Privacy
This page only covers the privacy issues surrounding the website. For a more general statement on how the college treats the information it gathers, see the Data Protection Policy.
We collect information about users of this site in three different ways:
- Server logs
- Cookies
- Online forms
1. Server logs
The web server is the computer that the website sits on. When you click on a link to go to a web page then you send requests to the server for that page, and requests for the files associated with it (like the image files in the page). The server keeps a log of all these requests and records other information such as the time and date of each request. It also registers whether the requested files could be found on the server.
This information is useful for us because it tells us how popular certain parts of the site are, and whether there is a problem with broken links (files not found). The logs do not identify individual users, and we do not try in any way to identify users through correlating the log files with other data.
2. Cookies
Cookies are small files that are placed on your computer by websites that you visit. They are widely used to do things like store preferences and to create shopping carts and log-in areas. The cookies used on the King's site are all 'First party'. That is, they are set by the King's site and not by another website.
Google Analytics
Google Analytics is a program that sets cookies so that the site owner can see the patterns of activity on their site. We use Google Analytics so that we can then generate reports about the site, such as about how popular parts of the site are, which browsers people are using, and which countries they are viewing the site from. This helps us improve the site and ensures we cater for the browsers that most people are using.
The four cookies Google Analytics uses are: _utma, _utmb, _utmc, _utmz. These work together to give us information about how people use the site. This information is collected in an anonymous form and does not tell us about your web browsing outside of the King's site. See the Google Analytics privacy page for more information.
Opting out. These cookies are not essential to the operation of the site. If you would like to opt-out then you can block cookies in your browser (see www.allboutcookies.org for how to do this). Alternatively, you can install the Google Analytics Opt-out Browser Add-on.
Feature detection
Parts of the King's site may set a cookie called 'has_js' that detects which features your browsers can support. This is so that our web pages can be delivered in an appropriate format. No personal information is gathered from it.
Raven authentication
This only affects people who work in the college. For members of the college who are concerned, there is a FAQ about Raven and privacy on the Raven website.
3. Online forms
Forms such as the Conference and Dining enquiry form collect data from users of the site. In this instance the user volunteers their personal information and the information is held in accordance with our Data Protection Policy.
