Cookie Statement and Opt out choices

Cookie Statement and Opt-Out Choices Statement • Slashdot Media

LAST UPDATED: January 06, 2020

Like many websites, our Services (as defined in our Privacy Policy) use “cookies” and other small files (as further described below) to help us customize your experience, analyze our web traffic, and improve our offerings. These cookies distinguish you from other users of our Services. Websites are now required to obtain explicit consent when using or storing cookies (or similar technologies) on your computer or mobile device if you are located in the European Union. This policy intends to provide our visitors with clear and comprehensive information about the cookies we use and the purposes for using those cookies. For more information on how we use your personal information, see our Privacy Policy. This Policy is incorporated into and part of our Privacy Policy. Defined terms that are not defined within this Cookie Statement shall have the definition provided within the Privacy Policy. When you visit or interact with the Services we or our authorized providers may use cookies, web beacons and other similar technologies for storing information to help provide you with a good experience when you browse our Sites and also allow us to improve our Sites. Here is information to help you understand these technologies better.

1. What are cookies, web beacons and similar technologies?

Cookies are small data files that are stored by the web browser (for example, Chrome, Internet Explorer, or Safari) on your computer, mobile device, tablet, or other internet-enabled device (referred to collectively as a “Device”). Cookies allow a web server to transfer data to a device for recordkeeping and other purposes. They allow websites to store things like user preferences. You can think of cookies as providing a ‘memory’ for the website, so that it can recognize you when you come back and respond appropriately. These cookies allow us to record certain pieces of information whenever you visit or interact with our Sites and the Services.

2. What types of cookies, web beacons and similar technologies do we use?

Our use of such technologies fall into the following general categories:

  • Strictly necessary – these are cookies, web beacons or other similar technologies that are required for the operation of our Sites. They include, for example, technologies that enable you to log into secure areas of our Sites, use a shopping cart, or make use of e-billing services.
  • Analytical/performance – They allow us to recognize and count the number of visitors to our Sites and to see how visitors move around our Sites. This helps us to improve the way our Sites work, for example, by ensuring that users are finding what they are looking for easily.
  • Functionality– These are used to recognize you when you return to our Sites, which enables us to personalize our content for you, greet you by name and remember your preferences (for example, your choice of language or region).
  • Advertising or targeting-related– These technologies record your visit to the Sites, the pages you have visited and the links you have followed. We will use this information to make our Sites and the advertising displayed on them more relevant to your interests. We may repurpose or retarget the information we gather about you, We may also share this information with our advertisers, lead buyers, and with third parties for advertising and retargeting purposes.

You can find more information about the individual cookies, web beacons and similar technologies and the purposes for which we use them below. This list is not exhaustive, but it is intended to illustrate the primary reasons for certain types of cookies set by Slashdot Media or third parties on our Sites.

