Information and Consent for use of Cookies

In compliance with the ordinance issued by the Personal Data Protection Authority (hereinafter called the "Guarantor") on May 8, 2014, containing the Identification of simplified procedures for privacy statements and acquisition of consent for the use of cookies (hereinafter, the “Cookies provision”), ASTAlegale.net SpA (ASTAlegale.net for short) wishes to inform the user of the following.

ASTAlegale.net specifies that it is not required to request user consent for technical cookies (the only cookies used on https://www.astalegale.net), as these are strictly necessary to provide the service.

The cookies used do not record any information regarding a user’s personal identity. If you wish, you can disable the use of cookies by customizing the settings of the browser used during navigation or by adjusting the relevant settings of the device used, setting it to delete all cookies or activating a warning message when cookies are saved.

What are cookies? What are they for? Are they potential risks to our privacy? How can we protect our personal data when we browse the web?

These are some of the questions answered by the new video tutorial created by the Privacy Guarantor.

The video is part of an information campaign that also includes the information sheet presented on this page and a list of answers to frequently asked questions (FAQ) regarding “Information and consent for the use of cookies”.

What are cookies?

Cookies are information entered on your browser when you visit a website or use a social network from your PC, smartphone or tablet.

Each cookie contains different information such as the name of the server it comes from, a numerical identifier, etc.

Cookies may remain in the system for the duration of a session (i.e. until you close the browser used to surf the web) or for long periods and may contain a unique identification code.

What are cookies for?

Some cookies are used for computer authentication or to monitor sessions and store specific information about users accessing a given web page.

These cookies — the so-called technical cookies — are often useful, because they can make browsing and surfing the web faster, facilitating some procedures when you shop online, when you log onto restricted access areas or when a website automatically recognizes the language you usually use.

A particular type of cookie, called analytics, is used by website managers to collect information, in aggregate form, on the number of users and how they visit the site, and then develop general statistics on the service and its use.

Instead, other cookies can be used to monitor and profile users as they browse, studying their movements and web browsing or consumption habits (what they buy, what they read, etc.) so that they can send out advertising for targeted and personalized services (Behavioural Advertising). In this case we speak about profiling cookies.

For example: Have you ever visited a services site, used your webmail or accessed your social network page and found advertising banners related to your latest web research or the last purchase you made over the Internet?

This happens because those web spaces are designed to recognize your PC or other terminal you use to surf the web (smartphone, tablet) and possibly send you “profiled” promotional messages based on your searches and Internet use.

A web page may also contain cookies from other sites, contained in various elements hosted on that page itself, e.g. advertising banners, images, videos, etc. In these cases we speak of the so-called third-party cookies which are usually used for profiling purposes.

Thus the cookies you download to your PC, smartphone and tablet can also be read by parties other than those managing the websites you visit.

Cookies and privacy

Given that profiling cookies (especially third party cookies) can be particularly invasive, delving into a user's private sphere, European and Italian legislation requires that the user be adequately informed about their use and they must specifically consent to the inclusion of cookies on the terminal.

In particular, with the provision “Identification of simplified procedures for privacy statements and acquisition of consent for the use of cookies” of 8 May 2014 [web doc no. 3118884], the Guarantor for the protection of personal data has established that when you access the home page or any other page of a website that uses cookies for profiling and marketing purposes, an easily visible banner must immediately appear which clearly:

1. states that the site uses profiling cookies to send targeted advertising messages;
2. states that the site also enables “third-party” cookies, if this type of cookie is used, i.e. cookies installed on the site you are visiting by a different site;
3. provides a link to a more extensive disclosure statement, bearing information on the use of cookies sent by the site and where you can refuse consent to their installation, either directly or when connecting to the various sites in the case of "third-party" cookies;
4. indication that, if you continue browsing (for example, by accessing another area of the site or clicking on an image or a link), you consent to the use of cookies.

In any case, in addition to the protections provided, you also have other options to browse without cookies

Block third-party cookies

Third-party cookies are generally not essential for browsing, so you can reject them by default, through special functions of your browser.

Activate the Do Not Track option

Most of the latest generation browsers contain a Do Not Track option. When activated, websites designed to comply with this option should automatically block collecting some of your browsing data. However, as previously mentioned, not all websites are set to respect this option (discretionary)

Activate the “anonymous surfing” mode

With this function you can browse without leaving a trace of the navigation data in the browser. The sites will not remember you, the pages you visit will not be stored in the history and new cookies will be deleted.

Nevertheless, the anonymous browsing function does not guarantee anonymity on the Internet because it serves only to prevent browsing data from being stored in the browser; instead, your navigation data will remain available to web site managers and connectivity providers.

Directly delete cookies

All browsers have special functions to do this. However, you must remember that new cookies are downloaded every time you log onto the Internet, therefore the deletion operation should be performed periodically. Some browsers offer automated systems that periodically delete cookies.