Cookie Policy
Introduction
This Cookies Policy sets out the basis on which we, Sura Group Limited, use cookies and similar technologies on or in relation to our website, www.directgap.co.uk (our website).
This Cookies Policy is effective from 1st September 2020.
‘Essential’ cookies are automatically placed on your computer or device when you access our website or take certain actions on our website. ‘Non-essential’ cookies and other technologies are only placed on your computer or device if you have consented to us doing so. For information on the difference between essential and non-essential cookies, see the section below entitled About Cookies.
For information on how you consent and how you can withdraw your consent to us placing non-essential cookies and other technologies on your computer or device, see the section below entitled How to accept or reject cookies.
Contents
- About Cookies
- List of Cookies Used
- Web Beacons
- Facebook Pixel
- How to accept or reject cookies
About Cookies
What are cookies?
Cookies are small data files sent by a website’s server to a web browser, processor memory or hard drive and stored there. They can be used for a range of different purposes, such as customising a website for a particular user, helping a user navigate a website, improving that user’s website experience, and storing that user’s preferences and login information.
Essential and non-essential cookies
Cookies can be classified as either ‘essential’ or ‘non-essential’.
Essential cookies: these are cookies that are either:
- used solely to carry out or facilitate the transmission of communications over a network; or
- strictly necessary to provide an online service (e.g. our website or a service on our website) which you have requested.
- Non-essential cookies: these are any cookies that do not fall within the definition of essential cookies, such as cookies used to provide additional functionality on our website (‘functional’ cookies), analyse your behaviour on a website (‘analytical’ cookies) or to display advertisements to you (‘advertising’ cookies).
Session and persistent cookies
Cookies can be classified as either ‘session’ or ‘persistent’, depending on how long they last after they are placed on your browser.
- Session cookies: session cookies last for as long as you keep your browser open. They expire when you close your browser.
- Persistent cookies: persistent cookies expire at a fixed point in time or if you manually delete them from your browser, whichever occurs first.
First and third-party cookies
Cookies can be classified as ‘first party’ or ‘third party’.
- First party cookies: these are cookies placed on your device by our website domain.
- Third party cookies: these are cookies placed on your device by third party website domains.
If you require further information about cookies in general, please visit www.allaboutcookies.org
Legal bases for processing
For essential cookies, our legal basis for processing is our legitimate interests in ensuring our site functions properly, providing you with the online services you have requested, and to facilitate any legal contract we hold with you.
For non-essential cookies and other technologies, our legal basis for processing is your consent which you give by using our website and not rejecting cookies set out in the instructions found below (How to accept or reject cookies).
List of cookies used
We use the following cookies on or in relation to our website:
ASP.NET_SessionId
Essential or Non-Essential: Essential
Type: User state preservation related
First or Third Party: First Party
Session or Persistent: Session
Expiry Time: End of browser session
Purpose: This cookie is used in sites developed with Microsoft.Net. When a user starts browsing a unique session ID is created, which keeps track of all the information regarding that session. This information is stored in the web server and identified via a GUID. The GUID is essential for any ASP.NET site to function properly.
MUID
Essential or Non-Essential: Non-Essential
Type: Functional (security)
First or Third Party: First Party
Session or Persistent: Persistent
Expiry Time: 1 year
Purpose: Used by Microsoft as a unique identifier. The cookie is set by embedded Microsoft scripts. The purpose of this cookie is to synchronize the ID across many different Microsoft domains to enable user tracking.
CONSENT
Essential or Non-Essential: Non-Essential
Type: Functional (consent-related)
First or Third Party: Third party
Session or Persistent: Persistent
Expiry Time: 20 years
Purpose: Google consent setting cookie.
_cfduid
Essential or Non-Essential: Non-Essential
Type: Functional
First or Third Party: First and Third Party
Session or Persistent: Persistent
Expiry Time: 1 year
Purpose: Used by the content network, Cloudflare, to identify trusted web traffic.
lang
Essential or Non-Essential: Non-Essential
Type: Functional
First or Third Party: Third party
Session or Persistent: Session
Expiry Time: End of browser session
Purpose: Remembers the user's selected language version of a website.
