ParentPay and the ePrivacy Directive
ParentPay respects the recent changes to the law affecting the use of cookies and is determined to remain compliant with the EU Privacy and Electronic Communications Directive (“ePrivacy Directive”).
ParentPay use of cookies on external website
ParentPay do not use any of our own permanent cookies on the ParentPay.com external website pages. We do not collect any personally identifiable information and we do not use any analytical cookies to track your behaviour.
We do use temporary session cookies while users are logged in to their secure account and these cookies will also be used if you visit any external webpage with the ‘Login’ boxes on them. For more information on temporary session cookies read the information in the section below.
We also use Google Analytics to provide information such as the number of visitors to our site, the length of time on the site, which pages are visited and where visitors come from (town and referring website).
More information is available below on the cookies used by Google Analytics. If you do not wish these first party cookies to be installed on your computer then you should set your privacy and browser settings appropriately.
ParentPay use of temporary session cookies when logged in to a secure account
ParentPay use temporary cookies in order to maintain your secure session while you are logged in to your ParentPay account. We only use the cookie for the session (while you are logged in) and do not store them on your computer permanently. We do not collect any personally identifiable information and we do not use any analytical cookies to track your behaviour.
These cookies fall outside the scope of the ePrivacy Directive.
Google Analytics and the ePrivacy Directive
It is unclear at this time whether the ICO considers Google Analytics cookies to be within scope for the new directive and what action is required by Google or website owners.
Certainly guidance and advice from the Government Digital Service to central government departments has taken the stance that the use of analytical cookies is ‘minimally intrusive’ and ‘essential’.
ParentPay will continue to monitor the situation and adapt its site where necessary.
Globally and in the European Union member states Google sets the following cookies
The following further information is recreated courtesy of Cookielaw.org
__utma Cookie A persistent cookie – remains on a computer, unless it expires or the cookie cache is cleared. It tracks visitors. Metrics associated with the Google __utma cookie include: first visit (unique visit), last visit (returning visit). This also includes Days and Visits to purchase calculations which afford ecommerce websites with data intelligence around purchasing sales funnels.
__utmb Cookie & __utmc Cookies These cookies work in tandem to calculate visit length. Google __utmb cookie demarks the exact arrival time, then Google __utmc registers the precise exit time of the user.
Because __utmb counts entrance visits, it is a session cookie, and expires at the end of the session, e.g. when the user leaves the page. A timestamp of 30 minutes must pass before Google cookie __utmc expires. Given__utmc cannot tell if a browser or website session ends. Therefore, if no new page view is recorded in 30 minutes the cookie is expired.
This is a standard ‘grace period’ in web analytics. Ominture and WebTrends among many others follow the same procedure.
__utmz Cookie Cookie __utmz monitors the HTTP Referrer and notes where a visitor arrived from, with the referrer siloed into type (Search engine (organic or cpc), direct, social and unaccounted). From the HTTP Referrer the __utmz Cookie also registers, what keyword generated the visit plus geolocation data.
This cookie lasts six months. In tracking terms this Cookie is perhaps the most important as it will tell you about your traffic and help with conversion information such as what source / medium / keyword to attribute for a Goal Conversion.
__utmv Cookie Google __utmv Cookie lasts “forever”. It is a persistant cookie. It is used for segmentation, data experimentation and the __utmv works hand in hand with the __utmz cookie to improve cookie targeting capabilities.
Google Analytics and EU Cookies Law
The following further information is recreated courtesy of Cookielaw.org
Google Analytics and the EU Cookie Law compliance could vary from country to country within the 27 state member areas. The more likely cookie law analytics solution will come via modification of the current Google analytics code, and/or an add-on, special dispensation from the requisite ICO office in that country or a browser solution through Google Chrome for instance. The UK ICO Office has already published information on using cookies. In time, Google might ask site owners to update their privacy policy, browsers may be engineered to include a universal consent or opt out button, similar to Do-Not-Track (DNT). Admittedly anything is possible.
