Cookie Policy

Last Update: May 23, 2018

Swisscows AG uses cookies, in combination with pixels, local storage objects, and similar devices (collectively, "cookies" unless otherwise noted) to distinguish you from other users of Swisscows. This helps us provide you with a good experience, improve our service, and to personalize ads and content.

These guidelines on cookies ("Cookie Policy") describe the types of the cookies we use on Swisscows and our purposes for using them.

If you have questions about this Cookie Policy, please contact us at info at swisscows.com. For more information about our privacy practices, see our privacy policy at swisscows.com/en/privacy.

Your Consent

You consent to placement of cookies on your browser by us and our third party service providers. Please read this Cookie Policy carefully for details about why we use cookies and the information they collect from and about you.

Withdraw Your Consent at Any Time

If you do not wish to accept cookies in connection with your use of Swisscows, you will need to delete, and block or disable cookies via your browser settings; see below for more information on how to do this. Please note that disabling cookies will affect the functionality of Swisscows and may prevent you from being able to access certain features on Swisscows.

What Is a Cookie?

A cookie is a small file of letters and numbers that we store on your browser or the hard drive of your device. Unless you have adjusted your browser setting so that it will refuse cookies, our system will issue cookies as soon as you visit Swisscows.

Key Concepts

First and third-party cookies: whether a cookie is "first" or "third" party refers to the domain placing the cookie.

  • First-party cookies are those set by a website that is being visited by the user at the time.
  • Third-party cookies are cookies that are set by a domain other than that of the website being visited by the user. If a user visits a website and another entity sets a cookie through that website, this would be a third-party cookie.

Persistent cookies: these cookies remain on a user’s device for the period of time specified in the cookie. They are activated each time that the user visits the website that created that particular cookie.

Session cookies: these cookies allow website operators to link the actions of a user during a browser session. A browser session starts when a user opens the browser window and finishes when they close the browser window. Session cookies are created temporarily. Once you close the browser, all session cookies are deleted.

How to Delete and Block Our Cookies

Most web browsers allow some control of most cookies through the browser settings. However, if you use your browser settings to block all cookies (including essential cookies), you may not be able to access all or parts of Swisscows. Unless you have adjusted your browser setting so that it will refuse cookies, our system will issue cookies as soon as you visit Swisscows.

Changing your Cookie Settings.The browser settings for changing your cookies settings are usually found in the "options" or "preferences" menu of your internet browser. More detailed descriptions of these settings can be found under the links provided. Otherwise you should use the "Help" option in your internet browser for more details.

More Information. To find out more about cookies, including how to see what cookies have been set and how to manage and delete them, visit: allaboutcookies.org.

What Cookies Do We Use and Why?

Generally Swisscows uses cookies to distinguish you from other users of Swisscows. This helps us to provide you with a good experience and to improve our service while you are using Swisscows.

The cookies we use on Swisscows may be categorized as follows:

  • Strictly necessary
  • Performance
  • Functionality
  • Targeting

Some cookies fulfill more than one of these purposes.

"Strictly Necessary"cookies let you move around Swisscows and use essential features like secure areas. Without these cookies, we cannot provide the requested services.

We use these Strictly Necessary cookies to:

  • ensure that you are connected to the right service on Swisscows when we make functional changes
  • for safety reasons

Accepting these cookies is a condition of using Swisscows, so if you prevent these cookies we can't guarantee how Swisscows or the security on Swisscows will perform during your visit.

"Performance" cookies collect information about how you use Swisscows e.g. which pages you visit, and if you experience any errors. These cookies do not collect any information that could identify you and are only used to help us improve how Swisscows works, understand the interests of our users and measure the effectiveness of our advertising.

We use performance cookies to:

  • Carry out web analytics: Provide statistics on how Swisscows is used
  • Perform affiliate tracking: Provide feedback to affiliated entities that one of our visitors also visited their site
  • Obtain data on the number of users of Swisscows that have viewed a product or service
  • Help us improve Swisscows by measuring any errors that occur
  • Test different designs for Swisscows

Some of our performance cookies are managed for us by third parties.

"Functionality" cookies are used to provide services or to remember settings to improve your visit.

We use functionality cookies for such purposes as:

  • Remember settings you've applied such as layout, text size, preferences and colors
  • Remember if we've already asked you if you want to fill in a survey
  • Remember if you have engaged with a particular component or list on Swisscows so that it won’t repeat
  • To provide and show embedded video content

Some of these cookies are managed for us by third parties.

"Targeting" cookies are used to track your visit to Swisscows, as well other websites, apps and online services, including the pages you have visited and the links you have followed.

We may use targeting cookies to:

  • Display targeted ads within the Swisscows platform.
  • To improve how we deliver personalized ads and content, and to measure the success of ad campaigns on Swisscows.

Additional Information about Advertising and Analytics

Third Party Analytics and Advertising

Facebook

Facebook Connect. For more information about what Facebook collects when you use Facebook buttons on Swisscows, please see: https://www.facebook.com/about/privacy/#.

Facebook Ads. For more information about what Facebook collects and your choices around Facebook Ads, please see: https://www.facebook.com/ads/ad_...

