We use cookies, and similar technology, on our websites. This notice provides you with information about how we use cookies and how you can control them.
By using this website (and each website operated by us and our affiliates) you accept the use of cookies (and similar technology) in accordance with this notice. In particular, you accept the use of analytics, advertising and functionality cookies for the purposes described below.
If you do not accept the use of these cookies, please see the section below entitled ‘How to control or delete cookies’ for further instructions.
What is a cookie?
Cookies are small files of letters and numbers that are downloaded to your computer or mobile device when you visit a website. Cookies are then sent back to the originating website on each subsequent visit, or to another website that recognises that cookie. Cookies are useful because they allow a website to recognise a user's device.
Cookies do lots of different jobs, like letting you navigate between pages efficiently, remembering your preferences, and generally improving the user experience. They can also help to ensure that adverts you see online are more relevant to you and your interests.
We use two broad categories of cookies:
- First party cookies, served directly by us to your computer.
- Third party cookies, served by a third party on our behalf. We use third party cookies to help us analyse our websites and their use (as described below).
How do we use cookies?
The table below summarises how we and third parties use cookies on our websites. Those uses include using cookies to:
- understand the total number of visitors to our sites on an ongoing basis and the types of internet browsers (e.g. Firefox, Safari or Internet Explorer) and operating systems (e.g. Windows or Macintosh) used by our visitors;
- monitor our sites’ performance, including how visitors navigate our websites, and to improve our websites;
- customise and enhance your online experience.
What types of cookies do we use?
The types of cookies used on our websites can be classified into one of four categories, namely 'essential website cookies', 'functionality cookies', 'analytics cookies' and 'advertising cookies'. The following table gives you further information about each category, and the purposes of the cookies we set:
- Essential website cookies
These cookies are essential to enable you to move around our websites and use their features. These cookies don't gather information about you that could be used for marketing or remembering where you have been on the internet. These cookies are often session-specific, expiring after your visit to the website (session) has ended. This category of cookies cannot be disabled.
- Functionality Cookies
These cookies allow our websites to remember choices you make (such as your user name, language or region you are in) and provide enhanced, more personal features. The information these cookies collect may be anonymised and they cannot track your browsing activity on other websites. This category of cookies cannot be disabled.
- Analytics cookies
These cookies, including cache cookies, are set by Google Analytics, Omniture, and Fabric and are used to collect information about how visitors use our sites, including the number of visitors, the websites that referred them to our websites and the pages that they visited on our websites. We use this information to compile reports and to help us improve our websites, for example, by letting us know if users find any errors and by ensuring that users find what they are looking for easily. Typically these cookies stay on your computer until you delete them.
Source and how to block:
Omniture (opt-out)
Google Analytics (opt-out)
ForSee Results (opt-out)
Full Circle Studies (opt-out)
Crazy Egg (opt-out)
DoubleClick Floodlight
Ensighten
ForeSee
Google AJAX Search API
Google Tag Manager
Omniture (Adobe Analytics)
Advertising cookies
These cookies are used to collect data about the websites and individual pages that users visit both on and off our websites (which might indicate, for example, your interests and other attributes). They are typically used to deliver adverts and other marketing communications more relevant to you and your interests. They are also used to limit the number of times you see an advertisement as well as to help measure the effectiveness of the advertising campaign. They are usually placed by advertising networks with our permission. They stay on your computer unless you delete them and they remember that you have visited a website. They can also show if you arrived at our website through an advertising link.
This information is shared with other organisations such as advertisers and our contractors, who might use it with information about how you use other websites, including to identify shared interests and behaviours across groups of users who visit our (and other) websites.
Source and how to block:
AddThis (opt-out)
Mediamind (opt-out)
QuantCast (opt-out)
New Relic (opt-out)
Doubleclick (opt-out)
Crimtan (opt-out)
Gravatar (opt-out)
Appnexus (opt-out)
Switch Concepts (opt-out)
BazaarVoice (opt-out)
Media Innovation Group (opt-out)
Adform (opt-out)
Advertising.com (opt-out)
AudienceScience (opt-out)
Datalogix (opt-out)
MLN Advertising (opt-out)
PubMatic (opt-out)
RadiumOne (opt-out)
ShareThis (opt-out)
Other similar technology
As is the case with many websites, we use technology similar to cookies, including local shared objects (sometimes called ‘flash cookies’), browser history sniffing, browser fingerprinting and pixel tags (sometimes called ‘web beacons’). This gives us and our providers information about how our websites and their content are used by visitors, and allows us to identify whether your computer or device visited our sites or other websites in the past.
Our servers automatically collect your IP address when you visit our websites, and we may associate that with your domain name or that of your internet access provider. We may also capture certain “clickstream data” relating to your use of our websites. Clickstream data includes, for example, information about your computer or device, web browser and operating system and their settings, the referring page that linked you to our sites, the pages and content you see or click on during your visit and when and for how long you do so, items you download, the next website you visit when you leave our sites, and any search terms you have entered on our sites or a referral site.
How to control or delete cookies
You have the right to choose whether or not to accept cookies and we have explained how you can exercise this right below. However, please note that if you choose to refuse cookies you may not be able to use the full functionality of our websites and any communications you receive from us may be less relevant to you than they could have been. Please also understand that if you choose to manage your cookie preferences, our cookie management tool will place a cookie on your device to allow your choices to be honoured. If you delete or remove cookies from your device, you will also remove this preference cookie and you will have to renew your choices.
You can block cookies by using the opt-out links provided in the table above, or by changing your browser settings so that cookies from our websites cannot be placed on your computer or mobile device. In order to do this follow the instructions provided by your browser (usually located within the “Help”, “Tools” or “Edit” facility). Disabling a cookie or category of cookie does not delete the cookie from your browser, you will need to do this yourself from within your browser.
Further information about cookies, including how to see what cookies have been set on your device and how to manage and delete them, visit www.allaboutcookies.org.
Cookies that have been set in the past
If you have disabled one or more cookies, we may still use information collected from cookies before your disabled preference was set. However, we will stop using the disabled cookie to collect any further information.
