Portland Cookie notice

Last Updated: August 2023

WHAT IS THIS NOTICE ABOUT?

This Cookie Notice explains how we use “cookies” and similar technologies (such as “web beacons, “pixels” or “tags”) on the Portland website at https://portland-communications.com (“Site”).  It is designed to assist you in making informed decisions when using our service. Please take a moment to read and understand this Cookie Notice. This Cookie Notice should also be read in conjunction with our Privacy Notice and our Website Terms of Use.

Contents

  1. What are cookies or similar technologies?
  2. What is the difference between first party and third party cookies?
  3. How long do cookies last?
  4. Which cookies do we use on our Site
  5. Is consent needed to use cookies?
  6. How do I refuse, block or delete cookies?
  7. What about Google Chrome or other browser cookies?
  8. Linking to third party sites
  9. Does this notice change?
  10. Have any feedback for us?

1. WHAT ARE COOKIES OR SIMILAR TECHNOLOGIES

Cookies are very small text files or pieces of code, which often include an unique identifier. When you visit a website, the website will request to store this text file on your device in order to remember information about you, such as your language preference or login information.  Other information gathered through cookies may include the date and time of visits and how you are using our website.

We also use similar technologies to cookies known as “web beacons”, “pixels” or “tags”. These technologies do a similar job to cookies, allowing website operators to count page views and understand how visitors interact with and respond to certain content on a webpage.

For the purposes of the remaining sections of this Cookie Notice, we refer to all cookies and similar technologies using the above features as “cookies”. 

You should be aware that applications you use to access our Site, such as your website browser, may also place cookies on your device when visiting our Site, or other websites. An example of this would be where you sign in to Google Chrome using a Google Account (see Section 7 below). We do not have control over these third party cookies, so you will need to manage these cookies in the settings of the relevant applications.

For more details on cookies and similar technologies, please visit All About Cookies.

2. IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN FIRST PARTY AND THIRD PARTY COOKIES?

We use “first party cookies” and “third party cookies” in connection with our Service. First party cookies are cookies placed by us to collect information about you. Third party cookies are cookies placed by third party website operators. Information about you collected by those third party cookies will be shared with the relevant third party. Please refer to the relevant third party website operator’s privacy notice for more details about the information they collect and how they use it

3. HOW LONG DO COOKIES LAST?

All cookies have expiration dates that determine how long they stay in your browser:

Session Cookies – these are temporary cookies that are placed on your device during your browsing session and then expire (and are automatically erased) whenever you close your browser.

Persistent Cookies – these are designed to last for a pre-defined period of time, which varies depending on the nature of the cookie. Persistent cookies stay in your browser until they reach their individual expiry date, or until you manually delete them (see Section 6 below).

4. WHICH COOKIES DO WE USE ON OUR SITE

We use the following types of cookies:

Essential Cookies – Essential cookies are those cookies which a website could not operate without. Essential cookies include cookies such as login cookies and shopping cart cookies.

Functionality Cookies – These cookies recognise you when you return to a website, remember your preferences and provide enhanced, more personalised features. [These cookies also help to provide you with content relevant to your locale, for example allowing you to see the Site in your preferred language.

5. IS CONSENT NEEDED TO USE COOKIES?

Non-essential Cookies – We may only store and access non-essential cookies on your device with your permission. You are not obliged to give consent to our use of non-essential cookies. If you do give your consent and then change your mind, you can block or delete them (see Section 6 below).

Essential Cookies – Please note that we do not need your consent to store and access essential cookies on your device, although you can still block or delete them (see Section 6 below).

6. HOW DO I REFUSE, BLOCK OR DELETE COOKIES?

You can block the use of cookies generally (not just in respect of our Site) by activating the relevant settings in your browser. For more information on cookie management and blocking or deleting cookies for a wide variety of browsers, visit All About Cookies.

Further, if you do not want to be tracked by Google Analytics, you can install the Google Analytics opt-out browser add-on (but this will only work on certain browsers). For further information on Google Analytics and its use of cookies, please consult the Google Analytics cookie policy.

Please be aware that in order to use some parts of our Site you will need to allow certain essential or functional cookies. If you block or subsequently delete those cookies, some aspects of our Site may not work properly and you may not be able to access all or part of our Site.

7. WHAT ABOUT GOOGLE CHROME OR OTHER BROWSER COOKIES?

Separately to our use of Google Analytics cookies, when you access the Site via Google applications such as Google Chrome, Google may collect user information for the purpose of Google serving personalised advertising across your devices. Google is able to place these advertising cookies on the devices used by visitors to the Site because we use Google services to run the Site. However these cookies are dropped for Google’s own purposes and as such we do not have any control over how or when they are dropped. You will need to opt out of receiving these cookies via your Google settings. For further information about these cookies please see: https://policies.google.com/technologies/types?hl=en-US. Please note that other browsers may use similar tools.

8. LINKING TO THIRD PARTY SITES

Please note that our Site link to third party websites which are not operated by us. Where you follow links from our Site  to the website of a third party, that website may place different cookies on your device. You should check the relevant privacy notice and/or cookie notice for more information about how that third party uses cookies.

9. DOES THIS NOTICE CHANGE?

We may update our Cookie Notice from time to time. We recommend that you check here periodically for any changes to our Cookie Notice.

10. HAVE ANY FEEDBACK FOR US?

If you have any questions or feedback on our Cookie Notice, please contact us at [email protected]