Cookies & IP Addresses

What are cookies?

A cookie is a text file that is created and stored by your browser when you visit a website. They are useful for remembering things like logins, user-preferences and behaviour.

What is an IP address?

An IP address is a label which is used to identify one or more devices on a computer network, such as the internet. It is comparable to a postal address. The IP address of the device you are using online may change from time to time but it will always be able to be recorded by the server for any current session.

Use of ‘functional’ cookies by this site.

We use very few cookies of our own as there are no public logins nor commenting. These are the cookies set directly by alynsmith.scot:

• wordpress_test_cookie – set by WordPress to check if cookies are enabled on the browser. This cookie is used on the front-end, even if you are not logged in. This is a ‘Session’ Cookie and will be deleted when you next close your browser.
• happyforms_logger – set by our contact form, if contact page is visited. Is a purely functional ‘Session’ Cookie and will be deleted when you next close your browser.
• aiovg_rand_seed – set by our video-gallery plugin, if in use. A functional cookie with an expiry date of one month.
• aiovg_gdpr_consent – set (once the additional ‘Accept’ button is clicked) by our video gallery, if in use – has an expiry date of one month.
• aiovg_videos_views – set (once the additional ‘Accept’ button is clicked) by our video gallery, if in use – has an expiry date of 24 hours.
• cookies_and_content_security_policy – set once ‘Accept’ is clicked in the site cookie notice. This notice will stay in place until clicked and, until clicked, no Analytics or Social Media cookies will be set in your browser. The cookie is set with a 12 month life and will remember your cookie preferences during that 12 month period.
• ls_smartpush – set by LiteSpeed, the cache technology we use to speed up site delivery. The software does not directly process any personally identifiable information from visitors  and the cookie will expire after two months.

Other cookies set on this site.

We may display Social Media feeds and embedded third-party services on this site as follows:

• Twitter
  We may use a WordPress plugin to embed Tweets on this site. Unless there is any user-initiated action (such as Liking a Tweet) then no cookies are set.
  Link: Twitter cookie notice.
  
• Facebook
  We may use a WordPress plugin to embed Facebook Posts on this site. Unless there is any user-initiated action (such as Sharing a Post) then no cookies are set.
  Link: Facebook cookie notice.
  
• Vimeo
  We use a WordPress plugin to embed videos from Vimeo. If a user has clicked the additional ‘Accept’ button in the video player then Vimeo will set (accurate at time of writing, September 2021) two cookies – vuid with an expiry date of 2 years, used to monitor the player performance, and player with an expiry date of 1 year – neither of these cookies are used to track individuals.
  Link: Vimeo cookie notice.
  
• YouTube
  VISITOR_INFO1_LIVE – if ‘Accept all’ has been clicked in our cookie notice then YouTube will set this cookie – it is used to measure user bandwidth and deliver content accordingly. Has an expiry date of 8 months. Again, if ‘Accept all’ was clicked then YouTube set an additional cookie called YSC which is set on pages with embedded YouTube video – it’s a purely functional ‘Session’ Cookie and will be deleted when you next close your browser.
  Link: YouTube’s embedded video information page
  
• SurveyHero
  We may embed surveys from a third-party supplier on this site. If ‘Accept all’ has been clicked on our cookie notice then SurveyHero, when a page containing a survey is visited, will set one or more cookies, named with an alpha-numeric string. They ordinarily have an expiry date of 10 years.
  Link: SurveyHero Privacy Policy
  
• Plausible Analytics
  This site uses Plausible Analytics to gain insights into how users interact with the site, how they view it (devices, operating system and the like), in order that usability and interaction may be improved. This service does not use cookies or store personal information and is compliant with privacy regulations such as the GDPR, CCPA and PECR.
  Link: Plausible Analytics Data Policy.

IP address usage, Facebook.

• Facebook ‘feed’: We may use a Facebook Feed plugin to display social media content on our website. As a result, our website makes requests to Facebook’s servers in order to display text, images and videos. These requests make your IP address visible to Facebook, who may use it in accordance with their data privacy policy: https://www.facebook.com/about/privacy/update.
  
• We may embed a Facebook widget to allow you to see information about, and “like”, our Facebook page. This widget may collect your IP address, your web browser User Agent, store and retrieve cookies on your browser, embed additional tracking, and monitor your interaction with the widget, including correlating your Facebook account with whatever action you take within the widget (such as “liking” our Facebook page), if you are logged in to Facebook. For more information about how this data may be used, please see Facebook’s data privacy policy: https://www.facebook.com/about/privacy/update.
  
• In order to improve performance, we may load the font file used in the Facebook feed from a Content Delivery Network (StackPath CDN). As a result, our website makes requests to the StackPath CDN servers in order to retrieve the file. These requests make your IP address visible to StackPath CDN, who may use it in accordance with their data privacy policy: https://www.stackpath.com/legal/privacy-statement/

IP address usage, Twitter.

• We use a Twitter Feed plugin to display social media content on our website. As a result, our website makes requests to Twitter’s servers in order to display text, images and videos. These requests make your IP address visible to Twitter, who may use it in accordance with their data privacy policy: https://twitter.com/en/privacy#update
• The Tweets displayed in the Twitter feed include the ability to Reply, Share, or Like the Tweet directly on our website. If you choose to interact with these functions then you will make a connection to Twitter.com, who may collect your IP address, your web browser User Agent, store and retrieve cookies on your browser, embed additional tracking, and monitor your interaction with the widget, including correlating your Twitter account with whatever action you take within the widget (such as “liking” a Tweet), if you are logged in to Twitter. For more information about how this data may be used, please see Twitter’s data privacy policy: https://twitter.com/en/privacy#update

You may view this site’s Privacy Policy here.