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Cookie Policy

Updated and Effective as of July 14, 2020

Table of Contents

  1. Introduction
  2. Cookies and Other Tracking Technologies, and How We Use Them
  3. Use Of Cookies And Tracking Technologies By Our Advertising Partners
  4. Your Cookie Choices and How To Opt-Out
  5. Cookies and Tracking Technologies Used On Vox Media, LLC
  6. Consent
  7. Definitions
  8. Contact Us

  1. Introduction

    Vox Media, LLC, and any of its subsidiaries, affiliates, brands and entities that it controls, including Curbed, Eater, Grub Street, New York Magazine, Polygon, Recode, SB Nation, Select All, The Cut, The Daily Intelligencer, The Strategist, The Verge, Vox, Vulture, and other affiliated sites and applications (“our,” “we,” or “us”) maintains Curbed, Eater, Grub Street, New York Magazine, Polygon, Recode, SB Nation, Select All, The Cut, The Daily Intelligencer, The Strategist, The Verge, Vox, Vulture, and other affiliated sites and applications, mobile websites, mobile applications (“mobile apps”), services, tools, and other applications (collectively, the “Site” or “Sites”). We, along with our advertising partners and vendors use a variety of technologies to learn more about how people use our Site. You can find out more about these technologies and how to control them in the information below. This policy forms part of the Vox Media Privacy Notice.

  2. Cookies And Other Tracking Technologies, And How We Use Them

    Like many companies, we use Cookies and other Tracking Technologies on our Site (collectively “Cookies”, unless otherwise stated) including HTTP cookies, HTML5 and Flash local storage, web beacons/GIFs, embedded scripts and e-tags/cache browsers as defined below.

    We use Cookies for a variety of purposes and to enhance your online experience, for example, by remembering your log-in status and viewing preferences from a previous use of an online service, for when you later return to that online service.

    In particular, our Site uses the following categories of Cookies as described in Section 2 of our Privacy Notice:

    Cookies and Local Storage

    Type of cookie Purpose
    Analytics and Performance Cookies These cookies are used to collect information about traffic to our Services and how users use our Services. The information gathered does not identify any individual visitor. The information is aggregated and therefore anonymous. It includes the number of visitors to our Services, the websites that referred them to our Services, the pages that they visited on our Services, what time of day they visited our Services, whether they have visited our Services before, and other similar information. We use this information to help operate our Services more efficiently, to gather broad demographic information and to monitor the level of activity on our Services. We use Google Analytics for this purpose. Google Analytics uses its own cookies. It is only used to improve how our Services works. You can find out more information about Google Analytics cookies here. You can find out more about how Google protects your data here. You can prevent the use of Google Analytics relating to your use of our Services by downloading and installing the browser plugin available here.
    Service Cookies These cookies are essential to provide you with services available through our Services and to enable you to use its features. For example, they allow you to log in to secure areas of our Services and help the content of the pages you request load quickly. Without these cookies, the services that you have asked for cannot be provided, and we only use these cookies to provide you with those services.
    Functionality Cookies These cookies allow our Services to remember choices you make when you use our Services, such as remembering your language preferences, remembering your login details, remembering which polls you have voted in and in some cases, to show you poll results, and remembering the changes you make to other parts of our Services which you can customize. The purpose of these cookies is to provide you with a more personal experience and to avoid you having to re-enter your preferences every time you visit our Services.
    Social Media Cookies These cookies are used when you share information using a social media sharing button or “like” button on our Services or you link your account or engage with our content on or through a social networking website such as Facebook, Twitter or Google+. The social network will record that you have done this and collect information from you which may be your personal information. If you are an EU citizen we only use these cookies with your affirmative consent.
    Targeted and advertising cookies These cookies track your browsing habits to enable us to show advertising which is more likely to be of interest to you. These cookies use information about your browsing history to group you with other users who have similar interests. Based on that information, and with our permission, third-party advertisers can place cookies to enable them to show ads which we think will be relevant to your interests while you are on third-party websites. These cookies also store your location, including your latitude, longitude, and GeoIP region ID, which helps us show you locale-specific news and allows our Services to operate more efficiently. If you are an EU citizen we only use these cookies with your affirmative consent.

