MORE INFORMATION ABOUT COOKIES

What is a cookie?

A cookie is a harmless text file that is stored in your browser when you visit almost any website. The purpose of the cookie is to allow the website to remember your visit when you browse that page again. Although many people do not know it, cookies have been in use for 20 years, since the first World Wide Web browsers appeared.

What is a cookie NOT?

It is not a virus, nor a trojan, nor a worm, nor spam, nor spyware, and it does not open pop-up windows.

What information does a cookie store?

Cookies do not usually store sensitive information about you, such as credit cards or bank details, photographs, your national ID or personal information, etc. The data they store is of a technical nature, personal preferences, content personalisation, and so on.

What types of cookies are there?

Technical cookies: these are the most basic and allow, among other things, the site to know when a human is browsing or an automated application, when an anonymous user is browsing and when a registered user is. These are basic tasks for any dynamic website to work.
Analytics cookies: they collect information about the type of browsing you are doing, the sections you use most, products viewed, time of day, language, and so on.
Advertising cookies: they display advertising according to your browsing, your country of origin, language, and so on.

What are first-party cookies and third-party cookies?

First-party cookies are those generated by the page you are visiting, and third-party cookies are those generated by external services or providers such as Facebook, Twitter, Google, and so on.

What happens if I disable cookies?

So that you can understand the effect that disabling cookies may have, here are some examples:

  • You will not be able to share content from that website on Facebook, Twitter or any other social network.
  • The website will not be able to adapt the content to your personal preferences, as often happens in online shops.
  • You will not be able to access the personal area of that website, such as My account, My profile or My orders.
  • Online shops: it will be impossible to shop online; purchases will have to be made by telephone or by visiting the physical shop, if there is one.
  • It will not be possible to personalise your geographical preferences such as time zone, currency or language.
  • The website will not be able to run web analytics on visitors and traffic, which will make it harder for the website to be competitive.
  • You will not be able to write on the blog, upload photos, publish comments, or rate or score content. The website will also be unable to tell whether you are a human or an automated application posting spam.
  • Targeted advertising cannot be shown, which will reduce the website’s advertising income.
  • All social networks use cookies; if you disable them you will not be able to use any social network.

Can cookies be deleted?

Yes. Not only deleted, but also blocked, either in general or for a specific domain.
To delete a website’s cookies you must go to your browser settings, where you can look for those linked to the domain in question and delete them.

Cookie settings for the most popular browsers

  • How to reach a given cookie in the Chrome browser. Note: these steps may vary depending on the browser version:
  • Go to Settings or Preferences via the File menu, or by clicking the customisation icon at the top right.
  • You will see different sections; click Show advanced settings.
  • Go to Privacy, Content settings.
  • Select All cookies and site data.
  • A list of all cookies will appear, sorted by domain. To make it easier to find the cookies of a given domain, enter part or all of the address in the Search cookies field.
  • After this filter, one or more lines with the cookies of the requested website will appear on screen. You then only have to select it and press the X to delete it.

To open the cookie settings in Internet Explorer, follow these steps (they may vary depending on the browser version):

  • 1. Go to Tools, Internet Options
  • 2. Click Privacy.
  • 3. Move the slider until you set the privacy level you want.

To open the cookie settings in Firefox, follow these steps (they may vary depending on the browser version):

  • 1. Go to Options or Preferences, depending on your operating system.
  • 2. Click Privacy.
  • 3. Under History, choose Use custom settings for history.
  • 4. You will now see the Accept cookies option; you can turn it on or off according to your preferences.

To open the cookie settings in Safari for iOS, follow these steps (they may vary depending on the browser version):

  • 1. Go to Preferences, then Privacy.
  • 2. There you will see the Block cookies option, so you can set the type of blocking you want.

To open the cookie settings in the browser on Android devices, follow these steps (they may vary depending on the browser version):

  • 1. Open the browser and press the Menu key, then Settings.
  • 2. Go to Privacy and Security; you will see the Block cookies option, so you can set the type of blocking you want.

To open the cookie settings in the browser on Windows Phone devices, follow these steps (they may vary depending on the browser version):

  • 1. Open Internet Explorer, then More, then Settings
  • 2. You can now tick or untick the Allow cookies box