_hjIncludedInSample
Essential or Non-Essential: Non-Essential
Type: Functional
First or Third Party: First party
Session or Persistent: Session
Expiry Time: End of browser session
Purpose: Determines if the user's navigation should be registered in a certain statistical placeholder.
test_cookie
Essential or Non-Essential: Non-Essential
Type: Functional
First or Third Party: Third party
Session or Persistent: Session
Expiry Time: End of browser session
Purpose: Used to check if the user's browser supports cookies.
bscookie
Essential or Non-Essential: Non-Essential
Type: Functional
First or Third Party: Third party
Session or Persistent: Persistent
Expiry Time: 2 years
Purpose: Used by social media for social integration including share buttons and ad tags.
bcookie
Essential or Non-Essential: Non-Essential
Type: Functional
First or Third Party: Third party
Session or Persistent: Persistent
Expiry Time: 2 years
Purpose: Used by social media for social integration including share buttons and ad tags.
_gat
Essential or Non-Essential: Non-Essential
Type: Functional
First or Third Party: First Party
Session or Persistent: Session
Expiry Time: End of browser session
Purpose: Used by Google to throttle the request rate.
_ga
Essential or Non-Essential: Non-Essential
Type: Analytical
First or Third Party: First Party
Session or Persistent: Persistent
Expiry Time: 2 years
Purpose: To distinguish website visitors.
_gid
Essential or Non-Essential: Non-Essential
Type: Analytical
First or Third Party: First Party
Session or Persistent: Session
Expiry Time: End of browser session
Purpose: Generates statistical data on how a visitor uses the website.
__utma
Essential or Non-Essential: Non-Essential
Type: Analytical
First or Third Party: Third Party
Session or Persistent: Persistent
Expiry Time: 2 years
Purpose: Collects data on the number of times a user has visited the website as well as dates for the first and most recent visit. Used by Google Analytics.
__utmb
Essential or Non-Essential: Non-Essential
Type: Analytical
First or Third Party: Third Party
Session or Persistent: Session
Expiry Time: End of browser session
Purpose: Registers a timestamp with the exact time of when the user leaves the website. Used by Google Analytics to calculate the duration of a visit.
__utmc
Essential or Non-Essential: Non-Essential
Type: Analytical
First or Third Party: Third Party
Session or Persistent: Session
Expiry Time: End of browser session
Purpose: Registers a timestamp with the exact time of when the user leaves the website. Used by Google Analytics to calculate the duration of a visit.
__utmz
Essential or Non-Essential: Non-Essential
Type: Analytical
First or Third Party: Third Party
Session or Persistent: Persistent
Expiry Time: 6 months
Purpose: Collects data on where the user came from, what search engine was used, what link was clicked and what search term was used. Used by Google Analytics.
__utmt
Essential or Non-Essential: Non-Essential
Type: Performance
First or Third Party: Third Party
Session or Persistent: Persistent
Expiry Time: 10 minutes
Purpose: This cookie is set by Google Analytics to throttle the request rate.
BizoID
Essential or Non-Essential: Non-Essential
Type: Analytical
First or Third Party: Third Party
Session or Persistent: Persistent
Expiry Time: 29 days
Purpose: Used as a LinkedIn Ad analytics cookie.
UserMatchHistory
Essential or Non-Essential: Non-Essential
Type: Analytical
First or Third Party: Third Party
Session or Persistent: Persistent
Expiry Time: 29 days
Purpose: Used as a LinkedIn Ad analytics cookie.
OTZ
Essential or Non-Essential: Non-Essential
Type: Analytical
First or Third Party: Third Party
Session or Persistent: Persistent
Expiry Time: 6 months
Purpose: Collects data on where the user came from, what search engine was used, what link was clicked and what search term was used. Used by Google Analytics.
HSID
Essential or Non-Essential: Non-Essential
Type: Analytical
First or Third Party: Third Party
Session or Persistent: Persistent
Expiry Time: 2 years
Purpose: Used by Google to analyse user behaviour in connection with Google Maps and YouTube on the website.
SAPISID
Essential or Non-Essential: Non-Essential
Type: Analytical
First or Third Party: Third Party
Session or Persistent: Persistent
Expiry Time: 2 years
Purpose: Used by Google to analyse user behaviour in connection with Google Maps and YouTube on the website.
SID
Essential or Non-Essential: Non-Essential
Type: Analytical
First or Third Party: Third Party
Session or Persistent: Persistent
Expiry Time: 2 years
Purpose: Used by Google to analyse user behaviour in connection with Google Maps and YouTube on the website.
