For the purpose of this policy and in keeping with the prevalent understanding of the term "cookie" in the World Wide Web a cookie is a piece of data that is sent by the server to the user's browser, where it is kept and later returned unaltered to the same server or another server within the original server's operating domain.

The cookie may, or may not, contain actual information and it may, or may not, be understandable to the person using the browser. The operation of the cookie relies merely on the Web browser adhering to a design that requires it to send any cookie data back to the originating server whenever the browser is next making requests.

For the purpose of this policy and in keeping with the prevalent understanding of the term "cookie persistence" in the World Wide Web a persistent cookie is one that is not erased when the browser stops running. When the browser is next started, it retrieves the earlier cookies from storage and continues to send the cookie data back to the originating server. A server receiving such cookies can therefore track the behaviour of the user over a considerable time. If the cookies are further permitted to be sent to a wider range of servers, all those servers can share in this behaviour knowledge. Persistent cookies are therefore an important tool for use by marketing companies and others interested in the general behaviour of Web users.

The Chipworks server is designed in a manner that does not require persistent cookies to be created by the Chipworks server and sent to the user's Web browser, and therefore the Chipworks server does not expose the user to abuse of privacy through cookies. It is the policy of Chipworks to avoid any use of persistent cookies and in general to refrain from the use of technology for the tracking of user interaction beyond the user's use of Chipworks.

Temporary cookies that contain some information about the state of interaction between the user and Chipworks are used for the purpose of security and the protection of data relating to customers of Chipworks. These session tokens are permanently destroyed when the user either logs out or closes the Web browser. For additional security, these tokens have a limited period of usefulness, are not stored outside the memory of the Web browser and their data is only included in communications between the Web browser and Chipworks. These tokens cannot be seen or used by third parties.

The user experience on the Chipworks Web site is supported by certain third party services. The chosen payments solution provider (Stripe) uses cookies for the purposes of user authentication, fraud detection, fraud prevention, certain services on its Web site, monitoring of its services and support of its advertising strategies. A full disclosure of Stripe's use of cookies, including persistent cookies, is documented online at https://stripe.com/cookies-policy/legal. The Stripe cookies are an essential part of the payment operations and Chipworks cannot offer any service that depends on payments if these cookies are disabled by the user.

To understand how the Chipworks Web site is performing with respect to ease of use, general workflow, visitor numbers and visiting patterns, Chipworks makes use of the Analytics solution offered by Google. A full disclosure of Google's use of cookies in its analytics service is available online at https://www.google.com/policies/privacy/partners/. As analytics is not an essential element for the functioning of Chipworks, users can choose to opt out of the use of these cookies by visiting https://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout.

As the proper functioning of Chipworks relies on the use of a token of authentication shared only between the Chipworks server and the user's Web browser, if the user configures the Web browser to no longer support cookies then parts of the Chipworks service that rely on the authentication token will not function. In practice this means that any feature of the Chipworks Portal will become unavailable, including the registration of microchips, searches of its registry and many other functions.

Chipworks' policy of refraining from the use of persistent cookies that facilitate the tracking of individual users over time and locations on the Web extends beyond specific cookie technologies to encompass any current or future technology that acts in a similar manner for similar purposes. Chipworks will give consideration to cookie-like technologies only where there is a demonstrable benefit to Chipworks customers and an absence of unwarranted risk to privacy and security.

We may revise this cookie policy at any time by amending this page. You are expected to check this page from time to time to take notice of any changes we make.