Tracking Technologies
ASCA and certain third parties that provide content, advertising and/or other functionality for our Services use cookies and other technologies to administer our Websites and Applications, trace users’ Website visits, collect demographic information about those that use our Services and analyze trends.
When you first visit our Websites, you will be asked to consent to the use of cookies and similar technologies on the Websites in accordance with this Privacy Policy; if you accept, we will store cookies and similar technologies on your computer.
What are Cookies?
Cookies are small data files that are transferred to your computer or mobile device when you visit a website. Cookies are only stored on your computer when your browser settings permit the acceptance of cookies. Once stored on your computer, cookies allow the entity that put them on your device to recognize you across different websites, devices and/or browsing sessions. Cookies may store information like your preferences but cannot read data from your hard drive or access cookie files created by other websites.
Cookies serve many useful purposes like
- Remembering your username and password for a website so you don’t have to enter those credentials each time you log in to that site;
- Helping us understand website traffic and what content is most popular because they show us which website pages are being visited and how much time people are spending on those pages. By studying this information, we can improve our content and website experience for our users;
- Helping us and third parties understand which advertisements you have seen so that you don’t see the same ad repeatedly; and
- Helping us and third parties provide you with relevant content and advertising by collecting information about your use of our Services and other websites and applications.
Managing Cookies
If you do not want information collected through cookies, you may configure your browser to reject all cookies or notify you when a cookie is sent; however, some areas of our Websites may not provide you with a personalized experience if you have disabled the use of cookies. Each browser is different, so check the “Help” menu of your browser to learn how to change your cookie preferences. The operating system of your device may contain additional controls for cookies.
You may also delete cookies stored on your computer by checking the delete cookies option in your browser. Please note that after your delete your cookies, you may be asked to log in again on many websites where you may have stored a login cookie. Additionally, you may be prompted to consent to our cookie policy once again to continue your visit to our Website. For more information on deleting or managing cookies, please see the "Choices Regarding Your Information" section below.
How We Use Cookies
We use cookies to make use of our Websites easier by saving your preferences and to deliver content tailored to your interests. The cookies we collect may enable us to relate your use of our Websites to personal information that you provided previously.
The information that we collect with cookies allows us to statistically analyze usage of our Websites and to improve and customize our content and other offerings. However, we only disclose information collected with cookies to third parties on an aggregated basis without the use of any information that personally identifies you.
We use both session ID cookies and persistent cookies. A session ID cookie expires when you close your browser. A persistent cookie remains on your hard drive for a set period of time or until you delete it.
We use the following types of cookies on our Websites.
Strictly Necessary Cookies
Strictly Necessary Cookies are cookies that are essential to basic functions of our Websites and Applications. These cookies enable you to log in to secure areas of the Websites, use a shopping cart and help make services available through our Websites and Applications work. Because these cookies are strictly necessary to deliver our Services, users cannot refuse them, but you may configure your browser to block or delete these cookies. For more information on how to block or delete cookies, please see the “Choices Regarding Your Information” section below.
Preferences Cookies
Preferences Cookies are cookies that ensure information displayed on your next visit to our Websites match up to choices you made and your preferences regarding our Services. For example, these cookies store your username, language and/or region and enable user interface customization. These cookies are not essential for using our Services, but certain functionality may become unavailable or may not function properly without these cookies. For more information on how to block or delete cookies, please see the “Choices Regarding Your Information” section below.
Analytics and Performance Cookies
Analytics and Performance Cookies are cookies that are designed to allow us to recognize that you have visited our Websites before and track your movement as you consume content across our Websites. These cookies help us to analyze the performance and design of our Services and detect errors.
We use cookies from Google Analytics, AddThis and similar analytics programs. The Google Analytics cookies allow us to track traffic patterns on our Websites so we can optimize our web development and content efforts to better meet your needs; this information is collected in aggregate without using Personal Data. The information collected by Google (including your IP address) will be transmitted to and stored by Google on servers in the US. Google will use this information on our behalf for the purposes of evaluating your use of the Websites, compiling reports on website activity and providing further services to us relating to website usage. To learn more about Google Analytics’ privacy practices, please visit their website to review their privacy policy.
You can prevent your web usage data from being collected by Google Analytics by downloading and installing the Google Analytics Opt-Out Browser Add-On for your web browser of choice. For more information on how to block or delete cookies, please see the “Choices Regarding Your Information” section below.
Advertising Cookies
Advertising Cookies are cookies that are used to make the advertising displayed on our Websites more meaningful to you. These cookies prevent ads from appearing repeatedly and ensure that ads are properly displayed. Certain third-party cookies may track users over different websites and will provide ads relevant to your interests. For example, we may use Google remarketing tags to allow retail partners to advertise products you may have browsed on our Websites. Our Websites may also display content from a third-party website or service, which may result in cookies from third parties being stored on your hard drive or browser. We do not control the storage of these cookies and you should refer to the privacy policies of the relevant third party for more information.
Beacons, Pixels and Other Technologies
We use other technologies, like web beacons, to recognize and track visitors to our Websites. A web beacon (also known as a “tracking pixel”) is a clear graphic image (typically a one-pixel tag) that is delivered through a web browser or HTML email, usually in conjunction with a cookie.
Web beacons can be embedded in online content, videos and emails, and allow us to collect information about your device, like your IP address, and how and when you viewed specific content. Beacons allow us to track how users move from one page to another within our Websites, to track access to our communications, to understand whether users have come to our Websites from an online advertisement displayed on a third-party website, to measure how ads have been viewed and to improve site performance.
Additionally, we may use widgets, which are interactive mini-programs that run on our Websites to provide specific services from another company (for example, links to bookmarked sites), along with buttons or other tools that link to other companies' services (e.g., a ‘Like’ button). The widgets may collect and automatically send Personal Data, such as your email address, or other information, such as your browser information or IP address, to a third party. Cookies may also be set or used by the widgets, buttons or tools to enable them to function properly or for other purposes, which may include advertising. Information collected or used by a widget, button or tool, including cookie settings and preferences, is governed by the privacy policy of the company that created it.
If you are a member of one or more of the following social media networks and do not want them to connect the data concerning your use of our Services with your member data already stored by them, please log out of the social media network before using our Services. A list of each network’s privacy policies follows below.
Facebook: www.facebook.com/about/privacy
Google+: www.google.com/privacy
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/legal/privacy-policy?trk=hb_ft_priv
Twitter: twitter.com/en/privacy
We also use mobile analytics software to allow us to better understand the functionality of our Applications on your phone. This software may record information such as how often you use an Application, the events that occur within an Application, aggregated usage, performance data and where the Application was downloaded. We do not link the information we store within the analytics software to any Personal Data you submit within the Applications.