Effective date: 9th November 2022
Online Cookie Statement
This Cookie Statement applies to this website and other online services which it covers.
What is a cookie?
A "cookie" is technology that allows Our Site to store tokens of information (an 'identifier') in your browser used only by Our Site while you are on Our Site. Cookies are not used to determine the personal identity of anyone who is merely visiting Our Site. They serve to help us track traffic patterns to determine a user’s preferred location and language so that we can direct them to the correct country home page when they visit Our Site.
On certain pages of Our Site, cookies are used to help us track your interests while you browse the internet, so we can tailor more relevant advertising to you, and to understand what is important to you.
You have the ability to accept or decline cookies. Most Web browsers automatically accept cookies, but you can usually modify your browser setting to decline cookies if you prefer. If you choose to decline cookies, you may not be able to fully experience the features of the Starschema services or websites you visit.
We take reasonable measures to prevent linking of information we receive from Google with any of your personally identifiable information.
What cookies are used by STS’s websites
Necessary Cookies
Necessary cookies are those which are essential for our sites to work in the way you have requested. Although many of our sites are open, that is, do not require registration, we may use strictly necessary cookies to control access to some of our community sites, whitepapers or online events such as webinars and to maintain your session during a single visit. These cookies will need to reset on your browser each time you register or log in to a gated area. If you block these cookies entirely, you may not be able to access gated areas. We may also offer you the choice of a persistent cookie to recognize you as you return to one of our gated sites. If you choose not to use this “remember me” function, you will simply need to log in each time you return.
Performance Cookies
Performance cookies, often called analytics cookies, collect data from visitors to our sites on a unique but anonymous basis. The results are reported to us as aggregate numbers and trends. STS allows third parties to set performance cookies. We rely on the reports to understand our audiences generally and improve how our websites work.
We use Google Analytics, a web analytics service provided by Google, Inc. (“Google”), which in turn uses performance cookies. The information generated by the cookies about your use of our website will be transmitted to and stored by Google on servers in the United States. In case IP-anonymisation is activated on our website, your IP address will be truncated within the area of the European Economic Area. Only in exceptional cases will the whole IP address be first transferred to a Google server in the United States and truncated there. On our websites the IP address is encoded (i.e. anonymised) before being sent to Google servers.
Google will use this information on behalf of the operator of our website to (a) evaluate your use of our website; (b) compile reports on website activity for website operators; and (c) provide website operators with other services relating to website activity and internet usage. The IP address that your browser conveys within the scope of Google Analytics will not be associated with any other data held by Google. You may refuse the use of cookies by selecting the appropriate settings on your browser. However, please note that if you do this you may not be able to use the full functionality of our website. You can also opt-out from being tracked by Google Analytics by downloading and installing Google Analytics’ Opt-out Browser Add-On for your current web browser: http://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout?hl=en.
Functionality Cookies
We may use site performance cookies to remember your preferences for operational settings on our websites so that you do not have to re-set the preferences every time you visit. For example, the cookie may recognize optimum video streaming speeds or volume settings, or the order in which you look at comments to a posting on one of our forums. These cookies do not identify you as an individual and we don’t associate the resulting information with a cookie that does.
Social Media Cookies
If you use social media or other third-party credentials to log in to our sites, that third party organization may set a cookie that allows that organization to recognize you. The third-party organization may use that cookie for its own purposes. The organization may also show you ads and content from us when you visit its websites or use its applications.
Also, if you use a social media-sharing button or widget on one of our sites, the social network that created the button will record your action for its own purposes.
Please look to each social media organization’s privacy and data protection policy to understand (a) its use of cookies; (b) how it tracks you from our sites; and (c) how to control such cookies and buttons.
Targeting/Advertising Cookies
We use tracking and targeting cookies or ask other companies to do so on our behalf to send you emails and show you online advertising that meets your business and professional interests. If you have registered for our websites or submitted information through an online form on one of our websites, we may tailor our emails to you to reflect the interests you have shown during your visits.
We ask third party advertising platforms and technology companies to show you our ads after you leave our sites. This is known as ‘retargeting technology’. This technology allows us to make our website services more interesting for you. Retargeting cookies are used to record anonymized movement patterns on a website. These patterns are used to tailor banner advertisements to your interests. The data used for retargeting is completely anonymous and is only used for statistical analysis. No personal data is stored, and the use of retargeting technology is subject to the applicable statutory data protection regulations.
We also work with companies to reach people who have not visited our sites. These companies do not identify you as an individual but instead rely on a variety of other data to show you advertisements, for example, behavior across websites, information about individual devices and, in some cases, IP addresses.
Third Party Websites' Cookies
Third party cookies are cookies set by someone other than the website owner for purposes such as collecting information on user behavior, demographics, or personalized marketing. When using our website, you may encounter embedded content, such as YouTube videos. These websites and embedded content may use their own cookies. We do not have control over the placement of cookies by other websites, even if you are directed to them from our website.