This is the privacy statement for the Virtual Visits application. Overview Thank you for choosing to be part of our community at University of Edinburgh ("Company", "we", "us", "our"). We are committed to protecting your personal information and your right to privacy. If you have any questions or concerns about this privacy notice, or our practices with regards to your personal information, please contact us at: sra.enquiries@ed.ac.uk When you visit our Virtual Visit, virtualvisits.ed.ac.uk (the "Website"), we appreciate that you are trusting us with your personal information. We take your privacy very seriously. In this privacy notice, we seek to explain to you in the clearest way possible what information we collect, how we use it and what rights you have in relation to it. We hope you take some time to read through it carefully, as it is important. If there are any terms in this privacy notice that you do not agree with, please discontinue use of the Virtual Visit immediately. This privacy notice applies to all information collected through our Virtual Visit: virtualvisit@ed.ac.uk Please read this privacy notice carefully as it will help you understand what we do with the information that we collect. What information do we collect? We automatically collect certain information when you visit, use or navigate the Website. This information does not reveal your specific identity (like your name or contact information) but may include device and usage information, such as your IP address, browser and device characteristics, operating system, language preferences, referring URLs, device name, country, location, information about how and when you use our Website and other technical information. This information is primarily needed to maintain the security and operation of our Website, and for our internal analytics and reporting purposes. The information we collect includes: Log and Usage Data Log and usage data is service-related, diagnostic, usage and performance information our servers automatically collect when you access or use our Website and which we record in log files. Depending on how you interact with us, this log data may include your IP address, device information, browser type and settings and information about your activity in the Website (such as the date/time stamps associated with your usage, pages and files viewed, searches and other actions you take such as which features you use), device event information (such as system activity, error reports (sometimes called 'crash dumps') and hardware settings. Device Data We collect device data such as information about your computer, phone, tablet or other device you use to access the Website. Depending on the device used, this device data may include information such as your IP address (or proxy server), device and application identification numbers, location, browser type, hardware model, Internet service provider and/or mobile carrier, operating system and system configuration information. What do we use your information for? We use your information for data analysis, identifying usage trends, determining the effectiveness of our promotional campaigns and to evaluate and improve our Website, products, marketing and your experience. We may use and store this information in aggregated and anonymized form so that it is not associated with individual end users and does not include personal information. We will not use identifiable personal information without your consent. Do we use cookies? Yes. Cookies are small files that a site or its service provider transfers to your computer’s hard drive through your Web browser (if you allow) that enables the sites or service providers systems to recognize your browser and capture and remember certain information. We use cookies to compile aggregate data about site traffic and site interaction so that we can offer better site experiences and tools in the future. We may contract with third-party service providers to assist us in better understanding our site visitors. These service providers are not permitted to use the information collected on our behalf except to help us conduct and improve our business. The cookies in use on the site are for tracking purposes using Google Analytics. This sets first party cookies via a piece of JavaScript code which must be added to every page that site owners want to track. It sets four cookies automatically, and a fifth via opt-in (this relates to sharing information about your traffic with Google). __utma Cookie A persistent cookie – remains on a computer, unless it expires or the cookie cache is cleared. It tracks visitors. Metrics associated with the Google __utma cookie include: first visit (unique visit), last visit (returning visit). This also includes Days and Visits to purchase calculations which afford ecommerce websites with data intelligence around purchasing sales funnels. __utmb Cookie & __utmc Cookie These cookies work in tandem to calculate visit length. Google __utmb cookie demarks the exact arrival time, then Google __utmc registers the precise exit time of the user. Because __utmb counts entrance visits, it is a session cookie, and expires at the end of the session, e.g. when the user leaves the page. A timestamp of 30 minutes must pass before Google cookie __utmc expires. Given__utmc cannot tell if a browser or website session ends, if no new page view is recorded in 30 minutes the cookie is expired. __utmz Cookie Cookie __utmz monitors the HTTP Referrer and notes where a visitor arrived from, with the referrer siloed into type (Search engine (organic or cpc), direct, social and unaccounted). From the HTTP Referrer the __utmz Cookie also registers, what keyword generated the visit plus geolocation data. This cookie lasts six months. In tracking terms this Cookie is perhaps the most important as it will tell you about your traffic and help with conversion information such as what source / medium / keyword to attribute for a Goal Conversion. __utmv Cookie Google __utmv Cookie lasts “forever”. It is a persistent cookie. It is used for segmentation, data experimentation and the __utmv works hand in hand with the __utmz cookie to improve cookie targeting capabilities. Terms and Conditions Please also visit our Terms and Conditions section establishing the use, disclaimers, and limitations of liability governing the use of the University of Edinburgh website at: Website Terms & Conditions Changes to our Privacy Policy If we decide to change our privacy policy, we will post those changes on this page. CAN-SPAM Extracting or harvesting email addresses for the purpose of unsolicited email marketing from any page from the Website is forbidden. Contacting Us If there are any questions regarding this privacy policy, you may contact us using the information below. Please note that our office and telephone lines are closed owing to Covid. We will provide an updated address and telephone number once our office re-opens. sra.enquiries@ed.ac.uk This article was published on 2024-07-22
