cookie usage

Google Analytics

Durham University make use of the Google Analytics service to understand how you navigate around our site.

Further information on how Google Analytics uses cookies is available here: http://code.google.com/apis/analytics/docs/concepts/gaConceptsCookies.html#HowGAUsesCookies.

To opt out of Google analytics visit http://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout/.

Session Cookies

Session cookies allow users ‘choices’ to be remembered from page to page. An example of this functionality is the shopping basket feature of an online shop. When you visit a shop and select some items, the session cookie remembers your selection so your shopping basket will have the items you selected when you are ready to check out.

Session cookies used by EuropeAcoustics include:

• BALANCEID – This cookie is used to ‘attach’ your browsing session internally to one of our web servers. It contains no information about you. If you reject it, the majority of pages on the site will continue to work normally, but some applications may exhibit unusual behaviour (e.g. logging you out unexpectedly, forgetting details you have entered) This cookie is set by every page. This cookie will be deleted automatically at the end of your browsing session.
• PHPSESSID – This cookie is used to identify your browsing session. It does not itself contain any information about you, but is used by some parts of the site to maintain a login to an application. If you reject it, then you may find that some parts of the site requiring a log in will not work, or will log you out unexpectedly. The majority of pages on the site will not set this cookie and do not need it. This cookie will be deleted automatically at the end of your browsing session.
• dca_{number} – These cookies are used to record log-in information for certain restricted-access pages by identifying you to the server.
• dca_auth_{number} – If you reject these cookies you will be unable to log in to these pages, but your experience of other pages will be unaffected. These cookies are deleted automatically at the end of your browser session, and are not used to track you either inside or outside of the restricted areas.
• courses – This cookie is used to note the courses you have looked at in the courses list. It lasts for six months since your last visit to that page. If you delete or reject it, the courses page will continue to work, except that your list of “Recently viewed” courses will be empty.
• cookies – This cookie stores your cookie usage preference, it will only ever be set to 1 (allow cookies) or 0 (do not allow cookies). It is only stored for a period of 30 days after your last visit.

A number of other cookies are used by particular web applications to maintain, for example, a shopping basket, or similar. Rejecting these cookies will prevent you using that application, but will have no effect on the rest of the site.

Further Information

Please check the ‘Help’ menu of your browser to learn about your cookie preferences, and how to remove cookies from your system. The website www.allaboutcookies.org will provide you with further information about cookies.