Cookies policy
10 March 2023
Cookies are small files that are saved on your device when you visit a website. We explain below what cookies we use and why.
Strictly 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
- Workday: Please see separate workday cookies policy
- 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*
- Various legacy subsites beginning https://static.ofcom.org.uk/*
You can restrict or block these cookies through your browser settings, but this may impact your experience of our websites.
| Name | Purpose | Expiration |
|---|---|---|
| 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 |
| AEC | Google security cookie used to confirm visitor authenticity, protect visitor data and prevent fraudulent use of credentials | 6 months |
| Pages | This cookies enables the 'add to your pages' functionality. | 1 year |
| BrowserId, BrowserId_sec | Salesforce cookies used for security protections. | 1 year |
| CookieConsentPolicy | Salesforce cookie to apply end-user cookie consent preferences set by our client-side utility. | 1 year |
| LSKey-c$CookieConsentPolicy | Salesforce cookie to apply cookie consent preference set by our client-side utility | 1 year |
| CookieControl | This cookie remembers users’ cookies settings selections on this website, to prevent prompts to choose again when they return. | 1 years |
| nmstat | Siteimprove cookie used to collect statistics about site usage. Read more about how Siteimprove process personal data in their privacy notice. | 1 year |
| CONSENT | Google cookie used to store user preference and personalised ads | Persistent |
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, Hotjar and Siteimprove.
| Name | Purpose | Expiration |
|---|---|---|
| _hjIncludedInSessionSample | Hotjar cookie set to determine if a user is included in the data sampling defined by your site's daily session limit. | When user closes browser |
| _hjIncludedInPageviewSample | Hotjar cookie set to determine if a user is included in the data sampling defined by your site's pageview limit. | When user closes browser |
| _hjAbsoluteSessionInProgress | Hotjar cookie used to detect the first pageview session of a user. | When user closes browser |
| _hjFirstSeen | Hotjar cookie used by Recording filters to identify new user sessions. | When user closes browser |
| OGPC | Google cookie used for ads | When user closes browser |
| _dc_gtm_# | Google Tag Manager cookie used to analyse how users interact with the website. | 1 day |
| _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 |
| AWSALBCORS | Siteimprove cookie that ensures all page views for the same visit (user session) are sent to the same endpoint. | 7 days |
| OTZ | Google ads used to link user website activities with other devices which have been logged in via Google account to better tailor ads | 1 month |
| _hjSession_# | Hotjar cookie to ensure subsequent requests in the session window are attributed to the same session. | 1 year |
| ai_user | Microsoft cookie to collect statistical usage of Power BI data reports. | 1 year |
| ajs_anonymous_id | JIRA cookie used to store last visits to a website | 1 year |
| __Secure-ENID, SID | Google security cookie used to confirm visitor authenticity, protect visitor data and prevent fraudulent use of credentials | 1 year |
| SOCS | Google cookie used to store user preference and personalised ads | 13 months |
| AID | Google cookie used to link user website activities with other devices which have been logged in via Google account to better tailor ads | 2 years |
| _ga | Google Analytics cookie to collect data on website traffic. Read a summary of Google Analytics’ data practices. | 2 years |
| __Secure-3PAPISID, __Secure-1PAPISID | Google cookie used to profile the interests of website visitors to serve relevant and personalised ads through retargeting. | 2 years |
| SAPISID, APISID, HSID | Google Analytics cookie used for customisation. | 2 years |
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 |
|---|---|---|
| ysc | Youtube cookie to remember user input and associate a user’s actions. | When user closes browser |
| DV | Google cookie used to provide ad delivery or retargeting on Google ads | 1 day |
| visitor_info1_live | Youtube cookie used to to provide bandwidth estimations. | 1 month |
| device_info | Youtube cookie used to track user interaction with embeded content. | 5 months |
| NID | Used to show Google ads in Google services for signed out users | 6 months |
| __Secure-3PSID, __Secure-1PSID | Google targeting cookie used to personalised Google ads and user profile | 2 years |
| APISID, SID | Google Ads Optimization cookie to collect visitor information for Youtube and Google maps | 2 years |
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.