We are keenly aware of the trust you place in us, and our responsibility to protect your privacy. As part of this responsibility, we let you know what information we collect using cookies and similar technologies when you use our websites, why we collect it and how we use it to improve your experience.
Cookies are small text files that websites save locally to your computer, which allow sites to store and use information during your visit. They can improve your experience when using a website by:
None of our cookies used for our sites can be used to identify you personally. They are just used to help make the site better for you. To learn more about cookies and how to manage them, visit http://aboutcookies.org/ or https://www.allaboutcookies.org/. Read on to find out more about how we use cookies.
The primary Nominet site, nominet.uk and associated microsites (e.g. theukdomain.uk and ourhomeonline.wales and nominetcyber.com) use cookies in several places, and we’ve listed them below with more details about why we use them and how long they will last.
You can set your browser to refuse all cookies or to indicate when a cookie is being sent, however some website features or services may not function properly without cookies.
We have also listed below pixels and tracking scripts which are used on our website; these are not stored on your browser but fulfil a similar purpose in helping us understand how you use our website and none of these can be used to identify you personally.
| Name | Description | Duration | Type | Domain |
| __cf_bm | This cookie, set by Cloudflare, is used to support Cloudflare Bot Management. | 1 hour | Necessary | vimeo.com |
| vuid | To store the users’s usage history | 2 years | Statistics | vimeo.com |
| aka_debug | Vimeo sets this cookie which is essential for the website to play video functionality. | Session | Functional | vimeo.com |
We only use first-party Google Analytics cookies to track anonymous usage statistics and do not collect any personal information that can be used to identify you. This helps us analyse data about webpage usage and improve our website in order to tailor it to customer needs.
Google Analytics stores information about what pages you visit, how long you are on the site, how you got here and what you click on. We do not allow Google to use or share our analytics data.
Google Analytics sets the following first-party cookies:
| Name | Description | Duration | Type | Domain |
| _ga | Google Analytics sets this cookie to calculate visitor, session and campaign data and track site usage for the site’s analytics report. The cookie stores information anonymously and assigns a randomly generated number to recognise unique visitors. | 1 year 1 month 4 days | Analytics | ourhomeonline.wales |
| _gid | Google Analytics sets this cookie to store information on how visitors use a website while also creating an analytics report of the website’s performance. Some of the collected data includes the number of visitors, their source, and the pages they visit anonymously. | 1 day | Analytics | ourhomeonline.wales |
| _gat_UA-* | Google Analytics sets this cookie for user behaviour tracking. | 1 minute | Analytics | ourhomeonline.wales |
| _gat_V6KQ7R8HW8 | This cookie is installed by Google Analytics | 2 years | Analytics | ourhomeonline.wales |
Google Analytics does not collect any personal information, as identified in their privacy policy. Google also offers a browser plugin that allows users to opt out of their analytics.
In addition to Google Analytics we also use Hotjar to track anonymous usage in the form of heatmaps and user journeys, as before we do not collect any personal information that can be used to identify you. This helps us identify where we can improve our website layout in order to help users find the information they’re looking for.
Hotjar sets the following first-party cookies:
| Name | Description | Duration | Type | Domain |
| _hjFirstSeen | Hotjar sets this cookie to identify a new user’s first session. It stores the true/false value, indicating whether it was the first time Hotjar saw this user. | 1 hour | Analytics | ourhomeonline.wales |
| _hjSession_* | Hotjar sets this cookie to ensure data from subsequent visits to the same site is attributed to the same user ID, which persists in the Hotjar User ID, which is unique to that site. | 1 hour | Other | ourhomeonline.wales |
| _hjSessionUser_* | Hotjar sets this cookie to ensure data from subsequent visits to the same site is attributed to the same user ID, which persists in the Hotjar User ID, which is unique to that site. | 1 year | Other | ourhomeonline.wales |
| _hjRecordingEnabled | Hotjar sets this cookie when a Recording starts and is read when the recording module is initialized, to see if the user is already in a recording in a particular session. | Session | Other | ourhomeonline.wales |
There are many legitimate uses for cookies to enhance convenience and efficiency. However, some uses of cookies can lead to privacy concerns. These concerns typically emerge when a cookie holds personal information identifying you (e.g. a person’s name, e-mail address, billing information, address or similar), or is used across multiple sites to track users and internet usage.
nominet.uk does not use any of its first-party cookies to hold any personal information or track users across multiple sites. On some of our sites we use third party social sharing tools that set third-party cookies, which allow you to share content via social networks. If content is shared with a third party site, how this information will be used by the third party is governed by its own privacy policy, and we are not responsible for this (or the types of cookies and similar technologies used by the third party site).
Other concerns some users have are around privacy, and in particular those third party cookies which are generated by advertisers which track browsing activity across different sites. For all cookies, there are steps that you can take to manage your user preferences on how these are set.
You can manage the cookies stored on your computer, or turn them off completely, through your browser settings. Be aware that this may affect your browsing experience or even prevent you from using certain services such as those with a secure login, which require cookies to be set in order to work.
All modern browsers will let you change your cookie settings to give you broad control over whether cookies can be set or not. For more information, visit the help section for the browser you use.
Here are a few of the most popular:
Cookie settings in Internet Explorer
Cookie settings in Firefox
Cookie settings in Chrome
Cookie settings in Safari
If you are concerned about third party cookies generated by advertisers, you can visit the Your Online Choices website which allows you to turn these off.
The Network Advertising Initiative also provides opt-out controls for targeted advertising by NAI member ad networks.
Please bear in mind that there are many more networks listed on the Network Advertising Initiative than those that we use at Nominet.
For more information about how to manage cookies and their uses visit About Cookies.
For information regarding the updated law on cookies and similar technologies visit the ICO.
This page was last updated April 2024.
© Nominet UK 2024