Cookie Policy

Cookie Policy Overview

There are different types of cookies:

Necessary Cookies

are needed to run any website.

Personal Site Preferences

We do not have cookies for site preferences.

Performance Cookies

Google Analytics: We use Google Analytics (more details in chapter 14 in the privacy policy).
Google Analytics helps us to analyze the traffic on our sites, data sent to Google are anonymized

Jetpack: We sometimes use Jetpack (see chapter 16 in the privacy policy).
It improves the site functionality and – similar to Google Analytics, it collects anonymous data about web-site traffic.

Our Site Advertising

We show different pop-ups, when readers have a viewed higher number of pages.
With the then following pop-up the reader can subscribe to our Twitter or Web Site notifications (Pushcrew).
We do not transmit data to 3rd parties with cookies for our site advertising.

3-rd Party Advertising

We do not use 3-rd party advertising.

Social Sharing

we allow for social sharing using different platforms. Some of them use cookies.

Twitter uses a cookie (Chapter 18 in the privacy policy)

 

Agreement to Cookie Policy

Given that we do not do 3rd-party advertising, you understand that:

If you do not accept this Cookie Policy, then please do not use this site.

 

Cookie Policy Background

This background is not specific to our site!

What are cookies?

For almost any modern website to work properly, it needs to collect certain basic information on its users. To do this, a site will create files known as cookies – which are small text files – on its users’ computers. These cookies are designed to allow the website to recognise its users on subsequent visits, or to authorise other designated websites to recognise these users for a particular purpose.

Cookies do a lot of different jobs which make your experience of the Internet much smoother and more interactive. For instance, they are used to remember your preferences on sites you visit often, to remember your user ID and the contents of your shopping baskets, and to help you navigate between pages more efficiently. They also help ensure that the advertisements that you see online are more relevant to you and your interests. Much, though not all, of the data that they collect is anonymous, though some of it is designed to detect browsing patterns and approximate geographical location to improve user experience.

Some websites may also contain images called ‘web beacons’ (also known as ‘clear gifs’). Web beacons only collect limited information, including a cookie number, a timestamp, and a record of the page on which they are placed. Websites may also carry web beacons placed by third party advertisers. These beacons do not carry any personally identifiable information and are only used to track the effectiveness of a particular campaign (for example by counting the number of visitors).

Information collected by cookies and web beacons is not personally identifiable.

 

What types of cookie are there ?

There are two types of cookie:

• Persistent cookies remain on a user’s device for a set period of time specified in the cookie. They are activated each time that the user visits the website that created that particular cookie.
• Session cookies are temporary. They allow website operators to link the actions of a user during a browser session. A browser session starts when a user opens the browser window and finishes when they close the browser window. Once you close the browser, all session cookies are deleted.

Cookies also have, broadly speaking, four different functions and can be categorised as follow: ‘strictly necessary’ cookies, ‘performance’ cookies, ‘functionality’ cookies and ‘targeting’ or ‘advertising’ cookies.

Strictly necessary cookies are essential to navigate around a website and use its features. Without them, you wouldn’t be able to use basic services like registration or shopping baskets. These cookies do not gather information about you that could be used for marketing or remembering where you’ve been on the internet.

Examples of how ‘strictly necessary’ cookies include:

Setting unique identifiers for each unique visitor, so site numbers can be analysed.

Allowing you to sign in to The Independent website as a registered user.

Performance cookies collect anonymous data for statistical purposes on how visitors use a website, they don’t contain personal information, and are used to improve your user experience of a website.

Functionality cookies allow users to customise how a website looks for them: they can remember usernames, language preferences and regions, and can be used to provide more personal services like local weather reports and traffic news.

How do I control my cookies?

Restricting the number of times you’re shown a particular advertisement (which is sometimes called ‘frequency capping’.

Remembering if you’ve been to the site before so that messages intended for first-time users are not displayed to you.

Advertising and targeting cookies

are used to deliver advertisements more relevant to you, but can also limit the number of times you see an advertisement, and be used to chart the effectiveness of an ad campaign by tracking users’ clicks. They can also provide security in transactions. They are usually placed by third-party advertising networks with a website operator’s permission, but can be placed by the operator themselves. They can remember that you have visited a website, and this information can be shared with other organisations, including other advertisers. They cannot determine who you are though, as the data collected is never linked to your profile.

The two main ways a web-site may use advertising and targeting cookies are set out below:

• Interest-based advertising (or online behavioural advertising) is where cookies are placed on your device b third party service providers which remember your web browsing activity and group together your interests in order to provide you with targeted advertisements which are more relevant to you when you visit independent.co.uk. Your previous web browsing activity can also be used to infer things about you, such as your demographics (age, gender etc.). This information may also be used to make the advertising on independent.co.uk more relevant to you.

• ‘Retargeting’ is a form of interest-based advertising that enables advertising partners to show you advertisements selected based on your online browsing activity away from the Website. This allows companies to advertise to people who previously visited their website. These cookies will usually be placed on your device by third-party advertising networks.

Without these cookies, online advertisements you encounter will be less relevant to you and your interests. If you would like more information about interest-based advertising, including how to opt-out of these cookies, please visit www.youronlinechoices.com

Managing performance cookies

It is possible to opt out of having your anonymised browsing activity within websites recorded by performance cookies.

Don’t forget that by not allowing performance cookies, this stops us from being able to learn what people like or don’t like about the Website so that the site can make it better.

Omniture : http://www.omniture.com/en/privacy/2o7

Nielsen/NetRatings : http://www.nielsen-online.com/privacy.jsp?section=leg_scs

ComScore: http://www.scorecardresearch.com/about.aspx

Google Analytics: http://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout

Chartbeat: https://chartbeat.com/privacy/

How do I control my cookies?

You should be aware that any preferences will be lost if you delete cookies and many websites will not work properly or you will lose some functionality.

Most browsers accept cookies automatically, but you can alter the settings of your browser to erase cookies or prevent automatic acceptance if you prefer. Generally you have the option to see what cookies you’ve got and delete them individually, block third party cookies or cookies from particular sites, accept all cookies, to be notified when a cookie is issued or reject all cookies. Visit the ‘options’ or ‘preferences’ menu on your browser to change settings, and check the following links for more browser-specific information.

Cookie settings in Internet Explorer
Cookie settings in Firefox
Cookie settings in Chrome
Cookie settings in Safari