Twitter. For more information about what Twitter collects when you use Twitter buttons on Swisscows or visit pages on Swisscows that include these buttons, please see: https://twitter.com/en/privacy.

LinkedIn. For more information about what LinkedIn collects when you use LinkedIn buttons on Swisscows or visit pages on Swisscows that include these buttons, please see: https://www.linkedin.com/legal/p...

Google Analytics: For more information about Google Analytics cookies, please see Google's help pages and privacy policy:

Google has developed the Google Analytics opt-out browser add-on; if you want to opt out of Google Analytics, you can download and install the add-on for your web browser here.

Google Analytics is a web analytics service provided by Google, Inc. ("Google"). Google uses cookies to help us analyze how users use Swisscows. The information generated by the cookie about your use of Swisscows (including your IP address) will be transmitted to and stored by Google on servers in the United States. In case of activation of the IP anonymization, Google will truncate/anonymize the last octet of the IP address for Member States of the European Union as well as for other parties to the Agreement on the European Economic Area. Only in exceptional cases, the full IP address is sent to and shortened by Google servers in the USA. On behalf of Swisscows, Google will use this information for the purpose of evaluating your use of Swisscows, compiling reports on your activity for us and third parties who help operate and provide services related to Swisscows. Google will not associate your IP address with any other data held by Google. You may refuse the use of these cookies by selecting the appropriate settings on your browser as discussed in this notice. However, please note that if you do this, you may not be able to use the full functionality of Swisscows. Furthermore you can prevent Google's collection and use of data (cookies and IP address) by downloading and installing the browser plug-in available under https://tools.google.com/dlpage/....

Further information concerning the terms and conditions of use and data privacy can be found at http://www.google.com/analytics/... or at https://www.google.de/intl/de_de....

Please note that on Swisscows, Google Analytics code is supplemented by "gat._anonymizeIp();" to ensure an anonymized collection of IP addresses (so called IP-masking).

More Information about Targeted Advertising by Third Parties

Please see our Pixel Privacy Terms for more information about Swisscows Ads and Personalization on Swisscows.

More Information about Targeted Advertising by Third Parties

A guide to behavioral advertising and online privacy that has been produced by the internet advertising industry can be found at: http://www.youronlinechoices.com....

For more information about interest-based advertising from many ad networks, visit:

More Information about Cookies

International Chamber of Commerce United Kingdom

Information on the ICC (UK) UK cookie guide can be found on the ICC website: http://www.international-chamber....

Pixel Privacy Terms

Last Update: May 23, 2018

Swisscows offers the opportunity to use its pixel technology to both publishers of content on the Swisscows platform and users of Swisscows’s advertising services (the "Ad Services"). Publisher or advertisers may embed Swisscows’s pixels ("Pixels") on their website and pages, subject to compliance with Swisscows’s terms of service for uses of its Pixels and other guidelines ("Pixel Terms"). The Pixels allow us to collect browsing information across sites and helps us to make the ads and content we display on Swisscows more relevant to users. The Pixels also allow us to provide information to publishers or advertisers on the Swisscows platform about how viewers engage with their content or advertisements and how to reach the most interested audience.

What Do Our Pixels Collect?

Our Pixels collect IP address and location, date and time stamp, user agent, cookie IDs (if applicable), URL, time zone, and other browser-level data or cookie data. In addition, as explained in our Privacy Policy, users of our Ad Services may be able to choose to submit other information to us for targeting purposes – such as customer demographics and customer list information.

We may also use Pixels (and cookies and other features) to help us display ads and personalized content on Swisscows, and for a number of other purposes, such as to stop you from seeing the same ad or content repeatedly, to show ads or content that are likely to be more relevant (i.e., based on websites you have visited), to maintain records of the ads or content we display, and to track conversion rates (e.g., when a user of Swisscows clicks on an ad and is transferred to the advertisers website).

Swisscows will use data from Pixels for ad or content optimization only after such data has been aggregated with other data collected from advertisers or other third parties or otherwise collected on Swisscows.

What about Children and Other Sensitive Information?

Users of our Pixels are prohibited from using our Pixels on child-directed sites and services or to otherwise use Pixels to collect or transmit information about children under 16, financial information, health information, other sensitive data or sensitive information, or any information that is prohibited from being collected.

How Do I Know When Third Party Sites Are Sharing Information?

Users of our Pixels are required to provide prominent notice of, and obtain any required consent to, the following:

  • that information will be collected by third-party pixels, cookies, web beacons, and other storage technologies on their website, app or online services, as well as a description of such information;
  • that such information may be combined with similar information collected across third-party sites, services and mobile apps; and
  • that such information may be used for targeting ads or providing measurement services.

What Do You Share With Third Parties?

We may share aggregate statistics, metrics and other reports about the performance of their ads or content in Swisscows, such as the number of unique user views, demographics about the users who saw their ads or content, conversion rates, and date and time information. We may also allow publishers or advertisers to use Pixels on Swisscows in order to collect information about the performance of their content or ads. Our Pixel Terms prohibit publishers and advertisers from combining any information obtained in connection with their use of the Pixels with personally identifiable information for any purpose.