Steelasophical Cookie Privacy Policy

Steelasophical Cookie Privacy Policy

Steelasophical Cookie and Privacy Policy

 

  • Steelasophical Steelband.co.uk will never share your email address or any personal details with any third party.
  • Advertisers who choose to list their details on Steelasophical Steelband.co.uk agree that once their information is submitted, it will be displayed as publicly accessible information.
  • Steelasophical Steelband.co.uk deliberately hides your email address by placing it behind a contact form in order to avoid internet spam robots spidering your address. We strongly advise against placing your email address in the clear. We cannot be held responsible for any advertisers who choose to manually add and display their email address in the clear on their business listing.
  • Steelasophical Steelband.co.uk uses cookies to enhance your experience on our website. Cookies are small files that are placed on your computer by websites as you surf the internet. These files can help personalise your visit, for example by remembering the last time you visited, or what you searched for previously. Other cookies collect anonymous statistics, such as Google Analytics, which help websites like us improve the service we can offer to visitors.
Coockies

Steelasophical Cookie Privacy Policy

Steelasophical Cookie and Privacy Policy

  • Any cookies used on Steelasophical Steelband.co.uk are 100% anonymous and do not collect any personal information, or information that can be used to identify an individual. We utilise first party cookies (originating from us, such as session IDs) and third party cookies (originating from partners such as Google and Facebook).
  • If you would like more information about third party cookies and would like to know your options in relation to not having this information used by these companies, then visit this Google link.
  • If you want to opt out of Google Analytics tracking, then you can install a browser add on which will block any Google Analytic traffic from any website. Google Analytics Opt-out.
  • We are unable to offer a cookie free version of our website, as this will affect the functionality and experience of your visit. If you do not want to receive any cookies, then the only option we can offer is not to use our website. To remove any cookies we may have already placed, empty the cookie cache on your browser by pressing Ctrl+Shift+Delete simultaneously and following the instructions. If this doesn’t work, please consult your browser’s help file.
  • Steelasophical Steelband.co.uk strives to be a family friendly website. Children under 13 years of age are required to present the expressed permission of their parent or legal guardian prior to disclosing any personal information or entering any competition or survey.
  • Steelasophical Steelband.co.uk reserve the right to change this statement at any time. We are not responsible for any breach of security or for any actions of any third parties that receive your personal information.
Steelasophical steelband Cookie Privacy Policy

Cookie and Privacy Policy

Cookies are small files which are stored on a user’s computer. They are designed to hold a modest amount of data specific to a particular client and website, and can be accessed either by the web server or the client computer.

Cookie and Privacy Policy

When a cookie is created it is possible to control its visibility by setting its ‘root domain’. It will then be accessible to any URL belonging to that root. For example the root could be set to “www.Steelband.co.uk” and the cookie would then be available to sites in “www.Steelband.co.uk” or “abc.Steelband.co.uk” or “Steelband.co.uk“. This might be used to allow related pages to ‘communicate’ with each other. It is not possible to set the root domain to ‘top level’ domains such as ‘.com’ or ‘.co.uk’ since this would allow widespread access to the cookie.

Who Can Access Cookies?

By default cookies are visible to all paths in their domains, but at the time of creation they can be restricted to a given subpath – for example “www.Steelband.co.uk/contact-us“.

Disadvantages to Cookies

Just like there are advantages to accepting cookies, there are also a few drawbacks.

The main ones you should be aware of are:

It’s sometimes possible for third parties to access information stored by cookies, which raises obvious privacy concerns

You may feel like someone is watching you as you’re browsing the internet, which understandably makes some feel uncomfortable
If you don’t know where to look, it can be difficult to find cookies and delete them

Some viruses may be disguised as cookies, and in other cases, cookies recreate themselves after they’ve been deleted – these are colloquially known as “zombie” cookies

What’s important is that you understand how cookies actually work and how you can take control of your internet privacy.

Without getting too technical, let’s be clear on what cookies are, what types of cookies are out there, and how each type of cookie gathers various bits of information about you, your computer, and your browsing history.

An Introduction to Cookies

Let’s get back to basics. Cookies, in their simplest form, are little clusters of data. A web server passes these data clusters through to your computer after you’ve landed on a website. Your computer then stores the data as files inside your browser cache. It’s less complicated than it sounds, so to illustrate, here’s how it works:

You visit a website
The web server passes a short message along to your web browser
The browser saves this message in a file titled something like “cookie.txt”
You click on another website page (for example, a shop category)
Your browser sends a short message “back” to the server that reveals a little more about what you’re looking at

Conclusion

For websites to work properly, they rely on cookies. Cookies are small files containing computer code that can sometimes identify you, your preferences, and your browsing behavior.

There are many types of cookies, and they collect different types of data. However, because cookies can collect information that is used to personally identify you, websites need your permission before they install them on your device or browser.

The only exception is when a cookie is strictly necessary i.e. if it’s the only way to keep products in your shopping cart. This type of information isn’t strictly personal because it can’t technically identify you.

You can delete cookies at any time by clicking through the menu options in your browser, and you can always contact retailers or websites individually to ask them to delete your personal information.

Put simply, you’re always in control of what happens to your personal data and who has access to it. Only consent to marketing and analytics cookies if you’re comfortable sharing this type of information, and remember, you’re free to change your mind at any time.

GDPR cookie consent in brief

The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is a European law that governs all collection and processing of personal data from individuals inside the EU.

Under the GDPR, it is the legal responsibility of website owners and operators to make sure that personal data is collected and processed lawfully.

A website outside of the EU is required to comply with the GDPR if it collects data from users inside the EU.

Although cookies are mentioned only once in the GDPR, cookie consent is nonetheless a cornerstone of compliance for websites with EU-located users.

This is because one of the most common ways for personal data to be collected and shared online is through website cookies. The GDPR sets out specific rules for the use of cookies.

That’s why, under the GDPR, cookie consent is the most frequently used legal basis that allows websites to process personal data and use cookies.

GDPR requires a website to only collect personal data from users after they have given their explicit consent to the specific purposes of its use.

Websites must comply with the following GDPR cookie consent requirements:

Prior and explicit consent must be obtained before any activation of cookies (apart from whitelisted, necessary cookies).
Consents must be granular, i.e. users must be able to activate some cookies rather than others and not be forced to consent to either all or none.

Consent must be freely given, i.e. not allowed to be forced.
Consents must be as easily withdrawn as they are given.
Consents must be securely stored as legal documentation.
Consent must be renewed at least once per year.

However, some national data protection guidelines recommend more frequent renewal, e.g. 6 months. Check your local data protection guidelines for compliance.
Typically, GDPR cookie compliance is achieved on websites through cookie banners that allow users to select and accept certain cookies for activation rather than others, when visiting a site.