Cookies and this website
Last updated 10 Jan 2012
We do not use cookies on this website, but others may do.
What are cookies?
Cookies are small text files that are automatically placed on a computer by websites that are visited using that particular computer. When next using the Internet on the same computer with the same web browser (eg Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, Opera, Safari, Chrome), the browser reads any cookies and ‘remembers’ the computer’s visit.
More information is on this website: Your Online Choices.
Why are they used?
To make some websites work (or work more efficiently) or provide a personalised view (if you have set preferences). They may be held temporarily (such as when online shopping, to ‘remember’ what you have ordered, until you have paid) or permanently until you delete them.
Do cookies affect privacy?
Not as we understand it, because cookies are non-personally identifiable information, and are placed on the computer you are using. Websites do not collect/keep personal information or data about your computer – all they do is place a cookie on the computer you are using the first time a site is visited. The next time the site is visited from the same computer, the website browser reads the cookie and ‘remembers’ the previous visit from that computer.
Can they be avoided/deleted?
Yes.
Cookies can be avoided by going to your web browser settings and blocking the setting of cookies.
Cookies can be deleted automatically by going to your web browser settings and choosing ‘delete after each browser session’. Cookies can be deleted at any time by going to your web browswer tools and choosing to ‘clear cache’ or ‘clear cookies’.
How does this site use cookies?
We have not programmed any cookies to be set on your computer from this website.
Third party cookies
Other websites do use cookies, so you need to check their policies for more details.
Here are the ones we know about:
1. To analyse website usage
We analyse website usage to help us improve the site. To do this, we use Google Analytics, which sets cookies to assemble anonymous information about HOW our site is used, such as the number of visitors per day, the first page viewed, time on the site, and which other pages are visited. These cookies only collect non-personally identifiable information, but you can opt out of being tracked by Google Analytics on ALL websites. More details are on this website: http://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout.
2. YouTube
Any embedded videos from YouTube may set cookies on your computer once you click on the YouTube video player. To find out more please visit YouTube’s help pages and search for cookies.
3. Other third party links
These help offset our costs of producing this site, so we can provide all the information free of charge. Retailers prefer to pay a commission on a sale rather than an advertising fee. An advert is an expensive way of publicising something if few sales are made. But if the advertiser only has to pay when a sale is made, this makes it much cheaper and cost-effective, so keeps down their prices.
a. Google Adsense – payment per click
If somone clicks on the advert link, we receive a (very very tiny) payment. Cookies are used to record a click. To avoid their cookies, do not click on the links.
b. Sales commissions
There are some affiliate/partner links on this site. If you click on these links, a cookie is placed on the computer you use, so that if you return to that site later to make a purchase, their system will clock up a (small) sales commission for us. For more information, check the sellers’ policies. To avoid their cookies, do not click on any links.