SSID
Essential or Non-Essential: Non-Essential
Type: Analytical
First or Third Party: Third Party
Session or Persistent: Persistent
Expiry Time: 2 years
Purpose: Used by Google to analyse user behaviour in connection with Google Maps and YouTube on the website.
APISID
Essential or Non-Essential: Non-Essential
Type: Analytical
First or Third Party: Third Party
Session or Persistent: Persistent
Expiry Time: 2 years
Purpose: Used by Google to analyse user behaviour in connection with Google Maps and YouTube.
OGPC
Essential or Non-Essential: Non-Essential
Type: Analytical
First or Third Party: Third Party
Session or Persistent: Persistent
Expiry Time: 2 years
Purpose: Used by Google to store user preferences and information when viewing pages with Google Maps and YouTube on them.
_hjRecordingEnabled
Essential or Non-Essential: Non-Essential
Type: Analytical
First or Third Party: Third Party
Session or Persistent: Session
Expiry Time: End of browser session
Purpose: Hotjar Session Recorder - no personal data recorded.
lidc
Essential or Non-Essential: Non-Essential
Type: Analytical
First or Third Party: Third Party
Session or Persistent: Session
Expiry Time: End of browser session
Purpose: Used by LinkedIn for tracking the use of embedded services.
c_user
Essential or Non-Essential: Non-Essential
Type: Analytical / Advertising
First or Third Party: Third Party
Session or Persistent: Persistent
Expiry Time: 2 years
Purpose: Used by Facebook when integrating your website with Facebook.com, including detecting likes and whether a user is logged in.
xs
Essential or Non-Essential: Non-Essential
Type: Analytical / Advertising
First or Third Party: Third Party
Session or Persistent: Session
Expiry Time: End of browser session
Purpose: Used by Facebook when integrating your website with Facebook.com, including detecting likes and whether a user is logged in.
spin
Essential or Non-Essential: Non-Essential
Type: Analytical / Advertising
First or Third Party: Third Party
Session or Persistent: Persistent
Expiry Time: 1 day
Purpose: Facebook cookies used to share articles and interact with them.
datr
Essential or Non-Essential: Non-Essential
Type: Analytical / Advertising
First or Third Party: Third Party
Session or Persistent: Persistent
Expiry Time: 2 years
Purpose: Used by Facebook when integrating your website with Facebook.com, including detecting likes and whether a user is logged in.
sb
Essential or Non-Essential: Non-Essential
Type: Analytical / Advertising
First or Third Party: Third Party
Session or Persistent: Session
Expiry Time: End of browser session
Purpose: Used by Facebook when integrating your website with Facebook.com, including detecting likes and whether a user is logged in.
fr
Essential or Non-Essential: Non-Essential
Type: Analytical / Advertising
First or Third Party: Third Party
Session or Persistent: Persistent
Expiry Time: 3 months
Purpose: Used by Facebook to deliver advertisement products such as real-time bidding from third party advertisers.
AID
Essential or Non-Essential: Non-Essential
Type: Advertising
First or Third Party: Third Party
Session or Persistent: Persistent
Expiry Time: 1 year
Purpose: Google uses these cookies, based on recent searches and interactions, to customise ads on Google websites.
NID
Essential or Non-Essential: Non-Essential
Type: Advertising
First or Third Party: Third Party
Session or Persistent: Persistent
Expiry Time: 6 months
Purpose: Registers a unique ID that identifies a returning user's device. The ID is used for targeted ads.
IDE
Essential or Non-Essential: Non-Essential
Type: Advertising
First or Third Party: Third Party
Session or Persistent: Persistent
Expiry Time: 1 year
Purpose: Used by Google DoubleClick to register and report website user actions after viewing or clicking an ad, helping measure ad effectiveness and present targeted ads.
1P_JAR
Essential or Non-Essential: Non-Essential
Type: Advertising
First or Third Party: Third Party
Session or Persistent: Persistent
Expiry Time: 1 month
Purpose: Google cookie used to gather website statistics and track conversion rates.
personalization_id
Essential or Non-Essential: Non-Essential
Type: Advertising
First or Third Party: Third Party
Session or Persistent: Persistent
Expiry Time: 2 years
Purpose: Twitter cookie used for ad personalisation purposes.
guest_id
Essential or Non-Essential: Non-Essential
Type: Advertising
First or Third Party: Third Party
Session or Persistent: Persistent
Expiry Time: 2 years
Purpose: Collects anonymous data related to the user's visit, such as number of visits, average time spent and pages viewed, to personalise and improve the Twitter service.
