In order to comply with the provisions of Law no. 133/2011 on the protection of personal data and Law no. 241/2007 on electronic communications of the Republic of Moldova, all visitors to the website are asked for their consent before cookies are transmitted to their computers.
The website www.tandem.md uses its own and third-party cookies in order to provide visitors with a much better browsing experience and services tailored to the needs and interests of each individual.
Cookies play an important role in facilitating access to and delivery of the many services that the user enjoys on the internet, such as:
· Personalisation of certain settings such as: the language in which a site is viewed, accessing previous preferences by using the “forward” and “back” buttons.
· Cookies provide site owners with valuable feedback on how their sites are used by users, so that they can make them even more efficient and more accessible to users.
· They allow multimedia or other applications from other sites to be included within a particular site in order to create a more valuable, more useful and more pleasant browsing experience.
An “Internet Cookie” (a term also known as a “browser cookie” or “HTTP cookie” or simply a “cookie”) is a small file, made up of letters and numbers, that will be stored on the computer, mobile terminal or other equipment of a user from which the Internet is accessed.
The cookie is installed through a request issued by a web server to a browser (e.g.: Internet Explorer, Chrome) and is completely “passive” (it does not contain software programs, viruses or spyware and cannot access information on the user's hard drive).
A cookie is made up of 2 parts: the name and the content or value of the cookie. Moreover, the lifespan of a cookie is determined; technically, only the web server that sent the cookie can access it again at the moment a user returns to the website associated with that web server.
Cookies themselves do not require personal information in order to be used and, in most cases, do not personally identify internet users.
There are 2 broad categories of cookies:
· Session cookies – these are stored temporarily in the cookie folder of the web browser so that it remembers them until the user leaves the respective website or closes the browser window (e.g.: when logging in/out of a webmail account or on social networks).
· Persistent cookies – these are stored on the hard drive of a computer or equipment (and, in general, depend on the predefined lifespan of the cookie). Persistent cookies also include those placed by a website other than the one the user is visiting at that moment – known as “third party cookies” – which can be used anonymously to remember a user's interests, so that advertising as relevant as possible can be delivered to users.
A cookie contains information that creates a link between a web browser (the user) and a particular web server (the website). If a browser accesses that web server again, it can read the information already stored and react accordingly. Cookies provide users with a pleasant browsing experience and support the efforts of many websites to offer comfortable services to users: e.g. – online privacy preferences, site language options, shopping carts or relevant advertising.
Cookies are managed by web servers. The lifespan of a cookie can vary significantly, depending on the purpose for which it is placed. Some cookies are used exclusively for a single session (session cookies) and are no longer retained once the user has left the website, while some cookies are retained and reused each time the user returns to that website (permanent cookies). Nevertheless, cookies can be deleted by a user at any time through the browser settings.
Certain sections of content on some sites may be provided through third parties/suppliers (e.g.: news box, a video or an advertisement). These third parties may also place cookies through the site and they are called “third party cookies” because they are not placed by the owner of the respective website. Third-party suppliers must also comply with the applicable law and the privacy policies of the site owner.
A visit to a website may place cookies for:
· improving the performance of the website;
· an analysis of visitors;
· geotargeting;
· user registration.
This type of cookie retains the user's preferences on this site, so that there is no longer a need to set them on each visit to the site.
Examples: your language preference (RO/RU/EN/IT/DE/BG), your cookie choice, and remembering that you have already submitted a form.
Each time a user visits a site, the analytics software provided by a third party generates a user analysis cookie. This cookie tells whether you have visited this site before. The browser will signal whether you have this cookie, and if not, one will be generated. This allows the monitoring of the unique users who visit the site and how often they do so.
As long as the visitor is not registered on the site, this cookie cannot be used to identify natural persons, they are used only for statistical purposes. If they are registered, the details provided, such as the e-mail address and the username, can also be known – these being subject to confidentiality, in accordance with the provisions of the legislation in force regarding the protection of personal data.
These cookies are used by software that establishes which country you come from. It is completely anonymous and is used only to target content – even when the visitor is on the page in Romanian or in another language, the same advertisement will be received.
When you register on a site, a cookie is generated that announces whether you are registered or not. Servers use these cookies to show the account with which you are registered and whether you have permission for a particular service. It also allows any comment posted on the site to be associated with your username. If you have not selected “keep me logged in”, this cookie will be deleted automatically when you close the browser or the computer.
On some pages, third parties may set their own anonymous cookies, in order to track the success of an application or to customise an application.
For example, when you share an article using the social network button found on a site, that social network will record your activity.
Cookies keep information in a small text file that allows a website to recognise a browser. The web server will recognise the browser until the cookie expires or is deleted.
The cookie stores important information that improves the Internet browsing experience (e.g.: the language settings in which one wishes to access a site; keeping a user logged in to the webmail account; online banking security; keeping products in the shopping cart).
Cookies represent the central point of the efficient functioning of the Internet, helping to generate a friendly browsing experience adapted to the preferences and interests of each user. Refusing or disabling cookies can make some sites impossible to use.
Examples of important uses of cookies (which do not require the authentication of a user through an account):
· Content and services adapted to the user's preferences – categories of news, weather, sport, maps, public and governmental services, entertainment sites and travel services.
· Offers adapted to the users' interests – retaining passwords, language preferences (e.g.: displaying search results in Romanian).
· Retaining child-protection filters regarding content on the Internet (family mode options, safe search functions).
· Measurement, optimisation and analytics features – such as confirming a certain level of traffic on a website, what type of content is viewed and the way a user arrives at a website (e.g.: through search engines, directly, from other websites). Websites carry out these analyses of their usage in order to improve the sites for the benefit of users.
Cookies are NOT viruses! They use plain text formats. They are not made up of pieces of code, so they cannot be executed, nor can they self-execute. Consequently, they cannot duplicate or replicate on other networks in order to run or replicate again. Because they cannot perform these functions, they cannot be considered viruses.
Cookies can nevertheless be used for negative purposes. Because they store information about the preferences and browsing history of users, both on a particular site and on several other sites, cookies can be used as a form of Spyware. Many anti-spyware products are aware of this fact and constantly mark cookies to be deleted within the deletion/scanning anti-virus/anti-spyware procedures.
In general, browsers have integrated privacy settings that provide different levels of acceptance of cookies, validity period and automatic deletion after the user has visited a particular site.
· Customise your browser settings regarding cookies to reflect a level of security in the use of cookies that is comfortable for you.
· If you share access to the computer, you may consider setting the browser to delete individual browsing data each time you close the browser. This is an option for accessing the sites that place cookies and for deleting any visit information at the end of the browsing session.
· Install and constantly update anti-spyware applications.
· Many of the applications for detecting and preventing spyware include the detection of attacks on sites. Thus, they prevent the browser from accessing websites that could exploit the vulnerabilities of the browser or download dangerous software.
Disabling and refusing to receive cookies can make certain sites impractical or difficult to visit and use.
It is possible to set the browser so that these cookies are no longer accepted, or the browser can be set to accept cookies from a particular site. But, for example, if a visitor is not registered using cookies, they will not be able to leave comments.
All modern browsers offer the possibility of changing the cookie settings. These settings are usually found in the Options/Settings menu or in the Preferences/Favorites menu of the browser.
Your language preference is stored locally in the browser (localStorage), not via cookies.