This section gives more information about cookies, particularly why we use them on our websites. It also guides you how to manage the cookies that are stored on your device.
What is a cookie?
Cookies are text files containing small amounts of information which your computer or mobile device downloads when you visit a website. When you return to websites – or visit websites that use the same cookies – they recognize these cookies and therefore your browsing device. Cookies are designed to be a reliable mechanism for websites to remember information (such as your language preference) or to record the user's browsing activity (including clicking particular buttons, logging in or recording which pages were visited).
Why do we use cookies?
We use cookies to do lots of different tasks, like letting you navigate between pages more efficiently, remembering your preferences and generally improving your experience whilst on our websites. We deploy these technologies when you visit our websites to offer an online experience more suited to the device you use and to detect and prevent fraud, thereby keeping you secure. When you visit our websites from any device (PC, tablet or mobile phone), we collect information about the device or browser you use including the device type, its operating system, its display resolution, its Internet Protocol (IP) address. We also collect information on the way you interact with our websites. It is possible that you may not be able to initiate or complete some tasks in our websites if cookies or similar technologies are disabled on your device.
Are cookies dangerous?
No. Cookies are small pieces of text. They are not computer programs and they cannot be executed as a code. All modern versions of popular web browsers allow users to set their own limitations to the number of cookies saved on their devices.
Can cookies threaten user’s privacy?
Cookies are stored on the user’s device. They cannot access the hard drive, so they cannot read other information saved on the hard drive or obtain user's e-mail address etc. They only contain and transfer to the server as much information as the users themselves have disclosed to the website.