Cookie Policy of cyberwip.com

Last Revision: Feb 25, 2023

Cyberwip (“we,” “us,” or “our”) uses cookies when you visit our website [Cyberwip.com] to help with navigation and authentication and to improve the general user experience.

What Are Cookies?

A ‘cookie‘ is a small text file (described by RFC 2965) sent by a web server along with the response to a connection request from a web browser. These cookies are not required as part of the HTTP protocol but are used to maintain the state and provide a better level of service and performance to the client.

Cookies are saved on your computer as a text file named according to the hostname (i.e. cyberwip.com) in a file location reserved for cookies; the web service has no control over where on the computer the cookie will be stored or even if the cookies are stored at all, your browser may choose not to accept cookies.

Cookies for Identification

In the simplest case, a cookie may be an empty file used only to indicate (by its existence) that a previous connection has been made to the same service by that browser. Connecting to the same service with a different browser will create a different cookie.

In some cases, cookies contain only a single item which is a unique identifier (UID) identifying a single connection from a browser. Such a unique identifier might be the text string ‘uid=085D2163A74B37‘. These are typically referred to as ‘session cookies‘
and are automatically generated by the web service on the first request if no cookie is included with the request. Once a cookie has been established, it will be sent along with the parameters for all subsequent requests from the server. This does not identify a person; anyone using that web browser on that computer at that time and connecting to the same web service would use the same cookie.

In this case, if a web service wanted to collect further information about any transactions that might occur, they would save the information in a database (at the web service’s location), with the UID being the index (key) to that information. Nothing would be stored on the client’s computer and nothing could be revealed to any spyware that might be on the client’s system snooping. Sensitive data such as credit card info or passwords should NEVER be stored in cookies.

Cookies for Storage

Cookies are mostly used to store information on the user’s computer containing details and user preferences such as a unique identifier (UID as described above), preferred language, location, or even the last web page visited so the user can return there on their next visit. This is especially useful if a visitor’s session is unexpectedly interrupted while in the middle of something. Generally, these cookies maintain session state.

Cookies for Tracking

Tracking via cookies has become a very common practice on the Internet and, while usually done with the best intentions, may be used maliciously. This is not intended to disclose personal information but for target marketing. If you have ever done a Google search on ‘bicycles’ and noticed that for the next three days everywhere you go you see ads for bicycles, you will have seen this in action. It’s annoying.. especially when you already bought one two days ago and Google is too stupid to know that.

Our Use of Cookies

We use session cookies during all interactions with the server to keep track of the session state. The Internet is a connection-less protocol meaning you do not get a unique connection to the server but at the same time, you are connected to the server dozens or even hundreds of other clients are using it at the same time. The session cookie allows us to track what we are doing when, with any given client. These are temporary cookies and without them, using the internet would be a lot more complex.

We use cookies to provide unique IDs for indexing our database to recognize individual visitors. Where visitors do provide us with personal information for security reasons, that information is stored in a secure database and never stored as a cookie.

We use cookies to keep track of the logged-in state. These normally expire in anywhere from a few hours to a few days but in cases where a user must be logged in to the server to use a service, if a person is temporarily side-tracked, or even at the end of the day, they can turn their computer off or do something else and when returning they’ll still be logged in to the service. This is a convenience, not an obligation.

Cookies for Statistics

We use cookies for analyzing traffic patterns through our website. With each user having a unique cookie ID, each page they visit will get the cookie when it is visited, allowing us to identify traffic patterns. Our statistics software uses cookies for this purpose. This helps us identify areas of interest and where we should focus our attention.

Third Party Cookies

We have no control over the cookie policies of any external web resources, including advertisers or linked-to websites. We also have no control over the cookie operations of any operating system, web browser, or computing device. Other hardware and services will have different policies.

We have control over our own use of cookies and use them only for improved quality of service to anonymous connections over the Internet. We do not use them for tracking, monitoring, or collecting any personal information whatsoever. Doing so could put the visitor’s sensitive data in jeopardy.

How to Control Our Use of Cookies

Just as with most websites and the web browsers used to view those websites, cookie processing is automatic by Cyberwip and can not be controlled on an individual user level since, without cookies, we have no way of identifying the same browser on subsequent requests.. our website would be useless.

The best way to control cookie usage is through your web browser’s own operational interface (i.e. about:config). Most browsers allow seeing the saved cookies for any given website or even deleting any stored cookies. Check your browser’s documentation for instructions.

– Kent