Cookies policy
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We want to make your online experience as interactive as possible. To this end, we use cookies or similar techniques. It is important for you to know which cookies our site uses and for what purpose. This will help protect your privacy while ensuring the ease of use of our website.
The following information is intended to provide you with more details about the placement, use and management of cookies used by our website.
Please read the following information carefully
This website uses its own and third-party cookies to provide visitors with a much better browsing experience and services tailored to their needs and interests.
In what we call “Web 2.0”, “cookies” play an important role in facilitating access to and delivery of the many services you enjoy on the Internet, such as:
Personalising certain settings, such as: the language in which a site is viewed, the currency in which certain prices or taxes are expressed, keeping options for various products (measurements, other details etc.) in the shopping cart (and remembering these options) – thus generating “shopping cart” flexibility.
Cookies provide site owners with valuable feedback on how their sites are being used by users, so they can make them even more effective and accessible to users.
They allow multimedia or other applications from other sites to be embedded on a particular site to create a more valuable, useful and enjoyable browsing experience;
What is a cookie?
An “Internet cookie” (also known as a “browser cookie” or “HTTP cookie” or simply “cookie”) is a small file of letters and numbers that will be stored on a user’s computer, mobile device or other equipment from which the Internet is accessed. The cookie is installed by a request issued by a web-server to a browser (e.g. Internet Explorer, Chrome) and is completely “passive” (contains no software, viruses or spyware and cannot access the information on the user’s hard drive).
A cookie consists of 2 parts: the name and the content or value of the cookie. Furthermore, the lifetime of a cookie is determined; technically, only the webserver that sent the cookie can access it again when a user returns to the website associated with that webserver. Cookies, by themselves, do not require personal information in order to be used and, in most cases, do not personally identify Internet users.
There are 2 broad categories of cookies:
Session cookies – these are temporarily stored in the web browser’s cookie folder, so that the browser remembers them until the user exits the website or closes the browser window (e.g. when logging in/out of a webmail account or social media).
Persistent cookies – These are stored on the hard drive of a computer or device (and generally depend on the default lifetime of the cookie). Persistent cookies also include those placed by a website other than the one the user is currently visiting – known as ‘third party cookies’ – which can be used anonymously to remember a user’s interests so that the most relevant advertising can be delivered to users.
Why are cookies used?
What are third-party cookies?
Certain sections of content on some websites may be provided through third parties/providers (e.g. a news box, a video or an advertisement). These third parties may also place cookies through the site and they are called “third party cookies” because they are not placed by the owner of that website. Third party providers must also comply with applicable law and the privacy policies of the site owner.
What kind of information is stored and accessed through cookies?
Cookies store information in a small text file that allows a website to recognise a browser. The web server will recognise the browser until the cookie expires or is deleted.
The cookie stores important information that enhances your web browsing experience (e.g. setting the language in which you want to access a site; keeping a user logged into their webmail account; online banking security; keeping products in your shopping cart).
Why are cookies important for the Internet?
Cookies are central to the efficient functioning of the Internet, helping to generate a user-friendly browsing experience tailored to each user’s preferences and interests. Refusing or disabling cookies may make some sites unusable. Refusing or disabling cookies does not mean that you will no longer receive online advertising – it just means that it will no longer be able to take into account your preferences and interests as evidenced by your browsing behaviour.
Security and privacy issues
Cookies are NOT viruses! They use plain text formats. They are not made up of pieces of code, so they cannot be executed or run themselves. Consequently, they cannot be duplicated or replicated on other networks to run or replicate themselves again. Since they cannot perform these functions, they cannot be considered viruses. Cookies can, however, be used for negative purposes. Because they store information about users’ preferences and browsing history, both on a particular site and on several other sites, cookies can be used as a form of Spyware. Many anti-spyware products are aware of this fact and consistently flag cookies for deletion in anti-virus/anti-spyware scanning/deletion procedures. Browsers generally have built-in privacy settings that provide different levels of cookie acceptance, validity period and automatic deletion after the user has visited a particular site.
Other security issues related to cookies
As identity protection is very valuable and is the right of every internet user, it is good to know what possible problems cookies can create. Because cookies constantly transmit information back and forth between the browser and the website, if an attacker or unauthorised person intervenes in the data transmission path, the information contained in the cookie can be intercepted. Although very rare, this can happen if the browser connects to the server using an unencrypted network (e.g. an unsecured WiFi network). Other cookie-based attacks involve wrong cookie settings on servers. If a website does not require the browser to use only encrypted channels, attackers can use this vulnerability to trick browsers into sending information through unsecured channels. Attackers then use the information to gain unauthorised access to certain websites. It is very important to be careful in choosing the most appropriate method of protecting personal information.
Tips for safe and responsible browsing based on cookies
Due to their flexibility and the fact that most of the most visited and largest sites use cookies, they are almost unavoidable. Disabling cookies will not allow the user access to the most popular and used sites, including Youtube, Gmail, Yahoo and others.
How to manage or disable cookies in your browser
- see what cookies you have and delete them individually
- block third-party cookies
- block cookies from certain sites
- block the setting of all cookies
- delete all cookies when you close your browser
If you disable all of (our) cookies in your browser settings, certain sections or features of our websites may not work because your browser may prevent us from setting cookies that are necessary for the site to function. We therefore recommend that you do not disable all cookies in your web browser.
In the list below you can find more information on how to disable cookies or how to manage cookie settings for the browser you are using:
- Google Chrome: https://support.google.com/chrome/answer/95647?hl=en
- Firefox https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/enable-and-disable-cookies-website-preferences
- Internet Explorer: http://windows.microsoft.com/en-GB/windows-vista/Block-or-allow-cookies
- Safari: http://help.apple.com/safari/mac/8.0/#/sfri11471