Cookies policy

When we provide services, we want to make them easy, useful and reliable. Where services are delivered on the internet, this sometimes involves placing small amounts of information on your device, for example, computer or mobile phone. These include small files known as cookies. They cannot be used to identify you personally.
These pieces of information are used to improve services for you through, for example:

enabling a service to recognise your device so you don't have to give the same information several times during one task
recognising that you may already have given a username and password so you don't need to do it for every web page requested
measuring how many people are using services, so they can be made easier to use and there's enough capacity to ensure they are fast

You can manage these small files yourself and learn more about them through "Internet browser cookies - what they are and how to manage them" or visit http://www.allaboutcookies.org which contains comprehensive information on how to control cookies on a wide variety of browsers.

Our use of cookies

We use a variety of cookies on our websites and these are detailed below.

First-party cookies

Website analytic providers such as Google Analytics set cookies to help accurately estimate the number of visitors to the website and volumes of usage.

Name	Purpose	Content	Expires
_utma	So service is available when you want it and fast, we measure numbers and volumes of visitors	Randomly generated number	2 years
_utmb	So service is available when you want it and fast, we measure numbers and volumes of visitors	Randomly generated number	30 minutes
_utmc	So service is available when you want it and fast, we measure numbers and volumes of visitors	Randomly generated number	When user exits browser
_utmz	So service is available when you want it and fast, we measure numbers and volumes of visitors	Randomly generated number	6 months
ASP.NET	So service is available when you want it and fast, we measure numbers and volumes of visitors	Randomly generated number	When user exits browser
cookie	So service is available when you want it and fast, we measure numbers and volumes of visitors	Randomly generated number	When user exits browser
nmstat	So service is available when you want it and fast, we measure numbers and volumes of visitors	Randomly generated number	1000 days after users last visit
request_token	Once you have logged on with username and password, to make it easier to log in again if you choose ‘Remember me’	Randomly generated number	When user exits browser
WCN_status	Once you have logged on with username and password, to make it easier to log in again if you choose ‘Remember me’	Randomly generated number	When user exits browser
JSESSIONID	Once you have logged on with username and password, to make it easier to log in again if you choose ‘Remember me’	Randomly generated number	When user exits browser
comment_author	Once you have logged on with username and password, to make it easier to log in again if you choose ‘Remember me’	User name entered	<1 year
comment_author_email	Once you have logged on with username and password, to make it easier to log in again if you choose ‘Remember me’	User email address entered	<1 year
comment_author_url	Once you have logged on with username and password, to make it easier to log in again if you choose ‘Remember me’	User website address entered	<1 year
subscribe_checkbox	Once you have logged on with username and password, to make it easier to log in again if you choose ‘Remember me’	“checked” or “unchecked” depending on user’s wish to be notified of further comments on the article	<1 year

For further details on the cookies set by Google Analytics, please refer to the Google Code website.

Third-party cookies

Some sites such as Google maps and YouTube use cookies to help deliver better services, for example remembering where you were on a map.

Name	Purpose	Content	Expires
NID	When we provide links to third party services you find useful, they may place a cookie on your device to make their service easier to use.	Randomly generated number	24 hours
PREF	When we provide links to third party services you find useful, they may place a cookie on your device to make their service easier to use.	Randomly generated number	2 years
SNID	When we provide links to third party services you find useful, they may place a cookie on your device to make their service easier to use.	randomly generated number	2 years
PREF	When we provide links to third party services you find useful, they may place a cookie on your device to make their service easier to use.	Randomly generated number	2 years
P_16976035	When we provide links to third party services you find useful, they may place a cookie on your device to make their service easier to use.	Randomly generated number	1 hour
TS54026e	When we provide links to third party services you find useful, they may place a cookie on your device to make their service easier to use.	Randomly generated number	When user exits browser
ep202	When we provide links to third party services you find useful, they may place a cookie on your device to make their service easier to use.	Randomly generated number	1 year
ASP.NET_SessionID	So service is available when you want it and fast, we measure numbers and volumes of visitors	Randomly generated number	When user exits browser
k	When we provide links to third party services you find useful, they may place a cookie on your device to make their service easier to use.	IP address and randomly generated number	7 days
VISITOR_INFO1_LIVE	When we provide links to third party services you find useful, they may place a cookie on your device to make their service easier to use.	Randomly generated number	9 months
use_hitbox	When we provide links to third party services you find useful, they may place a cookie on your device to make their service easier to use.	Randomly generated number	When user exits browser
PREF	When we provide links to third party services you find useful, they may place a cookie on your device to make their service easier to use.	Randomly generated number	10 years

How to control and delete cookies

We will not use cookies to collect personally identifiable information about you.

However, if you wish to restrict or block the cookies which are set by our websites, or indeed any other website, you can do this through your browser settings. The ‘Help’ function within your browser should tell you how.

Alternatively, you may wish to visit http://www.aboutcookies.org which contains comprehensive information on how to do this on a wide variety of browsers. You will also find details on how to delete cookies from your machine as well as more general information about cookies.

Please be aware that restricting cookies may impact on the functionality of our website.

If you wish to view your cookie code, just click on a cookie to open it. You'll see a short string of text and numbers. The numbers are your identification card, which can only be seen by the server that gave you the cookie. For information on how to do this on the browser of your mobile phone you will need to refer to your handset manual.

To opt-out of third-parties collecting any data regarding your interaction on our website, please refer to their websites for further information.

Last updated: 25 May 2012

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