Cookies policy
22 February 2021
Cookies are small files that are saved on your device when you visit a website. We explain below what cookies we use and why.
Necessary cookies
These cookies make our websites work as they should. They do things like:
- remember your selections or preferences so that you don’t have to set them again
- help our servers cope with changes in site traffic
- protect websites against attacks.
We use necessary cookies on the following domains:
- Ofcom: https://www.ofcom.org.uk
- Small Screen: Big Debate: https://www.smallscreenbigdebate.co.uk
- The Office of the Telecommunications Adjudicator: http://www.offta.org.uk
- The Office of the Adjudicator – Broadcast Transmission Services: http://ota-bts.org.uk/*
- The Office of the Adjudicator – Contracts Rights Renewal (CRR): http://www.adjudicator-crr.org.uk/*
- Ofcom mobile and broadband checker: https://checker.ofcom.org.uk*
- Ofcom online licensing services: https://ofcom.force.com/licensingcomlogin*
- OPIR, SPECTRAsc, Payments, and Business radio management portal: secure.ofcom.org.uk*
- Number management system: https://ofcom.force.com/NMS_LoginPage*
- PMSE: https://pmse.ofcom.org.uk/Pmse/Ecom/LoginPage.aspx*
- Jobs portal: https://jobs-ofcom.icims.com*
- Various legacy subsites beginning https://static.ofcom.org.uk/*
*Note: We are currently auditing the cookies on these subdomains, so the list of cookies below may be incomplete. We will update this page soon.
You can restrict or block these cookies through your browser settings, but this may impact your experience of our websites.
| Name | Purpose | Expiration |
|---|---|---|
| CookieControl | This cookie remembers users’ cookies settings selections on this website, to prevent prompts to choose again when they return. | 2 years |
| SQ_SYSTEM_SESSION | Squiz Matrix content management system cookie that remembers when a user is logged in to the website to prevent prompts to log back in. | When user closes browser |
| Pages | This cookies enables the 'add to your pages' functionality. | 1 year |
| what-intent | Microsoft cookie used on pages featuring an interactive data report (like our Communications Market Report). The cookie detects user device types so that the Power BI application fits the screen accordingly. Read more about Microsoft cookies in their privacy statement. | When user closes browser |
| AI_buffer | Microsoft cookie to limit the number of server requests on pages featuring a Power BI interactive data report. | When user closes browser |
| AI_sentBuffer | Microsoft cookie to limit the number of server requests on pages featuring a Power BI interactive data report. | When user closes browser |
| ai_session | Microsoft cookie enabling users to navigate Power BI interactive data reports. | 1 day |
| ai_user | Microsoft cookie to collect statistical usage of Power BI data reports. | 1 year |
| WFESessionId | Microsoft cookie to collect statistical usage of Power BI data reports. | When user closes browser |
| Aspxformsauth | SPECTRAsc - Session authentication cookie to verify account holders on our PMSE site. | When user closes browser |
| ASP.NET_SessionId | SPECTRAsc - Cookie used to maintain anonymised sessions on our spectrum sites. | When user closes browser |
| vuid | Vimeo cookie to enable video plays. | 2 years |
| clientSrc | Salesforce cookie used on licensing sites to validate user IP addresses. Read more about Salesforce community cookies. | When user closes browser |
| sid | Salesforce cookie used on licensing sites to validate user sessions. | When user closes browser |
| sid_Client | Salesforce cookie used on licensing sites to validate user sessions. | When user closes browser |
| _GRECAPTCHA | Google ReCaptca helps websites and mobile apps prevent spam and block 'bots'. | 5 months |
| _Secure-3PSIDCC, SIDCC | Google ReCaptca helps websites and mobile apps prevent spam and block 'bots'. | 1 year |
| _Secure-3PAPISID, SSID, HSID, SID, SAPISID, APISID, _Secure-3PSID | Google ReCaptca helps websites and mobile apps prevent spam and block 'bots'. | 2 years |
| 1P_JAR, OTZ | Google ReCaptca helps websites and mobile apps prevent spam and block 'bots'. | 1 month |
| CONSENT | Google ReCaptca helps websites and mobile apps prevent spam and block 'bots'. | 17 Years |
| NID | Google ReCaptca helps websites and mobile apps prevent spam and block 'bots'. | 6 Months |
| RRetURL | Salesforce cookie used on licensing sites to enable logins. | When user closes browser |
| rsid | Salesforce cookie used on licensing sites to enable admin logins. | When user closes browser |
| pctrk | Salesforce cookie used on licensing sites to distinguish users. | When user closes browser |
| oid | Salesforce cookie containing Ofcom’s ID for its implementation of Salesforce. | When user closes browser |
| inst | Salesforce cookie used on licensing sites to redirect traffic to Salesforce server. | When user closes browser |
| ARRAffinity / ARRAffinitySameSite | used for load balancing to make sure the requested pages are routed to the same server in any browsing session. | When user closes browser |
| TiPMix | Used by Azure when determining which web server they should be directed to. | 1 Hour |
| x-ms-routing-name | Used by Azure to handle traffic during code changes. | 1 Hour |
Performance cookies
These cookies help us understand how people use the following websites:
- Ofcom: https://www.ofcom.org.uk
- Ofcom mobile and broadband checker: https://checker.ofcom.org.uk
- Small Screen: Big Debate: https://www.smallscreenbigdebate.co.uk
- The Office of the Telecommunications Adjudicator: http://www.offta.org.uk
This includes how many people visit a website, which pages they view and how they navigate through it. We use this information to make improvements. Anonymous data is stored in Google Analytics, Google Optimize, Hotjar and Siteimprove.
| Name | Purpose | Expiration |
|---|---|---|
| _ga | Google Analytics cookie to collect data on website traffic. Read a summary of Google Analytics’ data practices. | 2 years |
| collect | Google Analytics cookie to collect data about user behaviour and devices. | When user closes browser |
| _gid | Google Analytics cookie to distinguish users. | 1 day |
| _gat | Google Analytics cookie used to throttle the speed of requests to the server. | 1 day |
| _hjID | Hotjar cookie to collect data on user behaviour. Read more about Hotjar’s use of cookies. | 1 year |
| _hjIncludedInSample | Hotjar cookie to collate data on user navigation. | When user closes browser |
| _hjTLDTest | Hotjar cookie to determine the search engine ranking of the website. | When user closes browser |
| _dc_gtm_# | Google Tag Manager cookie used to analyse how users interact with the website. | 1 day |
| nmstat | Siteimprove cookie used to collect statistics about site usage. Read more about how Siteimprove process personal data in their privacy notice. | 1 year |
| BrowserID | Salesforce cookie used to collect analytics. Read more about Salesforce community cookies. | 1 year |
Marketing cookies
These cookies allow us to measure the performance of our communications campaign activity on Google Ads and Facebook. They also enable us to serve targeted ads in Google search results and on Facebook. We use these cookies on Ofcom.org.uk.
| Name | Purpose | Expiration |
|---|---|---|
| ads/ga-audiences | Google Ads cookie used to re-engage users that have previously visited the website. Read more about Google’s use of cookies. | When user closes browser |
| _fbp | Facebook advertising cookie used to deliver ads to people who have already visited our website when they are on Facebook or a digital platform powered by Facebook advertising. Read more about how Facebook use cookies in their cookie policy. | 3 months |
How to control and delete cookies
You can update your cookies preferences for Ofcom.org.uk by clicking the cog icon in the bottom left corner of the screen.
You can block or remove cookies set by our other websites – see the full list of domains under ‘Necessary cookies’ above – through your browser settings. This guide tells you how to manage cookies on a range of browsers.