COOKIES
Below is a list of the persistent cookies that Southport Asset Management uses, the information they hold, and their purpose.
Introduction
During the course of any visit to www.southportasset.com, the pages you see are downloaded to your computer. At the same time, you may receive one or more short text files called a “cookie”. This page provides general information about cookies, informs you about how they are used, and gives you guidance on how to control the cookies on your computer.
What is a cookie?
A cookie is a short text file sent to your browser from the web server or web servers that host the files of the website you are viewing. You may encounter two types of cookies: session cookies and persistent cookies. Session cookies are only active as long as you’re using your browser. Once you close your browser, the cookie is deleted. Persistent cookies remain on your hard drive until they reach their expiry date or you delete them.
Many websites use cookies to enable features such as determining whether the computer (and probably its user) has visited the website before. This is done on future visits by checking for the unique identifier in a cookie left there on a previous visit. Some users object to this practice and choose to reject all or some cookies, but it can be a convenience for both website visitors and operators because it allows the collection of usage statistics that assist in improving the online experience for visitors. Other uses include keeping track of items in online shopping carts and reducing the amount of time to enter and process the same information each time a website is visited.
Cookies, whether session or persistent, can also be described as first-party or third-party cookies. A web page’s content may come from more than one server. Third-party cookies are related to content on a web page that does not come from the page’s primary server. These third-party cookies are sometimes used to compile usage statistics on behalf of the site owner or, on commercial web sites, they may be associated with advertising and are used to track the effectiveness of the ad. To protect your privacy, your browser only permits a web server to access the cookies already sent to you from its domain, not the cookies sent to you by web servers from other domains.
Controlling Cookies
Users typically have the opportunity to set their browser to accept all or some cookies, to notify them when a cookie is issued, or not to receive cookies at any time. The last of these, of course, means that personalized services cannot be provided and the user may not be able to take full advantage of all the website’s features. Refer to your browser’s Help section for specific guidance on how it allows you to manage cookies and how you may delete cookies you wish to remove from your computer.
In addition, Southport Asset Management uses basic cookies from ExpressionEngine for additional analytics purposes. Turning your cookies off within your browser will disable these cookies.
Multiple cookies may be found in a single file depending on which browser you use:
_utma – A unique identifier given to each computer to allow traffic analysis to determine the user’s amount of visits, and the time of the first visit, the previous visit, and the current visit to various parts of the website. Data is only used in aggregate.
_utmb – A unique identifier given to each computer to allow traffic analysis used to check approximately how long a user stays on a site: when a visit starts, and approximately ends on various parts of the website. Data is only used in aggregate.
_utmc – A unique identifier given to each computer to allow traffic analysis used to check approximately how long a user stays on a site: when a visit starts, and approximately ends on various parts of the website. Expires quickly. Data is only used in aggregate.
_utmz – A unique identifier given to each computer to allow traffic analysis to determine where a user came from when visiting southportasset.com. Data is only used in aggregate.
exp_last_activity – Every time the state is updated (the page reloaded) the last activity is set to the current date and time. Used to determine expiry. This is essential for logged in users, but not for guests – it is set for both.
exp_last_visit – Sets the date and time that the user last visited the site. If not set, is automatically set to 10 years ago.
exp_tracker – Tracks the last 5 pages viewed by the user, and is used primarily for redirection after logging in etc.
If you wish, you may opt out of being tracked by Google Analytics by disabling or refusing the cookies; by disabling JavaScript within your browser; or by using the Google Analytics Opt-Out Browser Add-On. You have the ability to decline providing the information by refusing cookies in your browser. However, this may prevent personalized services from being provided and you may not be able to take full advantage of all the features available.
If you have never disabled the session cookie option, it should be enabled by default. To disable cookies or JavaScript, please refer to your vendor’s browser instruction guide.