How IMEAS manages cookies on its websites
We use cookies and similar tools across our websites to improve their performance and enhance your user experience. This policy explains how we do that.
What are cookies?
Cookies are small text files which a website may put on your computer or mobile device when you first visit a site or page. The cookie will help the website, or another website, to recognise your device the next time you visit. Web beacons or other similar files can also do the same thing. We use the term “cookies” in this policy to refer to all files that collect information in this way.
There are many functions cookies serve. For example, they can help us to remember your username and preferences, analyse how well our website is performing, or even allow us to recommend content we believe will be most relevant to you.
Certain cookies contain personal information – for example, if you click to “remember me” when logging in, a cookie will store your username. Most cookies won’t collect information that identifies you, and will instead collect more general information such as how users arrive at and use our websites, or a user’s general location.
What sort of cookies does IMEAS use?
Generally, our cookies perform up to four different functions:
• Essential cookies
Some cookies are essential for the operation of our website. For example, some cookies allow us to identify subscribers and ensure they can access the subscription only pages. If a subscriber opts to disable these cookies, the user will not be able to access all of the content that a subscription entitles them to.
• Performance Cookies
We utilise other cookies to analyse how our visitors use our websites and to monitor website performance. This allows us to provide a high quality experience by customising our offering and quickly identifying and fixing any issues that arise. For example, we might use performance cookies to keep track of which pages are most popular, which method of linking between pages is most effective, and to determine why some pages are receiving error messages. We might also use these cookies to highlight articles or site services that we think will be of interest to you based on your usage of the website.
• Functionality Cookies
We use functionality cookies to allow us to remember your preferences. For example, cookies save you the trouble of typing in your username every time you access the site, and recall your customisation preferences, such as which regional edition of the website you want to see when you log in.
We also use functionality cookies to provide you with enhanced services such as allowing you to watch a video online or comment on a blog.
• Behaviourally Targeted Advertising Cookies
IMEAS and our advertisers use cookies to serve you with advertisements that we believe are relevant to you and your interests. For example, if you read a number of articles on motoring on IMEAS or on other sites, a car manufacturer might infer you are interested in this topic and serve you with its car advertisements. You might see these advertisements on IMEAS and on other sites that you visit. However, we do not tell our advertisers who you are.
Does anyone else use cookies on IMEAS websites?
Advertisers sometimes use their own cookies to provide you with targeted advertising. For example, advertisers may use a profile they have built on sites that you have previously visited to present you with more relevant advertisements during your visit to IMEAS. We believe that it is useful to our users to see advertisements that are more relevant to their interests. If you are based in the European Union and would like to learn more about how advertisers use these types of cookies or to choose not to receive them, please visit www.youronlinechoices.eu. If you are based in the United States and would like to learn more, please visit http://www.aboutads.info/choices/.
We also use or allow third parties to serve cookies that fall into the four categories above. For example, like many companies, we use Google Analytics to help us monitor our website traffic. We may also enable third parties to serve cookies to help to identify fraudulent or non-human traffic on some of our websites. We may also use third party cookies to help us with market research, revenue tracking, improving site functionality and monitoring compliance with our terms and conditions and copyright policy.
Can a website user block cookies?
As we’ve explained above, cookies help you to get the most out of our websites.
The first time you accessed our website after 22 May 2012, you should have seen an overlay which explained that by continuing to access our site, you are consenting to our use of cookies.
However, if you do wish to disable our cookies then please follow the instructions on our “How to Manage Cookies” page.
Please remember that if you do choose to disable cookies, you may find that certain sections of our website do not work properly.
Do we track whether users open our emails?
Our emails may contain a single, campaign-unique “web beacon pixel” to tell us whether, and how many times, our emails are opened and verify any clicks through to links or advertisements within the email. We may use this information for purposes including determining which of our emails are more interesting to users, to query whether users who do not open our emails wish to continue receiving them, to check that content is being used in accordance with our terms and conditions, and to inform our advertisers in aggregate how many users have clicked on their advertisements. The pixel will be deleted when you delete the email. If you do not wish the pixel to be downloaded to your device, you should select to receive emails from us in plain text rather than HTML.
How-to disable cookies
Almost all browsers are set to accept cookies in the absence of different instructions, but you can independently change the configuration of your browser to block cookies. In the case of blocking cookies, however, browsing the Site and the use of some services may be very limited or impossible.
To disable cookies via browser configuration, refer to the following links:
• disabling cookies on Firefox;
• disabling cookies on Chrome;
• disabling cookies on Internet Explorer;
• disabling cookies on Safari.
Third-party cookies
The Site may also use third-party cookies that, in addition to what is specified in this document, may perform additional tracking activities. With regard to these cookies, IMEAS has only the obligation to indicate the link to their site. Third parties, on the other hand, will be obliged to provide suitable information on the processing and to provide information on how to block the cookies used. We therefore advise you to consult the privacy policies of the services listed below, where you can find information on the related processing and you can give your consent.
Facebook may use cookies, web beacons and other storage technologies in order to collect or receive information from the Site; it can also use this information to provide measurement services, define the recipients of advertisements, as described in the privacy policy adopted by Facebook, available at https://www.facebook.com/about/privacy/. You can deactivate the collection and use of information for the targeting of advertisements through the links http://www.aboutads.info/choices and http://www.youronlinechoices.eu/.
The Website uses – through the Google Analytics service – also analytics cookies, which collect aggregate and anonymous information on the number of users and how they visit the Site. The Website also integrates some features developed by third parties that send their cookies (as Google Maps).
To ensure greater transparency on the use and removal of data, the following are the web addresses of the various information and how to manage cookies:
Facebook information: https://www.facebook.com/help/cookies/
Facebook (configuration): log in to your account. Privacy section.
Twitter information: https://support.twitter.com/articles/20170514
Twitter (configuration): https://twitter.com/settings/security
Google+ information: http://www.google.it/intl/it/policies/technologies/cookies/
Google+ (configuration): http://www.google.it/intl/it/policies/technologies/managing/
Google Analytics (informative): https://www.google.it/policies/privacy/partners/
Google Analytics (configuration): https://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout