COOKIE POLICY

INTRODUCTION

At Qiddiya, we acknowledge the significance of your privacy and are dedicated to providing clarity regarding the technologies we employ. This Cookie Policy (“this Policy”) describes the purposes and mechanisms behind storing and accessing cookies and related technologies (collectively referred to as "Cookies and Other Technologies") on your device when you use or visit our website which features a link to this Policy. It's important to review this Policy in conjunction with our Privacy Notice and our Terms of Use for a comprehensive understanding of our practices.

The primary objective of this Policy is to provide Qiddiya’s website users with a comprehensive understanding of the distinct types of cookies utilized on this website and the specific purposes they serve. In doing so, we aim to clarify the differentiation between first-party cookies and third-party cookies. This knowledge empowers our website users to make informed decisions about their privacy and online experience while interacting with our site.

1. COOKIES AND OTHER TECHNOLOGIES

A "cookie" is a small text file that a website downloads onto your web browser or internet-connected device, like a mobile phone or tablet, when you visit the website. The purpose of these cookies is to help the website identify and remember your device for your future visits.

Cookies serve a wide range of functions, including remembering your preferences, monitoring your online activities, and enhancing your overall user experience. They empower the website's owner to distinguish between the actions taken by your device and those of other website users on the same website.

It's important to note that the majority of cookies do not gather information that directly identifies you as an individual. Instead, their focus is on collecting more generalized data, such as your approximate location or how you find and utilize websites.

While cookies are the most well-known tracking technology, there are others, which function in a similar fashion. These alternative methods could encompass technologies like web beacons, pixel tags, and local storage (“Other Technologies”). Their collective aim is to gather data about your online behaviour, offering websites insights into how you interact with their content.

The objective of employing these Cookies and Other Technologies is to gather information about your website usage patterns. This encompasses the pages you visit, the duration of your visits, and how you engage with the content. This data is invaluable for our website to optimize its services and cater to your user preferences, it also helps improve website performance and enhance security.

2. First-Party Cookies and Third-Party Cookies

“First-party cookies" are cookies that are directly associated with and placed on your device by Qiddiya, the entity responsible for this website. Conversely, "third-party cookies" are cookies that are placed on your device through our website by a different party.

The utilization of first-party and third-party cookies serves specific functions. First-party cookies are employed for our own website's needs, whereas third-party cookies, placed by external entities, come into play when we partner with these service providers for tasks like analytics and performance evaluation. It's important to note that these cookies are valuable tools for optimizing and personalizing the online experience for our website users.

We employ different types of cookies on our website, depending on its specific requirements:

Persistent Cookies

These cookies are used for the long term to enhance your experience on our website. For instance, they record your agreement with our Cookie Policy, allowing us to remove the initial cookie message that appears when you first visit our site. Persistent Cookies will be retained by your web browser and remains valid until a predetermined expiration date unless you manually delete it before that date.

Session Cookies

Session cookies are temporary in nature and are automatically deleted from your device as soon as you close your web browser. We utilize these cookies to track your internet usage, as described earlier.
Session Cookie has a shorter lifespan and expires at the conclusion of your web session, specifically when you close your web browser.
We are committed to ensuring that the data collected by our website and/or through cookies is not retained longer than necessary to fulfil the purposes mentioned earlier. In any case, this information will not be retained for a period exceeding one year. This approach aligns with our commitment to safeguarding your privacy and data.

Our Cookies are used for the following purposes

Strictly Necessary/Technical Cookies

These cookies are essential for the basic functioning of our websites, allowing you to access the content you've requested. They are responsible for recognizing when you've created an account and logged in. Thes cookies also remember your previous actions during your browsing session, enhancing security and the seamless operation of our websites. We do not need to obtain your consent to use these cookies and these cookies cannot be turned off as we cannot provide the website without them.

