What happens when I click «accept the cookie policy» when accessing a website?
For a while now, we’ve all heard about cookies, but in recent months, we notice their presence more when browsing the internet. The regulation has become stricter, reaching the point it is now. Currently, it states that to access any website, the user must first accept the cookies used by that site (informed consent). Similarly, the user must be able to reject those cookies they do not want to be activated on their device.
What is a cookie?
A cookie is a piece of information sent by a website and stored in the user’s browser, which can be returned by the browser to the website on subsequent visits. (Browsers: Google Chrome, Safari, Firefox, Explorer, etc.).
Cookies allow the website, among other things, to monitor, store, and retrieve information about the user’s browsing habits (e.g., preferences, profiles, etc.) as well as obtain technical information related to the navigability of web pages. Cookies also contribute to the functionality, usability, and accessibility of web pages.
Types of cookies according to the entity that manages them:
First-party: Those sent to your device from a device or domain managed by the website owner and from which the service requested by the user is provided.
Third-party: Sent to your device when you browse our website, but from a device or domain managed by a third party. If the third party uses the data obtained for its own purposes, we will inform you about it.
Types of cookies according to the time they remain on the device:
Session: Active when accessing the website, they disappear at the end of the session (e.g., list of purchased products).
Persistent: The data remains stored on the device and can be accessed and processed during the defined period in the cookie, even years. We will minimize their duration according to their purpose.
Types of cookies according to their purpose:
Functional and Technical: These are the cookies strictly necessary for the functionality and navigability of a website. They allow the user to navigate through a website or application and use its different options or services. If these cookies are disabled, the user will not receive the content or services correctly.
If they only provide the requested service, they do not have to comply with the LSSI.
Example:
Traffic control and data communication, session identification, access to restricted areas, remembering the shopping cart order, making purchases, managing payments, preventing fraud, facilitating registrations or participation in events, counting visits to bill software according to the number of uses, using security elements while browsing, saving video or sound data, enabling dynamic content (e.g., text or image load animation), sharing content through social networks; or managing advertising spaces based on criteria such as edited content, without collecting user information for other purposes (e.g., Personalizing content).
Preferences or personalization: These are the cookies that allow websites to retain certain preferences (e.g., language, country, regional settings, etc.) predefined by the user on their first visit, and subsequent visits, to the website. If characteristics are chosen (e.g., marking the website’s language flag), they do not have to comply with the LSSI, as they are considered an expressly requested service.
User input: Excluded from the application of the LSSI. They track the user when filling out online forms on various pages, or as a shopping cart to follow the items selected by pressing a button.
User authentication or identification (session): Excluded from the application of the LSSI.
Security: Excluded from the application of the LSSI. They detect erroneous or repeated attempts to connect to the website.
Media player, load balancing, or user interface customization: Excluded from the application of the LSSI.
Plug-in or social: Excluded from the application of the LSSI only for users with an open session. They control interaction with social networks within the website. They are used on «YouTube,» «Facebook,» «Google,» and «Twitter,» or others.
Analytics or measurement cookies: We must obtain informed consent, although it is unlikely they represent a risk to your privacy if they are first-party and aggregate data for statistics.
Managed by us or third parties, these cookies collect information to allow websites to evaluate how users use the website and their overall activity, as well as collect statistical data. Analytical cookies measure and collect data from the Website (pages viewed, visits, traffic parameters, clicks made, etc.) to understand and optimize the website.
Advertising cookies: Managed by us or third parties, these cookies collect information about the user’s browsing habits, as well as their behavior during browsing, to identify preferences, habits, and tastes within a specific Website. These cookies allow advertising content to be tailored based on the analysis of the user’s browsing habits and deduce characteristics such as location, age group, etc.
Other forms of storage similar to cookies
HTML5 Local Storage and Session Storage: Space that the website can use on the user’s device. Usually, clearing the browsing history can delete them.
Flash Local Shared Objects: They store more information than a cookie and are independent of the browser used, making them harder to locate, view, or delete. They can even regenerate standard cookies. An example is Silverlight Isolated Storage, which must be deleted by entering the user’s Microsoft folder.
Web beacons or bugs: These are tiny images hidden on the website and invisible to the eye. They are downloaded when visiting the website but are stored on a secondary site from which the visit is registered through the information the browser provides when downloading the image: IP address, operating system, browser, number of times, and times the image is downloaded.
What cookies does our website www.ti-bcn.com use?
The cookies used on our website are session and third-party cookies, and they allow us to store and access information related to the language, the type of browser used, and other general characteristics predefined by the user, as well as track and analyze the activity carried out, in order to introduce improvements and provide our services more efficiently and personalized. The TOT IMPRESSIÓ website does not use advertising or behavioral advertising cookies.
The use of cookies offers advantages in providing services within the information society, as it facilitates user navigation and access to the different services offered by this website; avoids the user having to configure predefined general characteristics each time they access the website; favors the improvement of the functioning and services provided through this website, following the corresponding analysis of the information obtained through the installed cookies.