Due to the coming into force of the amendment to the “Law on Services of the Information Society” (LSSICE) established by Spanish Royal Decree 13/2012, it is mandatory to obtain the express consent of the user of all web pages that use nonessential cookies before browsing them.
Cookies and other similar technologies such as local shared objects, flash cookies or pixels, are tools used by Web servers to store and retrieve information about their visitors, as well as to enable the proper functioning of the site.
Through using these devices, the Web server is able to remember some data concerning the user, such as their preferences for viewing the server’s pages, their name and password, products that interest them most, etc.
According to the EU directive, the cookies that require the user’s informed consent are analytical, advertising and affiliation cookies, while technical cookies and those that are necessary for the operation of the website or the provision of services expressly requested by the user are exempt.
There are five main groups of cookies:
- Analytical Cookies: these collect information on how the website is used.
- Social Cookies: these are required for external social networks.
- Affiliate Cookies: these allow you to track visits through links from other websites, with which the website establishes affiliate agreements (affiliate companies).
- Advertising and behaviour Cookies: these collect information on the user’s personal preferences and choices (re-targeting).
- Technical and functional Cookies: these are strictly only necessary for the use of the website and for the provision of the contracted service.
List the cookie names, types, owners, functions and expiration dates, for example:
- PHPSESSID: technical and strictly necessary cookies that contain the session identifier. It is deleted when you close your browser.
- _lang: technical and strictly necessarycookies that contain the language of the session. It is deleted when you close your browser.
- ac_cookies: technical and strictly necessary cookies that contain the value of whether the installation of cookies has been accepted. It expires 1 year after the last update.
- _ga: Google Analytics cookies that allow you to control unique visits. A cookie will be installed the first time a user logs into the website using a browser. When this user visits the website again using the same browser, the
cookie distinguishes that it is the same user. Only if the user changes their browser will they be considered a different user. It expires 2 years after the last update. - _gat: This cookie is associated with Google Analytics Universal. It is used to limit the request rate – limiting the collection of data on high-traffic sites. It expires after 10 minutes.
- _utma: Google Analytics cookie which records the date of the first and last time that the user visited the website. It expires 2 years after the last update.
- _utmb: Google Analytics cookie which records the time of entering the website. It expires 30 minutes after the last update.
- _utmc: Google Analytics cookie used for interoperability with the urchin.js tracking code. It is deleted when you close your browser.
- _utmt: Google Analytics cookie. This cookie is used to process the type of request made by the user. It expires at the end of the session.
- _utmv: Google Analytics cookie. This cookie is used to segment demographic data. It expires at the end of the session.
- _utmz: Google Analytics cookie which stores the traffic source or a campaign that explains how the user reached the website. It expires 6 months after the last update.
Chrome:
- Click on the menu
- Click Settings.
- Click Show Advanced Options.
- In the ’Privacy and security’ section, click Content Settings.
• Delete cookies: Click See all cookies and site data…
• Do not allow cookies to be stored. - Click Remove all.
- Close and restart the browser.
For more information about Chrome, click here: http://support.google.com/chrome/answer/95647?hl=es
Internet Explorer. Versión 11
- Select Tools
- Click Safety.
- Click Delete browsing history.
- Select Cookies.
- Select Temporary Internet Files.
- Click Delete.
- Click OK.
- Close and restart the browser.
For more information about Internet Explorer, click here:
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/278835/how-to-delete-cookie-files-in-internet-explorer
Firefox. Version 18
- Open the menu.
- Click Options.
- Select the Privacy and Security tab. Under Cookies and Site Data, click Clear Data…
- Select Cookies and Site Data and Cached Web Content.
- Click Clear.
- Close and restart the browser.
You can accept or decline cookies individually by clicking Manage Data.
For more information about Mozilla Firefox, click here:
https://support.mozilla.org/en-UK/kb/delete-cookies-remove-info-websites-stored
Safari Version 5.1
- Click Safari.
- Select the Privacy and Security tab. Click Preferences and then Privacy.
- Click Remove stored cookies and data.
- Close and restart the browser.
For more information about Safari, click here: https://www.apple.com/legal/privacy/en-ww/cookies/
Opera
Settings>Preferences>Advanced>Cookies.
The cookie settings control how Opera handles them and therefore if they are accepted or rejected.
For more information about Opera click here: http://help.opera.com/Linux/10.60/es-ES/cookies.html
Other browsers
Refer to the documentation for the browser you have installed.