Cookie Policy
Effective Date/Last Updated: September 1, 2023
Unless otherwise expressly stated, capitalized terms in this Notice have the same meaning as defined in the Privacy Policy.
Scope of Notice
This Cookie Policy supplements the information contained in the Privacy Policy by explaining how we and our business partners and services providers use cookies and related technologies in the course of managing and providing our online services and our communications to you. It explains what these technologies are and why we use them, as well as your rights to control our use of them.
In some cases, we may use cookies and related technologies described in this Cookie Policy to collect personal information or to collect information that becomes personal information if we combine it with other information. For more details about how we process your personal information, please review the Privacy Policy.
What Are Cookies and Related Technologies
Cookies are small data files that are stored on your computer that allow us and our third-party partners and providers to collect certain information about your interactions with our email communications, websites, and other online services. We and our third-party partners and providers may also use other, related technologies to collect this information, such as web beacons, pixels, embedded scripts, location-identifying technologies, and logging technologies (collectively, “cookies”).
What We Collect When Using Cookies
We and our third-party partners and providers may use cookies to automatically collect certain types of usage information about how you access and use the services when you visit or interact with our email communications or websites or otherwise engage with us through a computer or mobile device. For example, we may collect log data about your device and its software, such as your IP address, operating system, browser type, date/time of your visit, and other similar information. We may collect analytics data or use third-party analytics tools such as Google Analytics to help us measure usage and activity trends for our online services and better understand our customer base.
Third-party partners and providers may also collect personal information about your online activities over time and across different websites when you use our websites and online services.
Third-Party Partners.
The following is a sample of the third-party service partners we work with to provide advertising services. We will strive to update this list if or when we work with new partners which offer you choices about the collection of your information, but as partners change and new technologies become available, this list is likely to change over time and may not always reflect our current partners.
Google Analytics and Advertising. We use Google Analytics to recognize you and link the devices you use when you visit our websites or services on your browser or mobile device, log in to your account on our services, or otherwise engage with us. We share a unique identifier, like a user ID or hashed email address, with Google to facilitate the service. Google Analytics allows us to better understand how our users interact with our services and to tailor our advertisements and content to you. For information on how Google Analytics collects and processes data, as well as how you can control information sent to Google, review Google’s site “How Google uses data when you use our partners’ sites or apps” located at www.google.com/policies/privacy/partners/. You can learn about Google Analytics’ currently available opt-outs, including the Google Analytics Browser Ad-On here https://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout/ .
We may also utilize certain forms of display advertising and other advanced features through Google Analytics, such as Remarketing with Google Analytics, Google Display Network Impression Reporting, and Google Analytics Demographics and Interest Reporting. These features enable us to use first-party cookies (such as the Google Analytics cookie) and third-party cookies (such as the Google Remarketing Cookie) or other third-party cookies together to inform, optimize, and display ads based on your past visits to the Service. You may control your advertising preferences or opt out of certain Google advertising products by visiting the Google Ads Preferences Manager, currently available at https://google.com/ads/preferences, or by visiting NAI’s online resources at http://www.networkadvertising.org/choices.
How We Use That Information
We use or may use the data collected through cookies to: (a) recognize new or current customers and remember information so that you will not have to re-enter it during your visit or the next time you visit our websites and online services; (b) provide and monitor the effectiveness of our websites and online services; (c) monitor online usage and activities of our websites and online services; (d) diagnose errors and problems with our websites and online services; (e) otherwise plan for and enhance our online services; (f) serve you with interest-based or targeted advertising (see below for more on interest-based advertising); and (g) facilitate the purposes identified in the Our Use of Personal Information section of our Privacy Policy. We and our advertising partners also use the information we collect through cookies to understand your browsing activities, including across unaffiliated third-party sites, so that we can deliver ads and information about products and services that may be of interest to you.
Please note that we link some of the personal information we collect through cookies with the other personal information that we collect about you and for the purposes described in our Privacy Policy.
Your Choices About Cookies
If you would prefer not to accept cookies, most browsers will allow you to: (i) change your browser settings to notify you when you receive a cookie, which lets you choose whether or not to accept it; (ii) disable existing cookies; or (iii) set your browser to automatically reject cookies. Please note that doing so may negatively impact your experience using our online services, as some features and services on our online services may not work properly. In addition, if you want to reject cookies across all your browsers and devices, you will need to do so on each browser on each device you actively use. Depending on your device and operating system, you may not be able to delete or block all cookies. You may also set your email options to prevent the automatic downloading of images that may contain technologies that would allow us to know whether you have accessed our email and performed certain functions with it.
You can learn more about Google’s practices with Google Analytics by visiting Google’s privacy policy here. You can also view Google’s currently available opt-out options here.
Your Choices About Online Ads
Controlling Cookies and Tracking Technologies. Most browsers allow you to adjust your browser settings to: (i) notify you when you receive a cookie, which lets you choose whether or not to accept it; (ii) disable existing cookies; or (iii) set your browser to automatically reject cookies. Blocking or deleting cookies may negatively impact your experience using the Service, as some features and services may not work properly. Depending on your mobile device and operating system, you may not be able to delete or block all tracking technologies. You may set your e-mail options to prevent the automatic downloading of images that may contain technologies that would allow us to know whether you viewed or engaged with our emails.
Interest-Based Advertising. We support the self-regulatory principles for online advertising (Principles) published by the Digital Advertising Alliance (DAA). This means that we allow you to exercise choice regarding the collection of information about your online activities over time and across third-party websites for online interest-based advertising purposes. More information about these Principles can be found at www.aboutads.info. If you want to opt out of receiving online interest-based advertisements on your internet browser from advertisers and third parties that participate in the DAA program and perform advertising-related services for us and our partners, please follow the instructions at www.aboutads.info/choices, or http://www.networkadvertising.org/choices/ to place an opt-out cookie on your device indicating that you do not want to receive interest-based advertisements. Opt-out cookies only work on the internet browser and device they are downloaded onto. If you want to opt out of interest-based advertisements across all your browsers and devices, you will need to opt out on each browser on each device you actively use. If you delete cookies on your device generally, you will need to opt out again.
If you want to opt out of receiving online interest-based advertisements on mobile apps, please follow the instructions at http://www.aboutads.info/appchoices.
Please note that when you opt out of receiving interest-based advertisements, this does not mean you will no longer see advertisements from us or on our online services. It means that the online ads that you do see from DAA program participants should not be based on your interests. We are not responsible for the effectiveness of, or compliance with, any third-parties’ opt-out options or programs or the accuracy of their statements regarding their programs. In addition, third parties may still use cookies to collect information about your use of our online services, including for analytics and fraud prevention as well as any other purpose permitted under the DAA’s Principles.
Updates to This Cookie Policy
We will update this Cookie Policy from time to time. When we make changes to this Cookie Policy, we will change the “Last Updated” date at the beginning of this Notice. If we make material changes to this Notice, we will notify you by email to your registered email address, by prominent posting on this website or our online services, or through other appropriate communication channels. All changes shall be effective from the date of publication unless otherwise provided in the notification.
Contact Us
If you have any questions or requests in connection with this Cookie Policy or other privacy-related matters, please send an email to EconomicDevelopment@franklincountyva.gov.