Welcome to StoicUnity and our website at www.stoicunity.com. This Cookie Policy will provide more information about the cookies and similar technologies we, StoicUnity (“StoicUnity”, “we”, “us”, or “our”), use, as well as information on how to refuse and disable/delete cookies. 

If you have any questions about this policy or our data protection practices, please contact us using info@stoicunity.com or write to us at the above address.

Why do we have a Cookie Policy?

This Cookie Policy sits in line with the UK’s Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations (“PECR”) and the EU's Privacy and Electronic Communications Directive (“PECD”). In accordance with them, we need to inform you about the cookies we use and obtain your consent when using certain types of cookies namely Functional, Performance, Analytical and Advertising Cookies.

What are cookies?

Cookies are small files with configuration information that are stored on your device. Cookies can be divided into the following two broad categories: 

• Technically necessary cookies (Essential)

Technically necessary cookies are required for our website to function properly; they enable you to navigate our website efficiently and use its functional features. An example of this is, the reminder of recently performed actions (e.g., entered text) when you return to a page within the same session.

• Technically non-essential cookies (Performance, Functional, Analytical, Advertising )

Technically non-essential cookies are not necessary for the proper functioning of our website, but they enable us to improve the content of our website, compile statistics for internal market analysis purposes, provide you with a more personalised online experience or provide additional features. 

Performance cookies allow us to count visits and entry pages, which is an important source of information for improving our website. They help us to know which pages are most and least popular and to see how visitors move around the site. All the information these cookies collect is aggregated and is anonymous. If you do not agree to these cookies, we will not know when you have visited our website and will not be able to monitor the performance of our website.

Functional cookies enable the website to offer improved functionality and personalization. They may be set by us or by third parties whose services we have added to our pages. If you do not allow these cookies, some or all of these services may not work properly. Third party service providers may process your information, including personal data, when these cookies are enabled.

Analytical cookies are used by third parties. These cookies allow third parties to recognize that you have visited our website. We and our third-party providers may also combine information obtained from these cookies with Personal Data available from other sources, including data collected about you when you use other websites and data collected about you when you are offline, whether on our website or data maintained by the third-party provider.

Advertising cookies may be set through our website by our advertising partners. They may be used by these companies to profile your interests and show you relevant advertising on other websites. They are based on the unique identification of your browser type and the type of internet device you are using. If you do not allow these cookies, you will receive less targeted advertising.

Within the described categories, different types of cookies are used and these can be subdivided into:

• Session cookies

While you are active on a website, a session cookie is temporarily stored in your computer's memory, which stores a session identifier, for example, to prevent you from having to log in again each time you change pages. Session cookies are deleted when you log out or lose their validity once their session has automatically expired.

• Permanent or persistent cookies

A persistent or protocol cookie stores a file on your computer for the period of time specified in the expiration date. These cookies allow websites to remember your information and settings the next time you visit. This results in faster and more convenient access, as you do not have to set your language preferences for our portal again, for example. When the expiration date passes, the cookie is automatically deleted when you visit the website that generated it.

• Third-party cookies

Third-party cookies come from providers other than the website operator. For example, they may be used to collect information for advertising, custom content, and web statistics.

Google Analytics

We use Google Analytics based on our legitimate interest and your consent, a web analytics service provided by Google LLC. Google Analytics also uses cookies to enable our website to analyse how users use our website across multiple devices. The information generated by the cookies about your use of our website is transmitted to and stored by Google, including transmission to the United States. The following data is processed through the use of Google Analytics: i) 3 bytes of the IP address of the called system of the website visitor (anonymised IP address), ii) the website called up, iii) the website from which the user reached the accessed page of our website(referrer), iv) the subpages accessed from the website, v) the time spent on the website, and vi) the frequency with which the website is accessed.Google states that it will not associate your IP address with any other data held by Google. The use of this service is based on your consent.

Hotjar

We use Hotjar, a web analytics service provided by Hotjar Ltd, to better understand usage patterns, the needs of our users and to optimise our services and user experience. Hotjar uses cookies and other technologies to collect information about user behaviour and user devices (in particular, a device's IP address (which is collected and stored in anonymized form), screen size, device type (unique device identifiers), browser information, geographic information (on a country-by-country basis only), preferred language for viewing our website). Hotjar stores this data in a pseudonymized user profile. Neither Hotjar nor we will use this information to identify individual users, nor will the data be StoicUnityd with other data about individual users. The use of this service is based on your consent.

YouTube Videos

We have integrated components from YouTube (Google LLC) The integration requires that YouTube can perceive the IP address of the user. The IP address is required in order to send the video content to the user's browser. If you click on a YouTube component (video) on our website, your internet browser will be prompted by the component to download a corresponding representation of the component as well as place certain cookies. In this way, YouTube knows which specific sub-pages you have visited. The legal basis for the data processing is our legitimate interest and your consent.

