Cookie Policy

Last updated: September 19, 2018

General Information

We use Cookies and other tracking mechanisms (collectively “Cookies”) on the platform in order to improve our services, for targeting of advertisements, and to better understand and improve our communications efforts.

On your first visit to the website, you will be asked to accept that we place one or more Cookies on your device. Your continued use of the platform constitutes acceptance hereof. You can delete Cookies by following the instructions near the bottom of this page.


What are Cookies?

A Cookie is a small text file that is stored on your computer. Cookies allow us to:

  • Recognize you when you visit the platform for the purpose of giving you a more personal experience.
  • Observe your habits on the website. The better we understand which products you are interested in, the better our ability to tailor solutions to meet your requirements.
  • Obtain information about the number of visitors and their behavior.
  • Improve the performance of our websites.
  • Determine interest in the topics and services we provide.
  • Measure the effectiveness of our communications.

Our Types of Cookies

Strictly Necessary Cookies

These Cookies are required in order for the website to work properly. If you do not allow these Cookies, some parts of the website may not work properly, such as logging in, submitting forms, and other standard website behavior. The only way to disable these Cookies is via your browser.

Cookie Name

Purpose

Storage Period

exp_csrf_token If you log in to our website, this is a security Cookie used to identify the user and prevent Cross Site Request Forgery attacks. Session (expires after quitting your browser)
exp_last_activity Records the time of the last page load. Used in conjunction with the exp_last_visit Cookie. One year
exp_last_visit Date of the user’s last visit. Can be shown as a statistic for logged in visitors. One year
exp_remember Determines whether a user is automatically logged in upon visiting the website. Two years
PHPSESSID PHP’s session Cookie. Session (expires after quitting your browser)

Functionality Cookies

These Cookies help personalize content and functionality, including remembering changes a user has made to parts of the website that they can customize, for example. These Cookies are optional and simply make the website more user friendly and add functionality without requiring registration.

Cookie Name

Purpose

Storage Period

exp_tracker Contains the last five pages viewed, encrypted for security. This is used for form or website error messages that can return you to the previous page. Session (expires after quitting your browser)

Performance Cookies

These Cookies allow us to measure how visitors use our website, which pages are popular, and what our traffic sources are. This helps us improve how our websites work and make it easier for all visitors to find what they are looking for. Some of this information is aggregated and anonymous and cannot be used to identify you, and some of these Cookies will contain a unique identifier to track "click-through" activity. The information we use through click-through activity helps us determine interest in specific sustainability topics or BSR services and to measure the effectiveness of our communications.

We also use these types of Cookies to save your information if you fill out a form, such as when you register for an event. This is more of a convenience feature so that you don’t have to fill in your information again the next time you submit a form.

Cookie Name

Purpose

Storage Period

_ga, _gat, _gid Website metrics reporting by Google Analytics. Two years
pi_opt_in Tracks whether the visitor opts in or out of Cookie tracking. Two years
visitor_ Contains a unique identifier. Ten years

Remarketing Services

From time to time, our website may use a remarketing advertising service. We use remarketing services provided by Google, Twitter, and LinkedIn to show our ads on websites across the internet. With remarketing, you may see ads for our products, services, or events based on your past activity, such as visiting our websites or clicked on a marketing email.

Here’s an example of how remarketing works: Suppose you visit a website that sells watches, but you do not buy a watch on your first visit to that website. The website owner might like to encourage you to revisit its website and buy a watch by showing you its ads again on other websites you visit.

We use remarketing for similar purposes, so you may see advertisements for our products, services, or events like the annual BSR Conference as you search the internet. For this to happen, the advertising platform will read a Cookie that is already in your browser, or it will place a Cookie in your browser when you visit one of our websites or other sites using remarketing.

This can only happen if your browser is set to let it happen. You can set preferences for how Google, Twitter, and LinkedIn advertise to you by updating your privacy settings:

And if you would like, you can opt out of interest-based advertising permanently by changing your privacy options in your web browser.


Reject or Delete Cookies

You can disable Cookies in your browser, including by deleting your browser history. See how at https://www.lifewire.com/how-to-delete-cookies-2617981.

You can always reject Cookies by changing the settings of your browser.

If you choose to block or delete our Cookies, you might not be able to access certain features on the platform, which may affect how the platform works.


Contact Information

In case you have questions about our Cookie Policy, please contact us at web@bsr.org.