If you visit or use our websites, services, applications, communication services (such as e-mail) and tools, we, or service providers authorized by us, may use cookies, web beacons and other similar information storage technologies to help us to offer you a better, faster and safer experience. On this page we explain what this means for you.

What are cookies, web beacons and similar technologies?

Like most websites, we also use technologies that place small data files on your computer, tablet or mobile phone (collectively referred to as “device”). These small files allow us to store certain pieces of information every time you visit or use our websites, services, applications or tools.

The specific names and types of cookies, web beacons and other similar technologies that we use may change from time to time. For more information about cookies and similar technologies in general, see http://www.allaboutcookies.org.

To help you gain a better understanding of this Policy and the technologies we use, we use the following definitions:

Cookies – small text files (usually consisting of letters and numbers) that are placed in the memory of your web browser or device when you view a website or a message. Cookies enable a website to recognize specific devices or web browsers. There are different types of cookies:
– “Session Cookies” are cookies that expire at the end of your browser session. These cookies help us to establish a link between your activities during that specific session.
– “Persistent Cookies” are stored on your device and are stored between sessions. These cookies enable us to remember your preferences or activities over multiple sessions.
– “First-Party cookies” are placed by the website that you are currently visiting.
– “Third-Party cookies” are placed by a third party separate from the website that you are currently visiting.

Cookies can be disabled or deleted by tools available in most commercial browsers. The preferences will have to be set separately for each browser that you use and different browsers offer different functionalities and options.

Web beacons – These are small graphic images (also known as “pixel tags” or “clear GIFs”) that may appear on or in our websites, services, applications, communication services and tools. Web beacons can be used for various purposes, including measuring the performance of our websites, tracking the number of visitors to our websites and how they navigate on them, to keep track of how many of the e-mails we have sent have been opened, to monitor the effectiveness of our advertisements or to keep track of how many specific items, articles or links have actually been viewed.

Similar technologies for storing information –

This includes other technologies that store information in your browser or device and that use locally shared objects or local storage. Examples are flash cookies, HTML 5 cookies and other web application software methods. These technologies can work across multiple browsers. In some cases, the use of local storage cannot be entirely managed from the browser, but requires special tools for management. We may use similar technologies to store information to help ensure that your account security is not compromised, to detect behavioral irregularities, to prevent unauthorized access to your account, or to measure the performance of our websites, services, applications or tools. We can use these technologies for storing information for targeted advertisements on our websites or elsewhere.

We may alternately use the terms “cookies” and “similar technologies” in our policies to refer to all technologies that we use to store data in your browser or device, or that collect information or help us identify you in the manner described above.

Your choice and our use of cookies, web beacons and similar technologies

We offer certain website functionalities, services, applications and tools that are only available through the use of these technologies. You are always free to block, remove or disable these technologies if your browser or device allows this. However, if you refuse cookies or similar technologies, you may not be able to use certain functionalities, services, applications or tools. You may also have to enter your password more often during a session. Consult the “Help section” of your browser add-on, application or device for more information about how to block, remove or disable these technologies.

In general, these technologies enable our websites, services, applications and tools to insert information in your browser or device and to read it again later. Where applicable, we protect our cookies and similar technologies, so that only we and / or service providers authorized by us can interpret them. We do this by assigning a unique identification code to cookies and similar technologies. This is designed so only we can interpret it. We do not store any of your personal information in our cookies or in our similar technologies.

If you continue to use our websites, services, applications, communication services (such as e-mail) and tools after we have provided you with transparent information about the use of these technologies through this policy, and by giving you the opportunity to make a choice to disable these technologies as described, we obtained your permission to use these technologies to collect and store information.

Functionality of these technologies

We use four types of cookies, which we describe in this section.

1. Essential – cookies that are essential to provide you with services you have requested. For example, these include the cookies that make it possible for you to stay logged on to your With love, the author account and make comments. If you set your browser to block these cookies, then these functions and services will not work for you. In particular, we won’t be able to save your preferences about cookies.
2. Performance – cookies which measure how often you visit our sites and how you use them. We use this information to get a better sense of how our users engage with our platform and to improve our sites, so that users have a better experience. For example, we collect information about which of our pages are most frequently visited, and by which types of users. We also use third-party cookies to help with performance. For example, the Google Analytics cookie gives us information such as your surfing between pages and whether you have purchased anything.
3. Functionality – cookies that are used to recognize you and remember your preferences or settings when you return to our site, so that we can provide you with a more personalised experience. For example, if you are based in the United Kingdom, we will remember this and make sure that you receive the homepage in English when you visit our site, rather than the Dutch or German homepage. A mix of first-party and third-party cookies are used.
4. Advertising – cookies that are used to collect information about your visit to our site, the content you have viewed, the links you have followed and information about your browser, device and your IP address. We have listed more details on this below.

For opting out of third-party ad-related cookies and Web beacons, see the “Ad networks” section below.

If you want to block, delete or disable the other types of technologies that we can use on our websites, services, applications or tools, you can do so through the settings of your browser or device, as far as the browser or device allows it.

Advertising networks and advertisement exchange platforms implemented by third parties

Our websites, services, applications and tools may use third parties, such as advertising networks, to enable us to show you advertisements. These networks and platforms may use third-party cookies, web beacons or similar technologies to collect information to provide these services. They can also identify your device, or collect your IP address or “identifier for advertising (IDFA)”, which can be used to deliver customized advertisements on our websites or elsewhere on the internet.

The use of these technologies by third parties is beyond our control, even though they use our technology to post and collect information. The terms of service, privacy policy, permissions, information and choices of the party in question must be consulted regarding their methods of collection, storage and sharing. We cannot make any statements regarding the policies and practices of advertisers, advertising networks or advertising exchange platforms or related third parties.

You can switch some cookies off through http://www.youronlinechoices.eu. You may need to do this again each time you use a different IP address or device. Also refer to http://www.aboutads.info/choices or http://www.networkadvertising.org/participating-networks to find out more.

It is also possible to stop your browser from accepting cookies altogether by changing your browser’s cookie settings. You can usually find these settings in the “options” or “preferences” menu of your browser. The following links may be helpful, or you can use the “Help” option in your browser.

• Cookie settings in Internet Explorer
• Cookie settings in Firefox
• Cookie settings in Chrome
• Cookie settings in Safari weband iOS

Useful links

If you would like to find out more about privacy, cookies and their use on the internet, you may find the following links useful:

• Microsoft cookies guide
• All About Cookies