Cookie Policy
What are cookies?
Cookies are small text files stored in your web browser. A website can ask your web browser to remember a cookie, and then send the cookie back whenever you view a page on that website.
They improve things by:
- Remembering settings, so you don’t have to keep re-entering them whenever you visit a new page
- Remembering information you’ve given (eg your postcode) so you don’t need to keep entering it
- Measuring how you use the website so we can make sure it meets your needs
You can view, manage and delete these small files using your web browser’s settings whenever you want. It is possible to turn off all cookies, or decide which websites can use them.
This page describes how Indiid.net uses cookies, and what each cookie contains. Cookies are very important for Indiid.net - it is impossible to log in to Indiid.net without cookies.
Cookies used by Indiid
Indiid Session Cookies
A ‘session’ is a temporary record of whether you have logged in and how you are currently using Indiid.net. Your session information is stored on the Indiid.net servers, but to match your web browser to your session, we store a unique number for your session in a cookie. Indiid.net is made up of a different applications, so each has its own session and session cookie.
Without these cookies you would be unable to log in, as Indiid would immediately forget what you had done.
| Name | Purpose | Expires |
|---|---|---|
| _indiid-info_session | Your session id number. Sessions store if you have logged in. | 1 year |
| _indiid-login_session | Your session id number. Sessions store if you have logged in. | 1 year |
| _indiid-account_session | Your session id number. Sessions store if you have logged in. | 1 year |
| _indiid-signup_session | Your session id number. Sessions store if you have logged in. | 1 year |
| _indiid-recover_session | Your session id number. Sessions store if you have logged in. | 1 year |
| _indiid-organize_session | Your session id number. Sessions store if you have logged in. | 1 year |
Preferences
Login preferences are stored in cookies - they are used before you have logged in so they can’t be stored in your account settings or session.
These cookies can be deleted without a problem - removing them will just clear the login settings and any remembered usernames, just as if you were logging in on a new PC.
| Name | Purpose | Expires |
|---|---|---|
| remembered_login_prefs | Settings for the Indiid.net login page | 1 year |
| remembered_login_personas | Usernames and user avatars shown on the login page. | 1 year |
Data Cookies
Data cookies are used to temporarily store and share data between Indiid.net applications. They are very short-lived.
You will probably never see these cookies.
| Name | Purpose | Expires |
|---|---|---|
| chocolate | Used to pass data between Indiid.net applications | 5 minutes |
Showing Fewer Irritating Messages
An EU law requires us to show you a message telling you that Indiid.net uses cookies. To avoid showing you this message every time you view a page, we use another cookie.
These cookies can be removed or blocked but you’ll have to read various irritating messages on every page.
| Name | Purpose | Expires |
|---|---|---|
| eu_cookie | Indicates that a user has seen the EU cookie warning | 1 year |
| browser_warning | Indicates that a user has seen the unsupported web browser warning | 1 year |
Cookies Used By Applications
Indiid.net uses a variety of other web-based applications and other software. These may use their own cookies.
Shibboleth IDP Cookies
Indiid.net uses Shibboleth Identity Provider software to handle secure single sign on (SSO). The Shibboleth IDP requires its own cookies.
You will not be able to use Indiid.net without these cookies.
| Name | Purpose | Expires |
|---|---|---|
| _idp_authn_lc_key | contains only information necessary to identify the current authentication process (which usually spans multiple requests/responses) and is deleted after the authentication process completes | seconds |
| _idp_session | This cookie contains only information necessary for identifying the user's IdP session. This cookie is created as "session" cookie and will be removed when the browser chooses to remove such cookies (often when the browser is closed). | Until browser is closed, normally. |
Shibboleth SP Cookies
Websites using the Shibboleth Service Provider software to require logging in also require cookies.
You will not be able to use Indiid.net without these cookies.
| Name | Purpose | Expires |
|---|---|---|
| _shibsession_6542[...] | Contains the user's Shibboleth SP session (the parts of Indiid that require Shibboleth authentication) | seconds |
Tracking Cookies and Third-Party Cookies
Advertising and Tracking
Indiid.net does not use any advertising or tracking cookies, and never will.
Flash Cookies
Adobe Flash, a web browser plugin to display games, videos and interactive software, can store its own cookies away from normal web browser cookies. Flash is often used to store hidden tracking cookies. Indiid.net does not use Flash and does not store any Flash cookies.
Measuring Website Usage: Gauges
We use the Gauges service to record some simple usage statistics for Indiid.net. Gauges stores a few cookies to count your page views on Indiid.net. It does not record any personal information, or track you across websites.
These cookies are not required to use Indiid.net.
| Name | Purpose | Expires |
|---|---|---|
| gauges_unique | Contains a unique number to help count page views. | Does not expire |
| gauges_unique_day | Contains a unique number to help count page views. | One day |
| gauges_unique_month | Contains a unique number to help count page views. | One month |
| gauges_unique_year | Contains a unique number to help count page views. | One year |
Cookie Security
All cookies created by Indiid.net itself and by the Shibboleth software can only be sent over HTTPS (an encrypted connection) and can’t be accessed by Javascript. Gauges cookies are not as strictly controlled but don’t contain any private information.
How to manage cookies
Your web browser will have settings that let you view and delete cookies, and choose which websites can store cookies.
Session cookies should be removed when your browser is closed, but many recent browsers no longer do this - they keep session cookies so that pages can be quickly re-opened later.
More information
This page was influenced by the excellent cookie policy page on Gov.UK
