Effective Date: 07/25/2023
Updated: 07/25/2023
This Cookie Policy explains how we and our affiliated companies, business partners and service providers use cookies and similar technologies in the course of managing and providing the Services. It explains what these technologies are and why we use them, as well as your rights to control our use of them. This Cookie Policy is and will be treated as part of our Privacy Disclosures for Users Located in the EEA, and is automatically incorporated therein, and any capitalized terms used and not otherwise defined in this Cookie Policy have the meanings given to those terms in the Privacy Disclosures.
In some cases we may use cookies and other tracking technologies described in this Cookie Policy to collect Personal Information, or to collect information that becomes Personal Information if we combine it with other information. For more information about how we process your Personal Information, please review our Privacy Disclosures.
What are cookies?
Cookies are small data files that are placed on your computer or mobile device when you visit a website. Cookies are widely used by online service providers in order to (for example) make their websites or services work, or to work more efficiently, as well as to provide reporting information.
Cookies set by the website owner or service provider (in this case, [business_name_short] and [business_name_short]’s affiliates (collectively, “we” or “[business_name_short]”) are called “first party cookies”. Cookies set by parties other than the website owner are called “third-party cookies”. Third-party cookies enable third-party features or functionality to be provided on or through the website or service you are using (such as advertising, interactive content, and analytics). The third parties that set these third party cookies can recognize your device both when it visits the Service in question and also when it visits certain other websites or services.
Why do we use cookies and other tracking technologies?
We use first-party and third-party cookies for several reasons. Some cookies are required for technical reasons for our Services to operate, and we refer to these as “essential” or “strictly necessary” cookies. Other cookies enable us and the third parties we work with to track and target the interests of visitors to our Services, and we refer to these as “performance” or “functionality” cookies. For example, we use tracking technologies information to analyze and track data, determine the popularity of certain content, deliver advertising and content targeted to your interests, better understand your online activity, associate different devices you use and deliver relevant and retargeted content, including interest-based ads. We use both session ID cookies and tracking cookies: session cookies make it easier for you to navigate websites, and they expire when you close your browser, whereas tracking cookies help us understand how you use websites and enhance your user experience and they remain on your hard drive for an extended period of time. Finally, third parties serve cookies through our Services for advertising, analytics, and other purposes. This is described in more detail below.
Cookies served through our Services
The specific types of first and third-party cookies served through our Services, and the purposes they perform are described in further detail below:
Essential Cookies
These cookies are strictly necessary to provide you with services available through our Services and to use some of their features, such as access to secure areas. Because these cookies are strictly necessary to deliver the Services, you cannot refuse them without impacting how our Services function. You can block or delete them by changing your browser settings, as described in the “How can I control cookies?” section below.
Performance and Functionality Cookies
These cookies are used to enhance the performance and functionality of our Services but are non-essential to their use. For example, these cookies allow us to recognize you on our website during future visits, to measure web traffic, to offer you certain products or services, or to customize your visit. However, without these cookies, certain functionality may become unavailable.
Analytics and Customization Cookies
These cookies collect information that is used either in aggregate form to help us understand how our Services are being used or how effective our marketing campaigns are or to help us customize our Services for you to enhance your experience.
Advertising (Targeting) Cookies
These cookies make advertising messages more relevant to you and your interests. They also perform functions like preventing the same ad from continuously reappearing, ensuring that ads are properly displayed, and sometimes selecting advertisements based on your interests. For further information, see the “Targeted online advertising” section below.
Other tracking technologies
We and our third-party partners may use other, similar technologies from time to time, like web beacons, tracking pixels (or “clear gifs” or “Internet tags”), embedded scripts, and other tracking technologies. These tiny files contain a unique identifier that enables us to recognize when someone has visited our Services or, in the case of web beacons, opened an e-mail we sent. This allows us, for example, to count the number of visitors to our websites, monitor the traffic patterns of users from one page within our Services to another, verify how many articles or links were viewed, delivered, or communicated with cookies, understand whether you have reached our Services from an online advertisement displayed on a third-party website, to serve targeted advertisements to you and others like you, to improve site performance, and to measure the success of marketing campaigns. While you may not have the ability to specifically reject or disable these tracking technologies, in many instances, these technologies are reliant on cookies to function properly; accordingly, in those instances, declining cookies will impair the functioning of these technologies.