Analytical/Performance Cookies

We, along with third-party service providers, use these cookies to analyze how our websites are used and assess their performance. For instance, these cookies track which pages are most frequently visited and the geographical locations of our visitors. If you subscribe to a newsletter or register with our websites, these cookies might be associated with your profile. Examples of such cookies include Google Analytics Cookies. These cookies gather information in a way that maintains anonymity. This information includes the website visitor count, the sources from which visitors originate, and the specific pages they have viewed.

Functionality Cookies

Functionality cookies adapt our websites to your preferences and choices. They help us "remember" you between visits. For instance, these cookies recognize your username and recall how you've customized our websites and services, such as adjusting text size, fonts, language settings, and other alterable aspects of web pages. These customizations are then seamlessly applied during your future visits.

Third-Party Advertising Cookies

These cookies are employed to gather information about your activities on our website and other sites. Their purpose is to provide you with targeted
advertising. Additionally, we may permit third-party service providers to use
cookies for similar purposes. They collect data about your online activities over time and across various websites. These third-party providers have their own privacy policies and may employ their cookies to target advertising on other websites based on your interactions with our website.

To view an entire list of the cookies that are used by our website, click on the following link: “Manage cookies preferences”

Website cookies

Google Analytics is a web analytics tool that helps us understand how users engage with our services. Like many providers, Google Analytics tracks user interactions on websites. This information is used to compile reports and to help us improve our services. The reports disclose trends on our services without identifying individual visitors. For more information on Google Analytics, see here. You can opt out of Google Analytics without affecting how you engage with our services – for more information on opting out from Google Analytics tracking across all services you use, visit this Google page: https://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout.

3. HOW TO DECLINE OR REVOKE YOUR COOKIE CONSENT

Browser Settings

If you prefer not to have cookies stored on your device, you can modify your internet browser settings to either reject cookies or permit only certain types.

Additionally, you can configure your browser to notify you when a cookie is being placed on your device. However, it's important to note that if you choose to block all cookies, even those that are strictly necessary for the site's operation, it may limit your ability to access and use all or certain features and functions on our websites.

If you wish to delete cookies that were previously stored on your device, you can manually remove them at any time. Keep in mind that doing so will not prevent our websites from placing additional cookies on your device unless you adjust your internet browser settings as described above. 

Preference Centre

Where available, you may also be able to change your cookie settings at any time in our preference centre, available via the cookie banner.
In essence, you have the option to control and manage cookies, but this may impact your experience on our sites, especially if you block all cookies, including those necessary for the site's basic functionality.

4. UTILIZING OTHER TRACKING TECHNOLOGIES IN OUR COMMUNICATIONS

At Qiddiya, we employ additional tracking technologies to enhance our
understanding of your interaction with the knowledge, research, or event
communications we send you. These technologies enable us to gather information about whether you've opened our messages or clicked on any embedded links. One of these technologies, known as a web beacon, plays a pivotal role in this process.

A web beacon is a small graphic image that can be placed within a website or an email. It functions alone or in conjunction with cookies to collect data about how you use or engage with a Qiddiya website or email.

The analysis generated from these tracking technologies aids us in refining the effectiveness of our websites and email communications. By understanding how you engage with our content and the format of our messages, we can tailor our communications to better suit your preferences and needs.

You can prevent web beacons from being activated by configuring your email reader program to disable the feature that loads remote images. Additionally, you can avoid interacting with any links included in email messages to ensure that web beacons are not triggered. This way, you have control over the information gathered through these tracking technologies when you access and read your emails.

5. CHANGES TO THE COOKIES NOTICE

We reserve the right to make modifications or amendments to this Policy as deemed necessary. When alterations are made, we will update the revision date at the top of this page, signifying the date from which the modified or amended Policy becomes effective with respect to you and your information.

We encourage you to periodically revisit this Policy to stay informed about how we utilize cookies and any changes or updates to our cookie-related practices.

6. Contact us

If you have any other questions about our Cookie Policy, please contact us at: DataOffice@qiddiya.com