1. What is a cookie?
Most sites use cookies. A cookie is a small text file, placed on your computer’s hard drive when you visit a site. This small file contains the name of the cookie, the value (which can be a unique code), the expiration date, and the domain name to which the cookie can be sent if you visit the same site later. With the cookie, the server can recognise your computer and it can even adapt to your behaviour as a surfer. Cookies help you to see information more quickly, because some data – such as language selection – are automatically installed from the second visit. This means the website recognises you. Cookies are not necessarily a problem. But it is good to know that they can also be used for other purposes. There are e-marketing professionals and online shops that use cookies and other software to track your surfing habits. They analyse your behaviour and associate it with your personal data. Generally speaking, this data has been provided by you in an electronic form. By associating the two types of information, a detailed picture of your complete consumption profile is created – on the internet and elsewhere. This consumer profile is useful for better targeting of advertisements, which makes them more effective. Most web browsing software can be set up so that you can accept or refuse (block) cookies. When you refuse a cookie, it is usually more difficult or sometimes impossible to browse.
2. Your consent
The use of cookies requires your prior and explicit consent. You can always return to this consent later and refuse (block) these cookies and/or delete them at any time by changing your browser’s settings. The warning message on the home page allows you to express your consent to our cookie policy. When you refuse this consent, you will still be able to access the site’s public parts, but some functions will be limited or impossible as shown below.
3. The different types of cookies used
3.1. Functional cookies
These cookies are designed to facilitate and analyse the functioning of our websites and to make their use more enjoyable and personalised.
They notably enable the:
- personalisation of services by memorising your preferences (language, currency, location, navigation data, etc.)
- avoidance of you having to repeat your choices whenever you visit the site
- the collection of information provided in the online forms
- the compilation of statistics (e.g. the number of unique visitors)
- analysis of the use of the site and the popularity of our pages
3.2. Third-party cookies
When you visit our website, sociodemographic data and profile data are collected and saved anonymously in a commercial cookie. These data help to improve the site’s content and functioning through the use of Google Analytics.
4. Privacy
When connecting to a site, besides the data included in cookies (see point 3), some data is automatically sent to the site by the surfer’s browser. This data includes the TCP/IP address (a number that identifies a computer on the network), the browser-makers and versions as well as the operating system and the last web page visited.
5. Cookie management
Most web browsers are automatically configured to accept cookies. However, you can configure your browser to accept or block (refuse) cookies. You can delete cookies already installed on your computer or on your mobile device at any time. Any settings that you make are likely to change your web browsing and your access to certain services that require the use of cookies. However, we cannot guarantee you access to all the services on our website if you refuse to save cookies. Blocking cookies does not mean that you will not see any online advertising. It simply means that the services presented to you will not be based on your supposed interests (linked to your browsing on the raposo.be website). Moreover, you may still receive behavioural advertisements from other companies, if you have not blocked their cookies. In your browser settings, you can block the installation of cookies. The way in which cookies may be enabled or disabled, as well as their deletion, will depend on your device and your web browser. You can configure your browser so that:
- cookies are saved in your terminal or, on the contrary, they are blocked either systematically or according to their issuer.
- cookies can be temporarily accepted or blocked by you, before a cookie is likely to be saved in your terminal.
5.1. Agreement on cookies
The saving of a cookie in a terminal is subject to the terminal user’s prior consent: this user can express and modify this consent at any time and free of charge, through the choices offered to the user by their browser. If you have accepted in your browser the saving of cookies in your terminal, then cookies embedded in the pages and content that you have consulted can be saved temporarily in a dedicated space on your terminal. They will be readable only by their sender.
5.2. Refusing cookies
If you refuse to save certain types of cookies in your terminal, or if you delete those that are saved there, you will no longer be able to benefit from a number of functions that are still necessary to navigate some spaces on our site. This would happen if you were trying to access our content or services that need to identify you. It would also happen when we – or our service providers – could not recognise, for technical compatibility purposes, the type of browser used by your terminal, its language and display settings, or the country from which your terminal seems to be connected to the internet. Where applicable, we disclaim all responsibility for the consequences of the degraded operation of our services that may result from our inability to save or consult the cookies necessary for their operation and that you may have refused or deleted. If you want to refuse commercial cookies (such as those from Google), you can do this with the help of the website here: http://www.youronlinechoices.com/be-fr/
5.3. How can you make your choices, depending on your browser?
The settings of each browser will vary, when managing cookies and your preferences. These settings are set out in your browser’s help menu, which will show you how to change cookie preferences to suit you.
- Internet Explorer: http://windows.microsoft.com/en-EN/windows-vista/Block-or-allow-cookies
- Safari: http://help.apple.com/safari/mac/9.0/#/sfri11471
- Chrome: https://support.google.com/chrome/answer/95647?hl=en&hlrm=en
- Firefox: https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/enable-and-disable-cookies-website-preferences
- Opera: http://help.opera.com/Windows/10.20/en/cookies.html
- Other browsers: please refer to your browser’s help or visit its publisher’s website.
5.4. Do not track
You can also configure your browser so that it sends a code telling websites that you do not want to be tracked (option ‘Do Not Track’).
- Internet Explorer: http://windows.microsoft.com/en-en/internet-explorer/use-tracking-protection#ie=ie-11
- Safari: http://support.apple.com/kb/PH11952
- Chrome: https://support.google.com/chrome/answer/114836?
- Firefox: https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/how-do-i-turn-do-not-track-feature
- Opera: http://help.opera.com/Windows/12.10/en/notrack.html