screen.

Google Chrome 8.0+

Click on ‘Tools Menu’
Click on ‘Options’
Click on ‘Under the Bonnet’
Click on the ‘Cookie Setting’ button and tick ‘Block all third-party cookies without exception’
Close the screen.
Further information and contacting us

Please contact us if you would like more information on the cookies that we use and their purposes.

For more information about cookies please visit www.allaboutcookies.org and for more information about behavioural advertising in particular please visit www.youronlinechoices.com/uk/.

General information about data protection may be found at:

Information Commissioner’s website: http://www.ico.gov.uk

Direct Marketing Association: http://www.dma.org.uk

Consumer advice from the DMA: http://www.dmaresponsibility.org