Use of cookies on the ALRA website

When you visit some pages on this website, your computer may be issued with a small file - a "cookie". A cookie is a piece of information in the form of a very small text file that is placed on the hard drive of your computer. The information the cookie contains is set by the server (this website) and it can be used by that server whenever you visit this website. The server uses cookies to recognise your browser session if you visit multiple pages during your interaction with this website.

You can set your browser to refuse cookies or warn you before accepting them. However, some parts of this website may not function properly without accepting cookies. AboutCookies.org gives some helpful information about how to adjust your browser settings in relation to cookies.

Session cookies

The ALRA website will primarily set session cookies. Session cookies allow websites to remember information from page to page so the user does not have to input that information more than once. The prime example of when session cookies are used is during a purchase from an internet shop – a session cookie would be used to remember what the user had put in their basket so that it would be carried through to checkout.

Session cookies will normally be deleted by your browser when the browser is closed.

Analytic cookies

Some parts of this website use Google Analytics (see Section 2 of the Privacy and Cookie Policy) which also place cookies on your computer. The information generated by these cookies about your use of this website will be transmitted to and stored by Google. For further information, please see Google's website.

ALRA will not use the statistical analytics tools to track or to collect personally identifiable information of visitors to this website. The University will not associate any data gathered with any personally identifying information from any source as part of our use of the statistical analytics tools.

Flash cookies

Flash Cookies (or Local Shared Objects) can be used by websites to collect information about a user's browsing habits even though the user believes that they have restricted such data collection. The use of Flash Cookies on University websites is not normally permitted and will never be used for tracking purposes. Where they are used, for example in our streaming media service, they are only used to store settings useful to the end user (e.g. video volume). Further information on Flash Cookies (including how to disable them) can be found on AboutCookies.org.

External web services

When you visit www.alra.co.uk you may notice some cookies that are not related to ALRA. We use a number of external web services on the ALRA site, mostly to display content within our web pages. For example, to display videos we use YouTube and Ipercast. We also use a number of Google services, including Calendar and Maps. This is not an exhaustive or complete list of the services we use, or might use in the future, when embedding content, but these are the most common. As with the social buttons we cannot prevent these sites, or external domains, from collecting information on your usage of this embedded content. If you are not logged in to these external services then they will not know who you are but are likely to gather anonymous usage information e.g. number of views, plays, loads etc.

Social buttons

On many of the site's web pages you will see ‘social buttons'. These enable users to share or bookmark web pages. There are buttons for Facebook, Google +, LinkedIn and Twitter. In order to implement these buttons, and connect them to the relevant social networks and external sites, scripts from domains outside ALRA are used. You should be aware that these sites are likely to be collecting information about your internet browsing, including on the ALRA site. So, if you click on any of these buttons, these sites will be registering that action and may use that information. In some cases, if you are logged into their services, these sites will be registering the fact that you are visiting the University's website, and the specific pages you are on, even if you don't click on the button. You should check the respective privacy and cookie policies of each of these sites to see how exactly they use your information and to find out how to opt out, or delete, such information.