Cookies and Google Analytics

We may use cookies and other technologies or methods of web and mobile analysis to gather, store, and track certain information related with your access to and activity through the Services, including when you visit our Site.

Below, we describe the types of cookies (as defined below) we use, and how you can control our use of cookies.

Types of Cookies We Use

As mentioned above, we will collect certain information about you when you visit our Site. We collect such information through the following technologies (collectively, “cookies”):

• Cookies. Cookies are small pieces of information that a Site assigns to your device while you are viewing a Site. Cookies may be served by the entity that operates the Site you are visiting (“first-party cookies”) or by other companies (“third-party cookies”). Additionally, some cookies may be temporary and erase when you close your browser (“session cookies”), and others may remain for a set duration (“persistent cookies”).
• Log Files. Tools that track actions occurring on the site, and collect data including your IP address, browser type, Internet service provider, referring/exit pages, and date/time stamps.
• Web Beacons. These “tags” and “pixels” are electronic files used to record information about how you browse our Site.
• Social Media Widgets. These are tools that allow us to provide certain social media features such as links to Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. These social features are either hosted by a third party or hosted directly on our Site. Your interactions with these features are governed by the privacy policy of the company providing it.

Cookies are very helpful and may be used for various different purposes such as delivering personalised services. These purposes include, among other things, allowing you to navigate between pages efficiently, enabling automatic activation of certain features, remembering your preferences and making the interaction between you and the Services quicker, easier and smoother. Our Site may use the following types of cookies:

• Strictly Necessary Cookies. These cookies are required for the operation of our Site, and are essential to enable you to login, navigate around and use the features of a Site, or to provide a service requested by you. We do not need to obtain your consent in order to use these cookies.
• Functionality Cookies. These cookies allow the Site to remember choices you make (such as your username, language, or the region you are in) and provide enhanced, more personal features. For instance, a Site may be able to provide you with local weather reports or traffic news by using a cookie to store information about the region in which you are currently located, remember changes you have made to text size, fonts, and other parts of web pages that you can customize, and provide services you have asked for such as watching a video or commenting on a blog. The information these cookies collect remains anonymous and they cannot track your browsing activity on other Sites.
• Performance/Analytics Cookies. These cookies allow us to recognize and count the number of visitors and to see how visitors use a Site, for example which pages you go to most often, and record difficulties you may experience while using the Website, for example error messages. All information collected by these cookies is aggregated and therefore anonymous. It is only used to improve the efficiency of the Site. We also use a tool called Google Analytics to collect information about your use of the Services. Google Analytics collects information such as how often users access the Services, what pages they visit when they do so, etc. We use the information we get from Google Analytics only to improve our Services. Google Analytics collects the IP address assigned to you on the date you visit sites, rather than your name or other identifying information. We do not combine the information collected through the use of Google Analytics with Personal Information. Google’s ability to use and share information collected by Google Analytics about your visits to our Site is restricted by the Google Analytics Terms of Service and the Google Privacy Policy.
• Targeting/Advertising Cookies. These cookies are used to deliver advertisements tailored to you and your interests. They are also used to limit the number of times you see an advertisement as well as to help measure the effectiveness of the advertising campaign. They are usually placed by advertising networks with the Site operator’s permission. They remember that you have visited a Site, and this information is shared with other organizations such as advertisers. Quite often targeting or advertising cookies will be linked to site functionality provided by the other organization.

How to Control Cookies

Your browser is likely set to accept cookies. However, if you would prefer not to receive them, you can alter the configuration of your browser to refuse cookies. If you choose to have your browser refuse cookies (as explained below), it is possible that some areas of our Site will not function properly when you view them.

You can control our uses of cookies through your internet browser or through third party tools:

• Internet Browser. You can control cookies through most browsers by changing your cookie settings. These settings will typically be found in the “options” or “preferences” menu of your browser.
• Third Party Tools. You can also visit http://www.allaboutcookies.org/ where you will find comprehensive information on cookie management and blocking which pertains to a wide variety of cookies. As noted above, our Site uses Google Analytics to collect information about how visitors are using our Site. Google Analytics has its own cookies that it uses to track and aggregate this information. You can prevent the use of Google Analytics relating to your use of our Site by downloading and installing the browser plugin available here.