Google Ads

We use Google Ads, an online advertising service provided by Google LLC. Google Ads enables us to show advertisements in the Google search engine or on third-party websites when the user enters certain search terms on Google (keyword targeting). Furthermore, targeted advertisements can be shown on the basis of user data available to Google (e.g. location data and interests) (target group targeting). With the help of Google Ads, we can evaluate this data quantitatively, for example, which search terms have led to the display of our advertisements and how many ads have resulted in corresponding clicks. The use of this service is based on your consent.

Google Ads Remarketing

We also use the remarketing functions Google Ads. Google Ads Remarketing allows us to assign people who interact with our advertisements and website to specific target groups and to display interest-based advertising to them within the Google advertising network.

Further, the advertising target groups created by us using Google Ads Remarketing can be linked to Google's cross-device functions. This means that interest-based, personalised advertising (that is advertising that has been adapted to you depending on your previous usage and surfing behaviour) can also be displayed on another of your end devices (e.g. tablet or PC). The use of this service is based on your consent.

Google Conversion Tracking

We also use Google Conversion Tracking. With the help of Google conversion tracking, we and Google can recognize whether the user has performed certain actions. For example, we can evaluate which buttons on our website were clicked how often and which products were viewed or purchased particularly frequently. This information is used to create conversion statistics. We also learn the total number of users who clicked on our ads and what actions they took. We do not receive any information with which we can personally identify the user. Google itself uses cookies or comparable recognition technologies for identification. The use of this service is based on your consent.

Pixel Cookies and Tags

We use so-called Pixel Cookies and Tags (“Pixel Cookies”). A Pixel Cookie is an advertising tool and typically consists of a JavaScript code snippet that allows us to understand and track visitors' activity on our website. For this purpose, Pixel Cookies collect and process information about visitors of our website and the device used (so-called event data).

Event data collected through Pixel Cookies is used for targeting our advertisements and improving ad delivery and personalised advertising. For this purpose, the event data collected on our website by means of Pixel Cookies is transmitted to the relevant operator of the Pixel Cookie and in part, also stored on your device. However, this only happens with your consent, and we and the relevant operator of the Pixel Cookie are considered joint controllers. Nonetheless, for the subsequent processing of the transmitted Event Data, the relevant operator of the Pixel Cookie is the sole controller.

For more information about how the relevant operator of the Pixel Cookie processes personal data, including the legal basis on which they rely on and how you can exercise your rights against, please refer to the following Privacy Policies: Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn.

Opting Out

Google Analytics

You can disable tracking by Google Analytics with future effect by downloading and installing the Google Analytics Opt-out Browser Add-on for your current web browser following this link http://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout?hl=en. 

Hotjar

You can object to the creation of user profiles, the storage of data about your use of our website by Hotjar, and the use of tracking cookies by Hotjar on other sites at any time by following this link https://www.hotjar.com/opt-out. The use of Hotjar is based on your consent.

Google Ads, Google Ads Remarketing, Google Conversion Tracking

If you have a Google account, you can object to personalised advertising at the following link: https://www.google.com/settings/ads/onweb/.

General

If you do not wish to participate in our advertising personalization or retargeting/tracking you can object to behavioural advertising at the following websites: Your Online Choices, Digital Advertising Alliance of Canada, Network Advertising Initiative, AdChoices and the European Interactive Digital Advertising Alliance (Europe only). 

Facebook 

If you do not wish to participate in usage-based advertising through Facebook you can object here: https://www.facebook.com/settings?tab=ads 

Instagram 

If you do not wish to participate in usage-based advertising through Instagram you can change your ad settings by following these instructions: https://help.instagram.com/911879456838933 

Linkedin

If you do not wish to participate in usage-based advertising through Linkedin you can change your ad settings by following these instructions:https://www.linkedin.com/help/linkedin/answer/a1342443 

How can I delete or block cookies?

Since cookies are not stored on our system, but locally on your computer/phone/tablet, we cannot retrieve or delete cookies. However, you can delete existing cookies and disable the use of cookies in general using the following instructions Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Microsoft Edge, Opera, Safari.

Links to other websites

Please note that when you use a link from our website to a third-party website, such third-party websites may also set new cookies that are not subject to this policy. In such cases, we recommend that you refer to the cookie policy on the relevant third-party website itself.

Validity and questions

This Cookie Policy was last updated on Friday, 22nd of September, 2023, and is the current and valid version. However, we want to point out that from time to time due to actual or legal changes a revision to this policy may be necessary. 

If you have any questions about this policy or our data protection practices, please contact us using info@stoicunity.com or write to us at the above address.