What are Cookies?
Cookies are small pieces of information that are stored in the hard drive of your computer by your browser.
How does the Journal.ie use cookies?
When you visit TheJournal.ie we send one or more cookies to your computer or device that uniquely identify your browser. Like many website, TheJournal.ie uses cookies to improve your experience and to provide services and advertising. In particular, cookies are used to keep a record of your preferences and to keep you logged in between visits if you so choose. This permits us to provide you with a more personalised experience. We also use temporary session cookies which enable a visitor’s web browser to remember which pages on this website have already been visited.
Like all websites, our servers automatically record ‘log files’ containing information about the volume and characteristics of our website traffic e.g. IP address, numbers of pages viewed, length of time spent on site. We use log files to build pictures of how our site is used that help us to monitor and improve the service. We cannot identify you from your log files.
If you are primarily concerned about third party cookies generated by advertisers, you can turn these off by going to http://www.youronlinechoices.com/ie/.
Here is a list of all the cookies that we set and how we use them
| Cookie Name | Typical stored value | Purpose | Expires |
| Audience Measurement – These cookies are used to collect information about how our site is used. This information helps us understand our audience and improve the site on an aggregate basis. This information is not used to track individual users. It includes number of visitors to the site, where visitors are visiting from, how many pages they look at and how long they stay on the site. | |||
| Google Analytics | |||
| __utma | Randomly generated number | Usage stats | 2 years |
| __utmb | Randomly generated number | Usage stats | 30minutes |
| __utmc | Randomly generated number | Usage stats | On browser exit |
| __utmz | Randomly generated number and information on how the site was reached | Usage stats | 6 months |
| Comscore | |||
| UID | Hexadecimal-ip-numerical | User id | 1year 354days |
| UIDR | Numerical (same as end of UID) | Real user id | 1year 354days |
| ie-stat.bmmetrix.com | |||
| Bm_map | string | *identify location of user | 1 Jan 2030 |
| Cid | Alphanumeric string:numerical string | *client id | 1 Jan 2030 |
| Sid | Alphanumeric string:numerical string | *session id | On browser exit |
| Ad Serving – These cookies are used to serve adverts. It helps us count the number of ads and display different units. | |||
| Adtech | |||
| CfP | This is a unique ID for the browser, so we know if an ad has already been place | On browser exit | |
| JEB2 | Alphanumeric string | This is a unique ID for the browser, so we know if an ad has already been place | 2 years |
| Social Media and e-mail -These cookies are used to log into the site with Facebook. They also help us know when you visit from a link in one of our e-mails. | |||
| fbs_# | Facebook user information | Used by Facebook for user identification | 90minutes |
| sailthru.com | |||
| sailthru_bid | Alphanumeric string | Indicate a user came from a shared email | 3hours |
| Site Interaction – These cookies allow you to interact with the site by voting and rating comments, logging into the site, recommending articles you haven’t read already and allow you to subscribe to notifications among other features. | |||
| like_comment_# | Record a vote on a comment | 2days | |
| dislike_comment_# | Record a vote on a comment | 2days | |
| polls | Comma separated numbers | Record all polls voted in | 1 year |
| switcher | Used to determine if the user wishes to see the desktop site rather than the touch site on a mobile device | 1 year | |
| jSID | Alphanumeric string | Used to identify user session | 30minutes |
| jUID | Alphanumeric string | Logged in users identification | 2 years |
| jrnl_wall_first | Indicate if a users wants their first comment shared through Facebook or Twitter | On browser exit | |
| viewed_stories | Comma separated numbers | 2days | |
| awselb | Alphanumeric string | Amazon Web Services load balancing identifcation | 20minutes |
| comment_author_# | Users name | Name of the logged in user | 347days |
| comment_author_email_# | Users email | Email of the logged in user (if provided) | 347days |
| comment_author_url_# | Users Facebook or Twitter link | URL of the users Facebook or Twitter account | 347days |
| subscibe_email | Users email | Indicate a user wants to subscribe to comments with this email | 1 year |
| subscribe_key | Alphanumeric string | Key to check validity of users provided email | 1 year |
| subscribe_checkbox_# | Indicate a user checked or unchecked the Subscribe to comments form | 347days | |
| mycitycode | City or country code | Location code for the location the user has indicated they would like weather information for | 30minutes |
| calc_id | Number | The ID for the results on the Budget Calculator | 1 year |
| calc_h | Alphanumeric string | Key to check validity of Budget Calculator user | 1 year |
| notice_cookies | Boolean | Indicates that the user already saw the Cookies Notice bar | 1 year |
Cookies are created not just by TheJournal.ie website but also by other websites that run ads, or other elements on the TheJournal.ie website. We use third party advertisements to support our site. Some of these advertisers may use technology such as cookies and web beacons when they advertise on our site, which will also send these advertisers information including your IP address, your ISP, the browser you used to visit our site, and in some cases, whether you have Flash installed. This is generally used for geo-targeting purposes or showing certain ads based on specific sites visited.
Can I disable Cookies?
Most Web browsers automatically accept cookies, but you can modify your browser preference to reject all cookies, to be notified when a cookie is sent or to accept all cookies. Your browser’s help screen or manual will tell you how to do this, but please note that disabling cookies may reduce the functionality of this Site and other websites or result in slower downloads.