    Your use of our Site indicates your consent to such use of Cookies, unless otherwise specified. Cookies used for Analytics and Performance, Service Cookies, and Functionality cookies are considered strictly necessary, or Essential, and are collected from all users based on Our legitimate interest and for a business purpose, such as bug fixing, bot detection, security, providing the content, providing an account or Service, and loading necessary applications among other similar uses. Cookies that are not strictly necessary, or Non-Essential, are collected based on your consent, which may be given or withheld by different means depending on where you live. For further information about our use of Cookies and your opt-out choices, see Your Cookie Choices And How To Opt-Out. See here for examples of each type of cookie used on our Site.

  3. Use Of Cookies And Tracking Technologies By Our Advertising Partners

    The advertising networks and/or content providers that deliver ads on our Site use cookies to uniquely distinguish your web browser and keep track of information relating to serving ads on your web browser, such as the type of ads shown and the web pages on which the ads appeared.

    Many of these companies combine information they collect from our Site with other information they have independently collected relating to your web browser’s activities across their network of websites. These companies collect and use this information under their own privacy policies.

    These companies, their privacy policies and the opt-outs they offer can be found in the table below.

    You can also opt-out of additional third-party advertising networks by going to the Network Advertising Initiative’s Website, the Digital Advertising Alliance AdChoices Website, or the European DAA Website (for the EU/UK), the AppChoices Website (for mobile app opt-out) and following the directions there.

    Although we are not responsible for the effectiveness of these opt-out solutions, and in additional to other specific rights, California residents are entitled to know the effects of opt-out options under California Business & Professions Code Section 22575(b)(7). The effect of an opt-out, if successful, will be to stop targeted advertising, but it will still allow the collection of usage data for certain purposes (e.g., research, analytics and internal Site operation purposes).

  4. You have the choice whether to accept the use of Cookies and we have explained how you can exercise your rights below.

    Most browsers are initially set up to accept HTTP cookies. The “help” feature of the menu bar on most browsers will tell you how to stop accepting new cookies, how to receive notification of new cookies, and how to disable existing cookies. For more information about HTTP cookies and how to disable them, you can consult the information at allaboutcookies.org/manage-cookies.

    Controlling the HTML5 local storage on your browser depends on which browser you use. For more information regarding your specific browser, please consult the browser’s website (often in the “Help” section).

    On most web browsers, you will find a “help” section on the toolbar. Please refer to this section for information on how to receive a notification when you are receiving a new cookie and how to turn cookies off. Please see the links below for guidance on how to modify your web browser’s settings on the most popular browsers:

    • Internet Explorer
    • Mozilla Firefox
    • Google Chrome
    • Apple Safari

    If you access the Sites on your mobile device, you may not be able to control tracking technologies through the settings. You should check your mobile device’s settings to determine whether you can control cookies through your mobile device.

    Please note, however, that without HTTP cookies and HTML5 and Flash local storage, you may not be able to take full advantage of all our Site features and parts of the Site will not function properly.

    Please note that rejecting Cookies does not mean that you will no longer see ads when you visit our Site.

    Throughout our Sites, we link out to other websites, such as publications, affiliates, advertisers, and partners. You should review other website operators’ privacy and cookie policies to determine the type and extent of tracking devices used by these other websites.

  5. Cookies And Tracking Technologies Used On Vox Media, LLC Site

    The following table sets out details of the individual partners and cookies we may use and the purposes for which we use them.