  • Pixels – We use pixels, or transparent GIF files, to help manage online advertising. These pixels are provided by our ad management partners, including DoubleClick, or other advertising networks and advertisers. These files enable our ad management partner to recognize a unique cookie on your Internet browser, which in turn enables us to learn which advertisements bring users to our Sites. The information that we collect and share is anonymous and not personally identifiable. It does not contain your name, address, telephone number, or email address. For more information about DoubleClick, including information about how to opt out of these technologies, go to https://www.google.com/privacy/ads/ or you may also opt out by clicking here.
  • Framing – The Sites may utilize framing and masking techniques to make it appear that the user is still a Site when the user is actually on a third party website. We also have co-branding relationships with certain partners, such as at deals.slashdot.org. In these relationships, you will find our service platform on our partner’s page. In this situation, both parties are collecting your data and both privacy policies govern the data collected. We will not share your data with our partner or other third parties without your consent in these and other relationships, nor do our partners share your data with us without your consent. We encourage you to be aware when you leave our Sites and to read the privacy policies of each and every website that collects personally identifiable information from you.
  • Web beacons– We use web beacons from time to time. A web beacon is a string of code that provides a method for delivering a graphic image on a web page or in an email message for the purpose of transferring data, or determining how many times a specific web page has been viewed. Web beacons enable us to recognize a browser’s cookie when a browser visits a Site, and to learn which banner ads bring users to each Site. For example, when a user visits a web page, the code for the page may include instructions to go to another server to gather a single pixel graphic image. Web beacons are not placed on a user’s computer. Such web beacons may be placed on our Sites by our third party advertising companies to help manage and optimize any online advertising, and by third party data companies to share our users’ behavior profile with third parties. To opt out of targeted advertising delivered by Network Advertising Initiative members, click here: https://www.networkadvertising.org/consumer/opt_out.asp
  • Browser and Flash Cookies– We may use browser and Flash cookies, local Storage, or other similar technologies from time to time on the Sites. A “browser” or “HTTP” cookie is a unique text file that may be used for data analysis, and enables a web site to tailor information presented to a user based on a user’s browsing program. We may use browser cookies to personalize a user’s pages at a Site or Sites, to remember a user when the user registers for products or services, for fraud prevention, or to track visits to a Site or across our Sites. We also may use Flash cookies, to store your preferences or display content based upon what you view on our Sites to personalize your visit. Third parties with whom we partner to provide certain features on our Sites or to display advertising based upon your web browsing activity may also use Flash cookies to collect and store information. Flash cookies are different from “browser” cookies because of the amount of, type of, and how data is stored. Cookie management tools provided by your browser will not remove Flash cookies. To learn how to manage privacy and storage settings for Flash cookies, including how to delete Flash cookies, click here for additional information: https://www.macromedia.com/support/documentation/en/flashplayer/help/settings_manager.html#117118. See Sections 3 and 4 below for more on how to disable cookies, web beacons and other tracking technologies.
  • Ads – The ads appearing on the Sites may be delivered to visitors by third parties, such as Google. The third party advertising technology that we use on the Sites uses information derived from a user’s visits to the Sites to target advertising within the Sites. In addition, our advertisers may use other third party advertising technology to target advertising on the Sites. In the course of serving advertisements to the Sites, our partners may place or recognize a unique cookie on a user’s browser. Information about users’ visits to the Sites, such as the number of times users have viewed an ad (but not users’ names or addresses), are used to serve ads to visitors. The use of cookies enables our partners to serve ads to users based on such user’s visit to our Sites and other sites on the Internet. As with other cookies, and consistent with our policy on cookies stated above, the user may block or delete such cookies from the user’s drive or memory. For more information about Google, Google’s use of cookies, and how to “opt out” of Google’s email/information lists, please click see here and here. As noted in the Web Beacon discussion above, users also can opt-out of receiving these types of targeted network advertisements from many advertising networks as detailed below. Please note this does not opt you out of being served advertising. You will continue to receive generic ads.

3. How to manage cookies, web beacons and other tracking technologies on our Sites

There are a number of ways you can manage what Analytical/performance, Functionality and Advertising/targeting-related cookies are set on your Device. Strictly necessary cookies, however, cannot be disabled. You may also be required to re-enter your password more frequently during your browsing session. The first time you visit any of our Sites you will see an overlay which explains that by continuing to browse the relevant Site or clicking “I Agree” you are deemed to give your consent to use these cookies as described in this Privacy Policy.

4. Can I withdraw my consent?

Once you have given us your consent to the use of cookies, we store a cookie on your computer or device to remember this for next time. Your consent will expire periodically. If you wish to withdraw your consent at any time, you will need to delete your cookies using your internet browser settings, or if you are in the European Union, you will have the option to use our Consent Management Provider[Cookie Preference Tool – Change this to whatever you are calling the pop-up box for cookies], as described below.

5. EU Users: How can I exercise my cookie preferences?

You can exercise your cookie preferences by visiting the Consent Management Provider. This functionality is available to users in the EU only. For further information about deleting or blocking cookies, please visit: https://cookiepedia.co.uk/how-to-manage-cookies or https://www.aboutcookies.org/how-to-delete-cookies/ or as otherwise provided in this Cookie Statement.

