WHAT IS A COOKIE AND WHY DO WE USE THEM?
Cookies are small pieces of text. They are provided by most websites and stored by your web browser on the computer, phone, or other device that you are using. Cookies serve many purposes. They can help a website remember your preferences, learn which areas of the website are useful and which areas need improvement, and provide you with targeted advertisements or personalized content. Sometimes, cookies are enabled when pixels are placed on a website. Pixels are also referred to as web beacons, clear gifs, and tags. They enable websites to read and place cookies.
First-party cookies and third-party cookies
Cookies can be first-party or third-party. A first-party cookie is one that you receive directly from us when visiting our Site. A third-party cookie is one that you have received from another party, such as Google or Facebook. We do not control what third parties do on other sites. However, we may work with certain third-party providers such as Google or Facebook to permit their cookies to function through our Site so we can learn more about your web experience on our Site and better personalize our services for you.
Persistent and session cookies
A persistent cookie is a cookie that is stored by the web browser on your device until it expires or you delete it. The expiration of a persistent cookie is determined by the creator of the cookie and can be upon a certain date or after a length of session time has passed. This means that, for the cookie's entire lifespan, its information will be transmitted to the creator’s server every time the user visits the website that it belongs to or another website configured to check for that cookie (such as an advertisement placed on that website). For this reason, persistent cookies are also called “tracking cookies.”
A session cookie is created temporarily on your device for use by a website during your visit. This type of cookie may store information you enter and track your activity within the website. A session cookie is deleted after you leave the website or when the web browser is closed.
WHAT KIND OF COOKIES DO WE USE?
Strictly Necessary Cookies: These are cookies without which you would not be able to use this Site. For example, Strictly Necessary Cookies adjust the Site data transmitted to match your Internet connection, get you to the secure versions of the Site, and help provide services you specifically request. If you set your browser to block these cookies, some parts of the Site will not work. Strictly Necessary Cookies do not store any Personal Information.
Performance Cookies: We use these cookies to count visits and traffic sources, to measure and improve Site performance. They help us to know which pages are the most and least popular and see how visitors move around the site. Performance Cookies do not store any Personal Information.
Functional cookies: These cookies allow the Site to remember choices you make and provide enhanced functionality and more personalized features. Depending on context, Functional Cookies may store certain types of Personal Information as needed to provide functionality.
Targeting Cookies: Targeting cookies help us manage and display our advertisements, based on your activity on the Site and other sites; this is known as interest-based advertising. Targeting cookies mainly rely on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. We have partnered with the Network Advertising Initiative (“NAI”) to better serve users’ preferences, and by visiting their website at http://www.networkadvertising.org/managing/opt_out.asp, you can learn more about NAI members who deliver tailored online ads and your choices to opt-out of receiving them. Opting out of interest-based advertising does not mean you will no longer see advertising online, but it does mean that the companies from which you opt out will no longer show ads that have been tailored to your interests.
Social Media Cookies: Social Media Cookies make social sharing easier for you, provide you with tools to connect with the Site, and help us better understand both the audience for the Site and the effectiveness of our social media outreach. These are third-party cookies. Your choices with respect to such cookies are determined by the social media platforms on which you have accounts.