What are cookies?
A cookie is a small file containing letters and numbers that is downloaded to your browser when visiting a website. Cookies are used by most websites and can help a website do lots of different things such as remember personal preferences, keep you logged in to a site, or count the number of people looking at a website.
What kinds of cookies are there?
There are two kinds of cookies to be aware of: first-party and third-party cookies. First party cookies are cookies created by the website you’re visiting. These kinds of cookies are usually used to help the website to function. For example, if you were to log into a site, the site would use a first party cookie to remember that you were logged in to a site next time you visit.
Third party cookies are cookies created by companies outside of the website you’re visiting. These kinds of cookies are usually used to track how a user has used a website (i.e., what pages they’ve visited/what links they’ve clicked on). The owners of the website use this information to make improvements to the site.
When is a cookie used?
Some first party cookies can be used as soon as a user visits a site. Usually, cookies like these are used straight away because the website can’t function without them. However, in most cases, cookies aren’t used until a user has given a website permission to use cookies. You may have seen this in action when you’ve visited a site and a pop up appears asking you to accept cookies. If a site uses third party cookies, it’s a legal requirement for the site to wait until the user has given permission to use cookies before the third-party cookies can be implemented.
In most cases, a cookie does have an expiry date in which it will be removed from the user’s browser. Once a cookie expires, it is no longer used and is removed from the user’s browser. A cookie is also not used if it is removed from the user’s browser.
How does our site use cookies?
First-party cookies
Our site uses one first-party: boiler-rightio-accept-cookie. This cookie is used to remember what a user’s cookie preferences are when they visit the site. It tells the site whether or not it is ok to use Google analytics’ and Force 24’s cookies.
Third-party cookies
Google Analytics
Google Analytics uses cookies to understand how a user interacts with a website. Google Analytics sets up the following cookies when a user accepts cookies:
- _ga – this cookie lasts 2 years and is used to distinguish users.
- _gid – this cookie lasts 24 hours and is used to distinguish users.
- _ga_<container-id> – this cookie lasts 2 years and is used to persist session state.
- _gac_gb_<container-id> – this cookie lasts 90 days and contains campaign related information for Google Ads.
These cookies are specific to an individual website (in other words, they can’t be used to track a user across different websites). More information about the cookies Google uses can be found here:
https://policies.google.com/technologies/cookies?hl=en-US
https://developers.google.com/analytics/devguides/collection/gtagjs/cookie-usage
Force 24
Force 24 uses cookies to track visitors to a website and what forms they fill for marketing purposes later on. Force 24 sets up the following cookies when cookies are accepted:
- f24_autoId – this cookie lasts 6 months if left anonymous, or 10 years if not. Temporary identifier on a local machine or phone browser that helps us track anonymous information to be later married up with f24_personid.
- f24_personId – this cookie lasts 10 years. This is an ID generated per individual contact in the Force24 system to be able to track behaviour and form submissions into the Force24 system from outside sources per user.
More information about Force 24’s cookies can be found here:
https://force24.co.uk/cookies
How can I control my cookies?
You can use your browser to delete, block, or allow cookies. You can also set up your browser to block all third-party cookies and clear all cookies when you close the browser. If necessary, you can open a ‘private browsing’ or ‘incognito’ window which allows you to browse the web without recording your browsing history or storing cookies (though this can have its limitations).
How to control cookies in a browser
Different browsers have their cookie settings in different areas. Each of the links below will give you an idea of how to control cookies in your browser:
Other useful information
You can learn more about cookie from AboutCookies.org and AllAboutCookies.org. It may also be worth noting that Google has developed a browser add-on which lets uses opt-out of Google Analytics across any sites that use it. This is available to download from the Chrome web store.