    We are not fully responsible for third-party sites and their privacy practices as it relates to opt-outs from tracking activities. The following third-parties that collect information from you on our Site have given us notice that you can obtain information on their policies and practices, and in some instances opt-out of certain of their activities, as follows:

    Cookies and Tracking Technologies

    Party Service For More Information Use of Tracking Technologies Privacy Choices
    Adap.tv Customer interaction https://www.onebyaol.com Yes https://adinfo.aol.com/about-our-ads/
    AddThis Customer interaction https://www.addthis.com Yes www.addthis.com/privacy/opt-out
    Admeta Advertising www.admeta.com Yes www.youronlinechoices.com
    Advertising.com Advertising https://www.onebyaol.com Yes https://adinfo.aol.com/about-our-ads/
    Aggregate Knowledge Customer interaction www.aggregateknowledge.com Yes www.aggregateknowledge.com/privacy/ak-optout
    Amazon Associates Advertising https://affiliate-program.amazon.com/welcome Yes https://www.amazon.com/adprefs
    AppNexus Advertising https://www.appnexus.com/en Yes https://www.appnexus.com/en/company/cookie-policy
    Atlas Advertising https://www.facebook.com/businessmeasurement Yes https://www.facebook.com/privacy/explanation
    BidSwitch Advertising platform www.bidswitch.com Yes https://www.iponweb.com/privacy-policy/
    Bing Advertising https://privacy.microsoft.com/en-us/privacystatement Yes n/a
    BlueKai Advertising exchange https://www.bluekai.com Yes https://www.oracle.com/legal/privacy/privacy-choices.html
    Brightcove Video hosting platform go.brightcove.com Yes https://www.brightcove.com/en/legal/privacy
    Chartbeat Customer interaction https://chartbeat.com/privacy Yes but anonymised n/a
    Criteo Advertising https://www.criteo.com/privacy/corporate-privacy-policy/ Yes n/a
    Datalogix Advertising www.datalogix.com Yes https://www.oracle.com/legal/privacy/privacy-choices.html
    DialPad Accessibility https://www.dialpad.com/legal/ Yes n/a
    DoubleClick Advertising exchange http://www.google.com/intl/en/about.html Yes http://www.google.com/intl/en/policies/privacy/
    Facebook Connect Social networking https://www.facebook.com/privacy/explanation Yes https://www.facebook.com/privacy/explanation
    Facebook Custom Audience Social networking https://www.facebook.com/privacy/explanation Yes https://www.facebook.com/privacy/explanation
    FreeWheel Video platform Freewheel2018.tv Yes Freewheel.tv/optout-html
    GA Audiences Advertising https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/2611268?hl=en Yes http://www.google.com/intl/en/policies/privacy/
    Google Adsense Advertising https://www.google.com/adsense/start/#/?modal_active=none Yes http://www.google.com/intl/en/policies/privacy/
    Google Adwords Conversion Advertising https://support.google.com/adwords/answer/1722022?hl=en Yes http://www.google.com/intl/en/policies/privacy/
    Google AJAX Search API Applications https://support.google.com/code/answer/56496?hl=en Yes http://www.google.com/intl/en/policies/privacy/
    Google Analytics Google Analytics for Display Advertisers, Ads Preferences Manager, and Google Analytics Opt-out Browser Add-on http://support.google.com/analytics/bin/answer.py?hl=en&topic=2611283&answer=2700409 http://www.google.com/settings/ads/onweb/?hl=en&sig=ACi0TCg8VN3Fad5_pDOsAS8a4... https://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout/ Yes http://www.google.com/intl/en/policies/privacy/
    Google Dynamix Remarketing Advertising https://support.google.com/adwords/answer/3124536?hl=en Yes http://www.google.com/intl/en/policies/privacy/
    Google Publisher Tags Advertising http://www.google.com/intl/en/about.html Yes http://www.google.com/policies/privacy/
    Google Safeframe Advertising https://support.google.com/richmedia/answer/117857?hl=en Yes http://www.google.com/intl/en/policies/privacy/
