7. Cookies and Automated Data Collection

In our websites, apps and emails, we and third parties may collect certain information by automated means such as cookies, Web beacons, JavaScript, mobile device functionality, browser-based or plugin-based local storage such as HTML5 storage or Flash-based storage, and other similar techniques and technologies.

This information includes unique browser identifiers, unique device identifiers such as the Apple Advertising Identifier or Android Advertising ID, IP address, browser and operating system information, geolocation, other device information, Internet connection information, as well as details about individuals’ interactions with our apps, websites and emails. Such details include, for example, the URL of the third-party website from which you came, the pages that you visit on our websites, and the links you click on in our websites.

As part of this, we and third parties may use automated means to read or write information on your device, such as in various types of cookies and other local storage. Cookies and local storage are files that can contain data, such as unique identifiers or other information, that we or a third party may transfer to or read from a user’s device for the purposes described in this Privacy Policy.

The cookies and other technologies described here fall into four basic categories:

• Essential: These are strictly necessary to provide you with our online presence, such as access to secure areas that require registration. Users cannot refuse them without impacting functionality.
• Functional: These allow Users to browse or benefit from some of its features, such as setting language preferences. Similar to the essential technology described above, if these are disabled, it could impact your experience to use some functionality.
• Analytics: These allow us or our third-party analytics providers to collect statistics on the use of our Service Offerings and website.
• Advertising: These cookies and other technologies, administered primarily by our third-party advertising partners, track users’ online activities over time and use this information to show users ads that are tailored to their individual interests or characteristics and/or based on prior visits to certain sites or apps, or other information we or they know, infer or have collected from the users. For example, we and these providers may use different types of cookies, other automated technology, and data to (i) recognize users and their devices; (ii) inform, optimize and serve ads; and (iii) to report on our ad impressions, other uses of ad services, and interactions with these ad impressions and ad services, including how they are related to visits to specific sites or apps.

To learn more about interest-based advertising, including how to opt out from the targeting of interest-based ads by some of our current ad service partners, visit aboutads.info/choices or youronlinechoices.eu from each of your browsers on each of your devices. You can opt out of Google Analytics and customize the Google Display Network ads by visiting the Google Ads Settings page and installing the Google Analytics Opt-out Browser Add-on from each browser on each device. If you replace, change or upgrade your browser, or delete your cookies, you may need to use these opt-out tools again. We do not respond to browser-based do-not-track signals. Please visit your mobile device manufacturer's website, or the website for its operating system, for instructions on any additional privacy controls in your mobile operating system, such as privacy settings for device identifiers and geolocation.

You may be able to set your web browser to refuse certain types of cookies, or to alert you when certain types of cookies are being sent. Some browsers offer similar settings for HTML5 local storage, and Flash storage can be managed as described here.