A cookie is a small text file placed on your computer by websites that you visit. This text file contains information about your computer and your behaviour on the site. Your web browser might store the cookie for a certain amount of time afterwards (persistent cookies) or might delete the cookie after you leave the site or close down the browser (session cookies).
Cookies can contain a great deal of information, some of which is necessary or useful to your web browsing experience. For example, on a shopping site, it's a cookie that contains the information about what's in your shopping cart. Cookies might also contain usernames and passwords, saving you having to remember and enter login details each time you visit.
Other information stored by cookies might include:
- pages visited on a website
- website search history
- language preferences
- display preferences
- web browser information
- device information
It's important to note that cookies can store any personally identifying information that you enter in web forms, so think about what you share.
Because of GDPR, websites available in the EU must:
- Display a cookie consent pop-up/banner that informs you about the use of cookies and gives you the option to accept or decline non-essential cookies.
- Obtain explicit consent from you before placing cookies on your devices.
- Allow you to manage your cookie preferences at any time.
We recommend that you decline consenting to have non-essential cookies placed on your device.
