Overview of the Updated Cookie Policy
UKTech News has revised its Cookie Policy as of 4 June 2025, aimed at citizens and legal permanent residents of the United Kingdom. The document provides a detailed account of how cookies, scripts, and web beacons are employed to enhance user experience, deliver relevant advertising, and gather analytics. The update reflects the website's commitment to transparency and compliance with evolving data protection laws, including the UK GDPR and the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations (PECR).
Legal and Regulatory Context
The use of cookies and similar tracking technologies is governed by strict regulations in the UK. The Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations require websites to obtain informed consent for non-essential cookies, while the UK GDPR mandates clear disclosure about data processing activities. This policy serves as a central reference point for users to understand what data is collected, why it is collected, and how they can control it. The document is synchronized with the cookiedatabase.org, ensuring accuracy and alignment with industry standards.
Types of Cookies in Use
The policy categorizes cookies into several distinct types, each serving a specific purpose. Functional cookies are essential for the website to operate correctly. They remember user preferences such as language settings, login status, and items in a shopping basket. These cookies do not require user consent under PECR. Statistics cookies, such as those from Google Analytics and Snowplow, help the website understand how visitors interact with content. They count page views, track session durations, and identify popular pages. Consent is required for such cookies. Advertising cookies are deployed by services like Google Ads and Criteo to personalize the advertisements users see. These cookies build profiles based on browsing behavior both on and off the site. Marketing or tracking cookies go a step further by creating detailed user profiles to serve targeted ads across multiple websites. Social media cookies from platforms like Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter are integrated to enable sharing and liking of content. These cookies often track users even when they are not interacting with the share buttons.
Detailed Breakdown of Third-Party Services
The policy lists a significant number of third-party services that place cookies on users' devices. Google various services, including Google Analytics, Google Ads, and Google reCAPTCHA, are used for website development, advertising, and spam prevention. Google Analytics stores cookies such as _ga, _gid, and _ga_ with expirations ranging from one minute to two years to count page views and store unique user IDs. Google Ads places cookies like ads/ga-audiences for remarketing. Google reCAPTCHA uses _grecaptcha and rc::a, rc::b, rc::c to filter bot traffic. CloudFlare provides content delivery and bot filtering through the __cf_bm cookie, which expires after 30 minutes. Criteo, a remarketing platform, uses the cto_bundle cookie with a 13-month lifespan to provide cross-page functions. Facebook employs numerous marketing cookies including _fbp, _fbc, fr, and xs to track visits, store session IDs, and deliver retargeted ads. LinkedIn uses cookies such as lms_ads, bcookie, and lidc for advertising, load balancing, and storing browser details. HubSpot sets marketing and statistics cookies like __hstc and hubspotutk to track visitor identity and time of visit. Hotjar records heat maps and session recordings through _hjSession_ and _hjSessionUser_ cookies. Stripe facilitates payment processing with the __stripe_mid cookie for fraud prevention. One Signal manages push notifications via isPushNotificationsEnabled and isOptedOut. The Complianz plugin manages cookie consent preferences with multiple cookies like cmplz_marketing, cmplz_statistics, and cmplz_consented_services, all set to expire after 365 days. WordPress, PHP, and Elementor also place functional cookies for site performance. A miscellaneous category includes cookies from Snowplow, Zapier, Mixpanel, and others, many of which have purposes pending investigation.
User Consent and Management Options
When first visiting the website, users are presented with a pop-up banner that allows them to select which categories of cookies they wish to accept. By clicking "Save preferences," they give consent accordingly. The policy also references a Transparency and Consent Framework (TCF) vendor list, which enables users to manage preferences for individual vendors and purposes. The consent interface provides granular control over statistics and marketing purposes, as well as the ability to object to legitimate interest processing. Users can also disable cookies through their browser settings, though this may impair website functionality. The policy advises that if cookies are deleted, they will be placed again after a fresh consent.
User Rights Under UK Data Protection Law
The policy outlines a comprehensive set of rights for individuals. Users have the right to know why their personal data is processed, what data is retained, and for how long. They can request access to their data, request corrections or deletions, and withdraw consent at any time. The right to data portability allows users to obtain their data in a structured format. Additionally, users can object to processing based on legitimate interests. To exercise any of these rights, users are directed to contact the website operator via the provided email and postal address. The website promises to respond to complaints and also informs users of their right to lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO).
For further details or to manage cookie preferences, users can visit the website directly. The cookie policy is updated periodically, and the current version as of 4 June 2025 remains in effect. The policy encourages users to stay informed about how their data is handled in an increasingly digital ecosystem.
Source: UKTN News