    Google Tag Manager Tag definition and management http://www.google.com/tagmanager/ http://www.google.com/intl/en/about.html Yes http://www.google.com/policies/privacy/
    Index Exchange Advertising exchange www.indexexchange.com Yes www.indexexchange.com/privacy
    InsightExpress Site analytics https://www.millwardbrowndigital.com Yes www.insightexpress.com/x/privacystatement
    Integral Ad Science Site analytics and optimization https://integralads.com Yes n/a
    Intent IQ Analytics https://www.intentiq.com Yes https://www.intentiq.com/opt-out
    Keywee Advertising https://keywee.co/privacy-policy/ Yes n/a
    Moveable Ink Advertising https://movableink.com/legal/privacy Yes n/a
    MyFonts Counter Font seller www.myfonts.com Yes n/a
    NetRatings SiteCensus Site analytics www.nielsen-online.com Yes www.nielsen-online.com/corp.jsp
    Datadog Site analytics https://www.datadoghq.com Yes https://www.datadoghq.com/legal/privacy
    Omniture (Adobe Analytics) Customer interaction https://www.adobe.com/marketing-cloud.html Yes www.omniture.com/sv/privacy/2o7
    OneTrust Privacy platform https://www.onetrust.com/privacy/ Yes n/a
    OpenX Advertising exchange https://www.openx.com Yes https://www.openx.com/legal/privacy-policy/
    Outbrain Advertising www.outbrain.com/Amplify Yes www.outbrain.com/legal/#advertising_behavioral-targeting
    Permutive Data management https://permutive.com/privacy/ Yes n/a
    Piano Subscription vendor https://piano.io/privacy-policy/ Yes n/a
    PowerInbox Email marketing https://powerinbox.com/privacy-policy/ Yes n/a
    PubMatic Adstack platform https://pubmatic.com Yes https://pubmatic.com/legal/opt-out/
    Rakuten Advertising/Marketing https://rakutenadvertising.com/legal-notices/services-privacy-policy/ Yes n/a
    RhythmOne Beacon Advertising https://www.rhythmone.com/ Yes https://www.rhythmone.com/opt-out#vQe861GwXrglR1gA.97
    Rocket Fuel Advertising https://rocketfuel.com Yes https://rocketfuel.com/privacy
    Rubicon Advertising exchange https://rubiconproject.com Yes https://rubiconproject.com/privacy/consumer-online-profile-and-opt-out/
    Scorecard Research Beacon Site analytics https://scorecardresearch.com Yes https://scorecardresearch.com/preferences.aspx
    SMART AdServer Advertising platform smartadserver.com Yes https://smartadserver.com/company/privacy-policy/
    Souvrn (f/k/a Lijit Networks) Customer interaction https://sovrn.com Yes https://sovrn.com/privacy-policy/
    SpotXchange Advertising platform https://www.spotx.tv Yes https://www.spotx.tv/privacy-policy
    StickyAds Mobile advertising https://wpadvancedads.com/sticky-ads/demo/ Yes n/a
    Taboola Customer interaction https://www.taboola.com Yes https://www.taboola.com/privacy-policy#optout
    Teads Advertising https://www.teads.com/privacy-policy/ Yes n/a
    TradeDesk Advertising platform https://www.thetradedesk.com Yes www.adsrvr.org
    Tremor Media Customer interaction www.tremor.com Yes n/a
    TripleLift Advertising https://www.triplelift.com Yes https://www.triplelift.com/consumer-opt-out
    TRUSTe Notice Privacy platform https://www.trustarc.com Yes https://www.trustarc.com/privacy-policy
    TrustX Advertising https://trustx.org/rules/ Yes n/a
    Turn Inc. Marketing platform https://www.amobee.com Yes https://www.triplelift.com/trust/consumer-opt-out
    Twitter Advertising Advertising ads.twitter.com Yes https://help.twitter.com/en/safety-and-security/privacy-controls-for-tailored-ads
    Twitter Analytics Site nnalytics analytics.twitter.com Yes https://help.twitter.com/en/safety-and-security/privacy-controls-for-tailored-ads
    Twitter Conversion Tracking Tag manager https://business.twitter.com/en/help/campaign-measurement-and-analytics/conversion-tracking-for-websites.html Yes https://help.twitter.com/en/safety-and-security/privacy-controls-for-tailored-ads
    Liveramp Analytics https://liveramp.com/ Yes https://liveramp.com/opt_out/