Targeted online advertising
We work with a variety of advertisers, advertising networks, advertising servers, and analytics companies (“Ad Partners”) that use different technologies to collect data about your use of the Services (such as pages visited, ads viewed or clicked on) in order to deliver relevant advertising.
These technologies may include the placement on our Services of cookies or web beacons, and other data collection technologies (as described in the How We Collect and Use Personal Information section of our Privacy Disclosures) by these Ad Partners to track how our Services are being used, to track where users go and what they do after they leave our Services, and to link various devices you may use, and to serve you more relevant ads. These advertisements may appear on our Services or other services that you visit.
In addition, our Ad Partners use the information collected by the technologies on our Services for purposes such as (a) in conjunction with advertising that appears on our website or other websites, (b) to report website traffic, statistics, advertisement data and other interaction with ads and the websites on which they are served, and (c) to measure the effectiveness of web-based and email ads. Please note that our Privacy Disclosures and Cookie Policy do not cover the practices of our Ad Partners.
For more information about how Ad Partners use the information collected by the technologies on our Services and about your options not to accept cookies placed by some of these companies on our Services, please visit the Digital Advertising Alliance’s (DAA’s) opt-out page. You may also opt out of additional third-party advertising networks by going to the Network Advertising Initiative’s website and following the directions.
The opt-outs described above are device- and browser-specific and may not work on all devices. If you choose to opt out through any of these opt-out tools, this does not mean you will cease to see advertising. Rather, the ads you see will just not be based on your interests. In addition, when you opt out of using one of these methods, our Ad Partners will continue to collect information for any other purpose permitted by the DAA’s rules. You can opt out of future information collection from our Services by ceasing use of the Service or, in the case of an application, uninstalling the application.
How can you control cookies?
You have the right to decide whether to accept or reject cookies.
Browser Controls: You can set or amend your web browser controls to accept or refuse cookies. If you choose to reject cookies, you may still use our Services though your access to some functionality and areas of the Services may be unavailable or may not operate optimally. As how you can refuse cookies through your web browser controls vary from browser to browser, you should visit your browser’s help menu for more information.
Disabling Most Targeted Online Advertising: As discussed above, advertising networks offer you a way to opt out of targeted online advertising. If you would like to find out more information, please visit http://www.aboutads.info/choices/ or http://www.youronlinechoices.com.
Mobile Advertising: You can opt out of having your mobile advertising identifiers used for certain types of targeted online advertising, including those performed by us, by accessing the settings in your mobile device and following the most recent published instructions. If you opt out, we will remove all data about you, and no further data collection or tracking will occur. The random ID we (or our third-party partners) had previously assigned to you will also be removed. This means that if, at a later stage, you decide to opt-in, we will not be able to continue and track you using the same ID as before, and you will, for all practical purposes, be a new user of our system.
Do Not Track: Some Internet browsers – like Internet Explorer, Firefox, and Safari – include the ability to transmit “Do Not Track” or “DNT” signals. Since uniform standards for “DNT” signals have not been adopted, our Services do not currently process or respond to “DNT” signals. To learn more about “DNT,” please visit All About Do Not Track.
How often will we update this Cookie Policy?
We may update this Cookie Policy from time to time to reflect, for example, changes to the cookies we use or for other operational, legal, or regulatory reasons. Please, therefore, re-visit this Cookie Policy regularly to stay informed about our use of cookies and related technologies.
The date at the top of this Cookie Policy indicates when it was last updated.
Where can you get further information?
If you have any questions about our use of cookies or other technologies, please contact us as set forth in the Contact Us section of our Privacy Disclosures.