What are cookies?

Cookies are small text files widely used on the Internet that are downloaded onto the user’s device (computer or mobile device) when visiting a website. Some are strictly necessary for a website to function properly and others are for analyzing and optimizing its performance or personalizing the user experience. Cookies are associated with a browser and do not in themselves provide users’ personal data.

Among other things, cookies serve to remember language preferences and other configuration settings without needing to manually change them each time a website is visited, access restricted areas or services without needing to register during each visit, measure a website’s traffic and collect statistical information, watch videos or share content on social media and offer content that is better tailored to the interests and browsing habits of the user.

 

What types of cookies exist and what are they for?

Detailed below are the types of cookies used, categorized by the following purposes:

  • Technical cookies: These cookies enable the user to browse a webpage and make it possible to use the different options or services available on it. For example, they control traffic, identify the session, use security elements during browsing, remember characteristics of the last visit or share content through social networks. They are also called strictly necessary cookies because a webpage cannot function properly without them.
  • Personalization cookies: These cookies enable the user to access the service pursuant to certain general, pre-defined characteristics according to a range of criteria on the user’s computer, such as, for example, language, browser used to access the service or regional configuration settings from where the service is accessed. These cookies make the appearance or operation of the website adapt to these pre-defined characteristics.
  • Analysis cookies: When properly processed by the website owner or third parties, these cookies help understand how visitors use a website and measure its traffic, collecting aggregated statistical information to optimize its performance and improve the user experience. They quantify the number of visitors, know which pages are viewed the most, calculate the average time of each visit or know the geographic origin of each visit.
  • Advertising cookies: When properly processed by the website owner or third parties, these cookies enable management, in the most efficient way possible, of the advertising offered on the website based on criteria such as edited content or how frequently adds are shown, and measure  their effectiveness. For example, they prevent the same ad from being repeatedly shown to the same visitor and show how they interact with ad content.
  • Behavioral advertising cookies: When properly processed by the website owner or third parties, these cookies enable management, in the most efficient way possible, of the advertising space that, where appropriate, the editor has included on a web page from which the requested service is provided. These cookies store user behavior information obtained through continuous observation of online user browsing habits, thus enabling the development of a specific profile to show advertising and content tailored to its interests.

 

Two types of cookies can be distinguished by the length of time they remain active:

  • Session cookies: These types of cookies are downloaded temporarily while the user accesses and makes use of the website to enable the user to efficiently browse from one page to another or remember the configuration setting preferences they select (for example, remember a list of products added to the shopping cart). These cookies are usually deleted when the browser is closed.
  • Persistent cookies: After the user finishes browsing the website, these types of cookies continue to be stored on the computer for a period defined by the cookie’s controller, which can range from a few minutes to several years. These cookies usually remain until the user or the browser deletes them and can be used to help the web pages remember that you have visited them before.

 

What cookies are used on this website?

In particular, this website uses cookies via Google Analytics, a service provided by Google. Through this service, Google uses cookies that collect information, including the IP address of the user’s device, and generates an anonymous user ID that will be processed by Google to collect statistical information on how the website is used. With the information obtained via the analytical cookies, Google will provide us with aggregated and anonymous information that is not associated with any IP address or any personal data that would enable us to identify the visitor; instead, it allows us to know, anonymously, the number of times the website is visited, which pages are viewed the most and if the visitors are new or have previously accessed this website. More specifically, this website uses the following analytical cookies:

Google determines the operation of the Google Analytics service in accordance with its own policies and conditions. We cannot control and are not responsible for the content and accuracy of Google’s terms and conditions and privacy policies. For more information on the Google Analytics service, click on the following link: https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/6004245?hl=es&ref_topic=2919631. You can also install the Google Analytics Opt-out tool in the browsers, which prevents Google Analytics from collecting information about your visits to other websites that use this service: https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/181881?hl=es&ref_topic=2919631

 

What options do you have concerning cookies?

Visitors can consult the types of cookies used on this website and modify their preferences through a cookies configuration panel accessible through the notification displayed when accessing the website or clicking on the button available at the bottom of the main page.

Likewise, visitors can decide how to manage the cookies on their computer at any time by configuring their browser options to allow, block or delete cookies as well as use specific tools to enable certain types of cookies to be blocked. To facilitate access to these options, we offer the following information with instructions on how to configure and manage the cookies in some of the most common browsers:

  • Internet Explorer: Tools -> Internet Options -> Privacy -> Settings. See Microsoft support or browser’s Help pages for more information.
  • Firefox: Tools -> Options -> Privacy -> History -> Personal Settings. See Mozilla support or browser’s Help pages for more information.
  • Chrome: Settings -> Show advanced settings -> Privacy -> Content settings. See Google support or browser’s Help pages for more information.
  • Safari: Preferences -> Security. See Apple support or browser’s Help pages for more information.

If the visitor does not have their browser configured to prevent the installation of cookies or does not have a specific tool installed to prevent their installation, by accepting or closing the cookies notification displayed when accessing the website for the first time, consent will be given to install the cookies  (although the visitor can always delete them later).