Legal

What are cookies?

Cookies are small pieces of data, stored in text files, that are stored on your computer or other device when websites are loaded in a browser. They are widely used to ‘remember’ you and your preferences, either for a single visit (through a ’session cookie’) or for multiple repeat visits (using a ‘persistent cookie’). They ensure a consistent and efficient experience for visitors, and perform essential functions such as allowing users to register and remain logged in. Cookies may be set by the site that you are visiting (known as ‘first party cookies’), or by other websites who serve up content on that site (‘third party cookies’). Cookies can then be used to help understand how the site or service is being used, help you navigate between pages efficiently, help remember your preferences, and generally improve your browsing experience. Cookies can also help ensure marketing you see online is more relevant to you and your interests. An example of a cookie: akm_mobile – stores whether a user has chosen to view the mobile version of a site.

Types of Cookies

There are generally four categories of cookies: “Strictly Necessary” (for technical reasons), “Performance” (to enable a personalised experience for visitors and registered users),” “Functionality” (to store user preferences) and “Targeting” (to allow the display of advertising from selected third-party networks). Some of these cookies may be set when a page is loaded, or when a visitor takes a particular action, such as clicking the ‘like’ or ‘follow’ button on a post. You can find out more about each cookie category below.

Strictly Necessary Cookies

These cookies are essential, as they enable you to move around the Site and use its features, such as accessing logged in or secure areas.

Performance Cookies

These cookies collect information about how you have used the Site, for example, information related to the unique username you have provided, so that less strain is placed on our backend infrastructure. These cookies may also be used to allow us to know that you have logged in so that we can serve you fresher content than a user who has never logged in. We also use cookies to track aggregate Site usage and experiment with new features and changes on the Site. The information collected is used to improve how the Site works.

Functionality Cookies

These cookies allow us to remember how you’re logged in, whether you chose to no longer see advertisements, whether you made an edit to an article on the Site while logged out, when you logged in or out, the state or history of Site tools you’ve used. These cookies also allow us to tailor the Site to provide enhanced features and content for you and to remember how you’ve customised the Site in other ways, such as providing your name and email. The information these cookies collect may be anonymous, and they are not used to track your browsing activity on other sites or services.

Targeting Cookies

Parera, our advertising partners or other third-party partners may use these types of cookies to deliver advertising that is relevant to your interests. These cookies can remember that your device has visited a site or service, and may also be able to track your device’s browsing activity on other sites or services other than Parera. This information may be shared with organisations outside Parera, such as advertisers and/or advertising networks to deliver the advertising, and to help measure the effectiveness of an advertising campaign, or other business partners for the purpose of providing aggregate Site usage statistics and aggregate Site testing.

How long will cookies stay on my device?

The length of time a cookie will stay on your computer or mobile device depends on whether it is a “persistent” or “session” cookie. Session cookies will only stay on your device until you stop browsing. Persistent cookies stay on your computer or mobile device until they expire or are deleted.

First- and third-party cookies

First-party cookies are cookies that belong to Parera while third-party cookies are cookies that another party places on your device through our Site. Third-party cookies may be placed on your device by someone providing a service for Parera; for example, to help us understand how our site is being used. Third-party cookies may also be placed on your device by our business partners so that they can use them to advertise products and services to you elsewhere on the Internet.

Third Party/Embedded Content

Our site may make use of different third-party applications and services to enhance the experience of website visitors. These include social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter (through the use of sharing buttons), or embedded content from such sites as Youtube and Vimeo. As a result, cookies may be set by these third parties and used by them to track your online activity. We have no direct control over the information that is collected by these cookies.

Controlling cookies

Visitors may wish to restrict the use of cookies, or completely prevent them from being set. Most browsers provide for ways to control cookie behaviour such as the length of time they are stored – either through built-in functionality or by utilising third-party plugins. To find out more on how to manage and delete cookies, visit aboutcookies.org. For more details on advertising cookies, and how to manage them, visit youronlinechoices.eu (EU-based), or aboutads.info (U.S.- based). It’s important to note that restricting or disabling the use of cookies can limit the functionality of sites or prevent them from working correctly at all.