6. Disabling cookies, web beacons and other tracking technologies.

  • Cookies and opt-out choices statement. On some of our Sites you can set your preferences on how we, and third parties, use cookies on your Device. Please see our [Cookies and opt-out choices statement] at the bottom of every screen of our Site.
  • Browser Settings. You can disable and/or delete all types of cookies, web beacons or similar technologies if permitted by your browser, installed application or Device. These technologies are generally easy to disable and/or delete but how you do so varies from browser to browser. The “help” function within your browser should tell you how to do it. Please note if you decline cookies, web beacons or other similar technologies, you may not be able to take advantage of certain Site features, services, applications, or tools. The following links also provide information on how to modify the cookies settings on some popular browsers:

Matomo analytics solution on our sites. You can opt out of Matomo tracking by using our Cookie Preference Manager. If the browser opt-out widget says you are not being tracked it means that we are honoring your browser’s Do Not Track setting. You may choose not to have a unique web analytics cookie identification number assigned to your computer to avoid the aggregation and analysis of data collected on this website. To make that choice, please go to our Cookie Preference Manager to receive an opt-out cookie.

7. Disabling most targeting or behavior advertising cookies.

If you would like to disable advertising cookies, which remember your browsing habits and display relevant advertising when you use our SourceForge Services, you can visit https://www.youronlinechoices.com/uk/your-ad-choices. If you choose to turn off these cookies you will still see advertising on the Internet but it may not be tailored to your interests. It does not mean that you won’t be served any advertisements while you are online. Although many companies involved in using advertising cookies and serving online behavioral advertising appear at the above links, not all do. Therefore, even if you choose to turn off cookies used by all of the companies listed, you may still receive some advertising cookies and some tailored advertisements from other companies. Cookies Chart available here

Log Files

As is true of most websites, we gather certain information automatically. This information may include Internet protocol (IP) addresses, browser type, Internet service provider (ISP), referring/exit pages, the files viewed on our site (e.g., HTML pages, graphics, etc.), operating system, date/time stamp, and/or clickstream data to analyze trends in the aggregate and administer the site.

Additional opt-out choices for analytics and marketing networks

Several of the advertising networks and service providers that we use to analyze activities on our sites also offer opt-out mechanisms as an alternative to managing the placement of cookies by these services through your browser settings as discussed above: Google Analytics: If you would like to opt-out of Google Analytics, Google has developed a tool that works with major internet browsers to permit you to opt-out. For more information and install their opt-out tool, please click here: https://www.google.com/policies/technologies/partner-sites/ and https://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout Google Advertising: To opt-out of or manage your targeted third-party advertising preferences with Google, please click here: https://www.google.com/policies/technologies/ads/ ComScore: To opt-out of comScore’s universal data collection, please click here: https://www.scorecardresearch.com/preferences.aspx National Advertising Initiative: To opt-out of targeted third party advertising by Network Advertising Initiative members, please click here: https://www.networkadvertising.org/choices/ In addition, some of our third party advertising partners display an “ad choices” icon with the advertisement on our site. If you see this icon with an advertisement, you can click on it to find out more information about the ad and your ad choices.

Additional opt-out choices for social media

Integration of social media links to our sites may enable tracking by these providers, who provide their own opt-out and data control mechanisms:

Social Network Login

If you chose to use third-party social networking sites, such as Facebook or Twitter, to log into one of our sites that offers that login feature, we may collect information, such as your basic profile information, gender, age, interests, and other demographic and geographical information, from the social networking site you use to interact with our site. If you do not want to share information from your social networking account with us, you can either decline to use these features or check your social networking site’s current privacy setting options to see what options they provide for limiting disclosures when you use login sharing features.

Slashdot Media Newsletters and Direct Marketing Communications

If you would like to opt-out/unsubscribe from receiving newsletters or marketing communications or deactivate your accounts, please use the links below and provide a copy of the communication or account name you wish to unsubscribe. Please understand that it may take up to a week for your request to be processed. Please contact us at [email protected] or use the Interactive Portal.