Cookie Policy

COOKIE POLICY

COOKIES

By using our website and agreeing to this policy, you consent to our use of cookies in accordance with the terms of this policy.

What is a cookie?

A cookie is a small text file that we store on your device. Our website uses cookies to distinguish you from other users of our website and to improve the users experience while visiting. Cookies also provide us with information about how this website is used so we can keep it as up to date, relevant and error-free as possible. When you visit the Site, we automatically collect certain information about your device, including information about your web browser, IP address, time zone, and some of the cookies that are installed on your device. Additionally, as you browse the site, we collect information about the individual web pages or products that you view, what websites or search terms referred you to the Site, and information about how you interact with the Site. We refer to this automatically-collected information as “Device Information.” By using our website and agreeing to this policy, you consent to our use of cookies in accordance with the terms of this policy, however, users have some control over their privacy options which are outlined further on.

You can revisit and change your current cookie settings here: Cookie Settings


Types of cookies

There are various types of cookies, please be aware that choosing to disable certain types of cookies may have an effect on your browsing experience.

Strictly necessary cookies

These are cookies that are essential to the operation of our website.

Analytical/performance cookie

These cookies allow us to recognise and count the number of visitors to our website.

Functionality cookies

These cookies are used to recognise you when you return to our website.

Targeting Cookies

These cookies record your visit to our website, the pages you have visited and the links you have followed.


What cookies do we use?

There are two different types of cookies – the ones we use on earth.ed.ac.uk (first party cookies) and the ones set by companies with work or interact with (we call these third party cookies). We use various first Party browser cookies to enable the smooth running of the website.


List of Cookies

Every attempt has been made to list all the cookies currently set on this website as accurately as possible. If you think we have missed any or any information is inaccurate, please contact us and we will investigate further.

earth.ed.ac.uk First Party Cookies

WordPress

Cookies Used:

  • wordpress_test_cookie

wordpress_test_cookie is set and used by WordPress to test for cookie capability. WordPress sets this cookie when you navigate to the login page. It is used to check whether your web browser is set to allow, or reject cookies. WordPress – For those logged in into the backend (system administrators) Cookies Used:

  • wp-settings-{user}
  • wp-settings-time-{user}
  • wordpress_logged_in_[hash]

WordPress also sets some wp-settings-[UID] cookies and wp-settings-{time}-[UID] cookies. The number on the end is your individual user ID from the users database table. This is used to customize your view of the admin interface and preserve user’s wp-admin settings. The wordpress_logged_in_[hash] cookie is used to indicate when you are logged in and who you are.


GDPR Cookie Consent

Cookies used:

  • cookielawinfo-checkbox-necessary
  • cookielawinfo-checkbox-non-necessary
  • viewed_cookie_policy

These cookies are used to register if a visitor has accepted the use of cookies on our site and to keep track of which cookies you approved.  These cookies are saved for 365 days.


Wordfence

  • wfwaf-authcookie-(hash)

This cookie is used by the Wordfence firewall to perform a capability check of the current user before WordPress has been loaded.This is only set for users that are able to log into WordPress. This cookie allows the Wordfence firewall to detect logged in users and allow them increased access. It also allows Wordfence to detect non-logged in users and restrict their access to secure areas. The cookie also lets the firewall know what level of access a visitor has to help the firewall make smart decisions about who to allow and who to block.


Third party cookies

Google Analytics Cookies used:

  • _ga
  • _gid
  • _gat_gtag_UA_[hash]

These Google analytical cookies are used to distinguish users. Google’s analytics is a tool that helps website and app owners to understand how their visitors engage with their properties. It may use a set of cookies to collect information and report website usage statistics without personally identifying individual visitors to Google.

We use Google Analytics 4 (GA4) where IP addresses are not logged or stored.

The main cookie used by Google Analytics is the ‘__ga’ cookie. The _gid cookie is used to store Session ID and to group the entire session’s activity together for each user. The _gat_gtag_UA cookie is used to throttle request rate and expires after 1 minute. We use google analytics so we can measure the traffic and success of individual pages and our website as a whole. We use these to learn more about how our users interact so we can keep it as up to date, relevant, enjoyable and error-free as possible.


Clearing your cookies

You can clear the cookies in your browser at any time. Learn how to clear your cookies in:
Chrome here 
Apple Safari here
Internet explorer here
Mozilla Firefox here


How to opt out of Google Analytics

In order to further provide website visitors with more choice on how data is collected by Google Analytics, Google has developed the Google Analytics Opt-out Browser Add-on. The add-on communicates with the Google Analytics JavaScript (ga.js) to stop data being sent to Google Analytics. The Google Analytics Opt-out Browser Add-on does not affect usage of the website in any other way. A link to further information on the Google Analytics Opt-out Browser Add-on is provided below for your convenience. http://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout?hl=none

For more information on the usage of cookies by Google Analytics please see the Google website. https://policies.google.com/technologies/partner-sites?hl=en-GB&


Disabling cookies

If you would like to restrict the use of cookies you can control this in your Internet browser. Links to advice on how to do this for the most popular Internet browsers are provided below for convenience and will be available for the Internet browser of your choice either online or via the software help (normally available via key F1).
Internet Explorer https://support.microsoft.com/en-gb/help/17442/windows-internet-explorer-delete-manage-cookies
Google Chrome https://support.google.com/accounts/answer/61416?co=genie.platform%3ddesktop&hl=en
Mozilla Firefox https://support.mozilla.org/en-us/kb/enable-and-disable-cookies-website-preferences
Apple Safari https://support.apple.com/en-gb/guide/safari/manage-cookies-and-website-data-sfri11471/mac


External links

Although this website only looks to include quality, safe and relevant external links, users are advised adopt a policy of caution before clicking any external web links mentioned throughout this website. The owners of this website cannot guarantee or verify the contents of any externally linked website despite their best efforts. Users should therefore note they click on external links at their own risk and this website and its owners cannot be held liable for any damages or implications caused by visiting any external links mentioned.


Resources & further information

guide to the general data protection regulation (gdpr)
privacy and electronic communications regulations 2003
guide to privacy and electronic communications regulations
google privacy policy