  6. Unless otherwise specified, if you do not opt out, as provided through the various methods herein, you expressly consent to the collection, use, and sharing of your information by us and the third parties listed above, subject to their privacy policies, preferences, and opt-outs available through the links set forth above. Not in limitation of the foregoing, you expressly consent to the use of Cookies or other local storage and the collection, use, and sharing of your information by us and each Google entity identified in the Cookies and Tracking Technologies Used On Vox Media, LLC Site section above. You can revoke your consent at any time by following the procedures set forth in the Your Cookie Choices And How To Opt-Out section above and otherwise as provided herein. Certain information collected through cookies and other tracking technology does not require affirmative consent and you will not be able to opt out of collection. For more information about online tracking and options to prevent most tracking visit the Future of Privacy Forum site.

  7. Definitions

    Cookies

    A cookie (sometimes referred to as local storage object or LSO) is a data file placed on a device. Cookies can be created through a variety of web-related protocols and technologies, such as HTTP (sometimes referred to as “browser cookies”), HTML5, or Adobe Flash. For more information on third-party cookies that we use for analytics, please review the table of cookies and tracking technologies within this Cookies and Tracking Technologies Policy.

    Web Beacons

    Small graphic images or other web programming code called web beacons (also known as “1×1 GIFs” or “clear GIFs”) can be included in our online service’s pages and messages. Web beacons are invisible to you, but any electronic image or other web programming code inserted into a page or email can act as a web beacon.

    Clear gifs are tiny graphics with a unique identifier, similar in function to cookies. In contrast to HTTP cookies, which are stored on a user’s computer hard drive, clear gifs are embedded invisibly on web pages and are about the size of the period at the end of this sentence.

    Deterministic Finger-printing Technologies

    If a user can be positively identified across multiple devices, for instance, because the user has logged into a platform such as Google, Facebook, Yahoo or Twitter, it can be “determined” who the user is for purposes of improving customer service.

    Probabilistic Finger-printing

    Probabilistic tracking depends upon collecting non-personal data regarding device attributes like operating system, device make and model, IP addresses, ad requests and location data, and making statistical inferences to link multiple devices to a single user. Note that this is accomplished through proprietary algorithms owned by the companies performing probabilistic finger-printing. Note also that in the EU IP Addresses are personal information.

    Device Graph

    Device graphs can be created by combining non-personal data regarding use of smartphones and other devices with personal log-in information to track interactions with content across multiple devices.

    Unique Identifier Header (UIDH)

    “Unique Identifier Header (UIDH) is the address information that accompanies Internet (http) requests transmitted over an ISP’s wireless network. For example, when a customer types on his or her phone the web address of a retailer that request travels over the network and is delivered to the retailer’s website. The information included in that request includes things like the device type and screen size so that the retailer site knows how to best display the site on the phone. The UIDH is included in this information, and can be used as an anonymous way for advertisers to be able to determine that the user is part of a group that a third-party advertiser is attempting to reach.

    It is important to note that the UIDH is a temporary, anonymous identifier included with unencrypted web traffic. We change the UIDH on a regular basis to protect the privacy of our customers. We do not use the UIDH to collect web browsing information and it does not broadcast individuals’ web browsing activity out to advertisers or others.”

    Embedded Script

    An embedded script is programming code that is designed to collect information about your interactions with the online service, such as the links you click on. The code is temporarily downloaded onto your device from our web server or a third-party service provider, is active only while you are connected to the online service, and is deactivated or deleted thereafter.

    ETag, or Entity Tag

    A feature of the cache in browsers, an ETag is an opaque identifier assigned by a web server to a specific version of a resource found at a URL. If the resource content at that URL ever changes, a new and different ETag is assigned. Used in this manner ETags are a form of device identifier. ETag tracking generates unique tracking values even where the consumer blocks HTTP, Flash, and/or HTML5 cookies.

    Unique Device Tokens

    For each user that accepts push notifications in mobile apps, the app developer is provided with a unique device token (think of it as an address) from the app platform (e.g., Apple and Google).

    Unique Device ID

    The unique series of numbers and letters assigned to your device.

  8. Contact Us

    For any queries in relation to this Cookies and Tracking Technologies Policy or inquiries from outside of the U.S., please contact us at vmprivacy@voxmedia.com or here. Please include as much detail as possible about your concern, question, or request. Messages that cannot be understood or do not present a clear request, may not be addressed.

    You can also contact us using the following information:

    Vox Media, LLC, 1701 Rhode Island Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20036