Use of cookies at Imperial College London
What are cookies?
The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) defines a cookie as “a small file of letters and numbers that is downloaded on to your computer when you visit a website. Cookies are used by many websites and can do a number of things e.g. remembering your preferences, recording what you have put in your shopping basket, and counting the number of people looking at a website.”
Current cookie legislation
On 26 May 2012, new European law relating to use of web cookies came into force in the UK that will affect most web sites. The rules on cookies are covered by The Privacy and Electronic Communications (EC Directive) Regulations 2003 and The Privacy and Electronic Communications (EC Directive) (Amendment) Regulations 2011 and ICO is responsible for enforcing these new rules.
The regulations also cover similar technologies for storing information, e.g. Flash cookies. The ICO and International Chamber of Commerce both provided guidance and advice on EU cookie directive and its implementation. Please refer to their detailed guides for more information:
- Information Commissioner Office - advice for members of the public
- International Chamber of Commerce UK Cookie Guide
General use of information collected, used and stored by Imperial College London is governed by Imperial College policies.
Types of cookies
1. Strictly necessary cookies
These will generally be used to store a unique identifier to manage and identify the user as unique to other users currently viewing the website, in order to provide a consistent and accurate service to the user.
2. Functionality cookies
Will typically be the result of a user action, but might also be implemented in the delivery of a service not explicitly requested but offered to the user. They can also be used to prevent the user being offered a service again that had previously been offered to that user and rejected.
3. Performance cookies
These are limited to performance and website improvement.
4. Targeting/advertising cookies
These contain a unique key that is able to distinguish individual users’ browsing habits or store a code that can be translated into a set of browsing habits or preferences using information stored elsewhere.
Cookies set by Imperial College London
Imperial does not use cookies to collect personally identifiable information about you, track your behaviour or share information with 3rd parties from College owned web sites.
Most cookies set by the College are temporary, or session, cookies and they are removed from your browser when your session ends. You do not need to take any action to remove them. Some of these cookies are essential in providing the services you are requesting from us during the session so when they are disabled parts of the web site may stop working. We therefore encourage you to accept the cookies we serve. However, if you wish to restrict or block the cookies which are set by our or any other website, you can do this through your Browser settings.
Strictly necessary Cookies
| Cookie Name | Description | Behaviour |
|---|---|---|
| JSESSIONID | Predefined site-specific session identifier commonly used by components of the web server. | Temporary, removed at the end of session. |
| SSO_ID | Single Sign-On authentication cookie to access protected content on the College web sites. | Temporary, removed at the end of session. |
| ssousername | Your login name to access protected content on the web site. | Temporary, removed at the end of session. |
| ssopassword | Encrypted password to access protected content on the web site. | Temporary, removed at the end of session. |
| ssousr | Your login name to access protected content on the web site. | Temporary, removed at the end of session. |
| ssopwd | Encrypted password to access protected content on the web site. | Temporary, removed at the end of session. |
| portallive | Session cookie that identifies web server instance. | Temporary, removed at the end of session. |
| ICWWWAffinityIIS7 | Session cookie that is set by the web farm to correctly handle your request to multiple instances of the service. | Temporary, removed at the end of session. |
| JServSessionIdrootictss11 | Session cookie that is set by the web farm to correctly handle your request to multiple instances of the service. | Temporary, removed at the end of session. |
| icisprddbsvc_icisprd | Set by www4.imperial.ac.uk to identify calling web service | Temporary, removed at the end of session. Essential to run a job search. |
| PHPSESSID | Predefined site-specific session identifier commonly used by components of the web server. | Temporary, removed at the end of session. |
| JServSessionIdrootictss13 | Set by wwwe.imperial .ac.uk to identify calling student web service session | Temporary, removed at the end of session. Essential to run student web services. |
| ossprddbsvc_ossprd | Set by wwwe.imperial.ac.uk to identify calling student web service | Temporary, removed at the end of session. Essential to run student web services. |
| oracle.uix | Set by www4.imperial.ac.uk to correctly handle time zone and time based job search | Persistent, expires in 10 years. Essential to run a job search. |
| wordpress_sec_{} | Set by w w w2.imperial.ac.uk WordPress b log site for a logged in user | Temporary, removed at the end of session. Essential to login into the blog dashboard |
| wordpress_logged_in_{} | Set by www2.imperial.ac.uk WordPress blog site for a logged in user | Temporary, removed at the end of session. Essential to login into the blog dashboard |
| ASP.NET_SessionId | A cookie with a random number set by different instances of www.imperial.ac.uk and other College sites to identify a user web session. | Temporary, removed at the end of session. |
| BALANCEID7 | Set by www1.imperial.ac.uk site to enable load balancing. | Temporary, removed at the end of session. |
| JSESSIONIDVISTA | Set by Virtual Learning Environment VLE.imperial.ac.uk site to enable session management. | Temporary, removed at the end of session. |
| webctnode | Set by Virtual Learning Environment VLE.imperial.ac.uk site to enable load balancing. | Temporary, removed at the end of session. |
| AuthCookie | Set by library booking system to provide access to protected | Temporary, removed at the end of session. |
| JavaScriptActive | Session attribute set by College web sites | Temporary, removed at the end of session. |
| PDS_HANDLE | Patron Directory authentication set by the Library System. | Temporary, removed at the end of session. |