_uetsid
Essential or Non-Essential: Non-Essential
Type: Analytics
First or Third Party: Third Party
Session or Persistent: Persistent
Expiry Time: 1 day
Purpose: Used to collect analytical information about how visitors use the website. This information is used to compile reports and improve the site.
_fbp
Essential or Non-Essential: Non-Essential
Type: Advertising
First or Third Party: Third Party
Session or Persistent: Persistent
Expiry Time: 2 months
Purpose: Set by Facebook to deliver advertising when users are on Facebook or a digital platform powered by Facebook advertising after visiting this website.
Web Beacons
We and any marketing companies we use also embed web beacons in our marketing emails and/or on our website. Web beacons are small GIF image files which enable us to track your receipt of our marketing emails, how often you view our adverts or website pages, your location, IP address and browser information. Web beacons are activated whenever you open a marketing email or access a page on our website which contains a web beacon. Web beacons transmit data when you view them but are not capable of accessing any other information on your computer. Web beacons are not stored on your hard drive unless you download a GIF image containing them.
Some (but not all) browsers enable you to restrict the use of web beacons by either preventing them from sending information back to their source (for example, when you choose browser settings that block cookies and trackers), or by not accessing the images containing them (for example, if you select a ‘do not display images (in emails)’ setting in your email server).
Facebook Pixel
We use Facebook Pixel on our website. Facebook Pixel is a tracking code which allows us to track and monitor the success of advertisements we use on Facebook and to improve the effectiveness of those advertisements by recording information such as the device you used to access our website and the actions you took on our website using cookies. We may also use Facebook Pixel to create retargeting advertisements and custom audiences for our advertisements on Facebook and on our website.
Facebook aggregates data gathered from our use of Facebook Pixel on our website with data it gathers from other sources, in order to improve and target advertisements displayed on its website or via its services, to improve its systems and to provide measurement services to third parties which use Facebook’s advertising services. You can find out more about how Facebook handles information they collect about you and other individuals by accessing their privacy policy, which is available here: https://www.facebook.com/about/privacy
How to accept or reject cookies
There are a number of different ways in which you can accept or reject some or all cookies and similar technologies. Some of the main methods of doing so are described below.
You are welcome to block the use of some or all of the cookies we use on our website. However, please be aware that doing so may impair our website and its functionality or may even render some or all of it unusable.
You should also be aware that clearing all cookies from your browser will also delete any cookies that are storing your preferences, for example, whether you have accepted cookies on a website or any cookies that are blocking other cookies.
You can find more detailed information about cookies and adjusting your browser settings by visiting www.allaboutcookies.org
Accepting or rejecting cookies
Browser Settings
You can accept or reject some or all cookies (for example, blocking all third party cookies) by adjusting your browser settings. If you do not know how to do this, the links below set out information about how to change your browser settings for some of the most commonly used web browsers:
Some browsers, such as Chrome and Firefox, allow you to change your settings to browse in ‘incognito’ mode, limiting the amount of data placed on your machine and automatically deleting any persistent cookies placed on your device when you finish your browsing session. There are also many third party applications which you can add to your browser to block or manage cookies.
Existing Cookies
To clear cookies that have previously been placed on your browser, you should select the option to clear your browsing history and ensure that the option to delete or clear cookies is included when you do so.
Google Adsettings
You can manage and opt out of personalisation of advertisements by Google by visiting Google’s ad settings page here https://adssettings.google.com/.
Alternatively, you can install a free browser plugin here: https://support.google.com/ads/answer/7395996
Google Analytics Opt-out Browser Add-on
You can opt out of Google Analytics tracking by installing the browser add-on which is available here: http://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout
Facebook Pixel
You can install browser add-ons that will stop Facebook tracking you on third party websites. You can search for this on your relevant browser add-on / plug-in store.
European Interactive Digital Advertising Alliance Tool
You can opt out of Facebook and other companies that participate in the Digital Advertising Alliance in Europe from showing you interest based ads by visiting http://www.youronlinechoices.com, selecting your country, clicking ‘Your Ad Choices’, then locating Facebook (and any other companies you want to block) and selecting the ‘Off’ option.