Snoobi's use of cookies

Modified on Wed, 18 Jan 2023 at 09:36 AM

Snoobi and the use of cookies or other storage -- Updated for April 2022 Release

This article explains the terms First-party and Third-party cookies and explains how they are used by Snoobi to collect metrics from a website.

What are cookies?

A definition of Wikipedia is:

Cookies are small bits of information that a server sends to the browser with the intention that this information is sent back to the server on a subsequent visit.
This makes it easy to keep track of information about the internet user, such as authentication, identification of a user session, preferences of a user or content of a web shopping cart.
A cookie is a small piece of script that is placed on the visitor’s computer by websites that are visited. Cookies are intended to make the use of the internet easier.
A cookie is installed to ensure that a combination of browser and computer is recognized when the visitor returns to a website, and for “session management” to identify a visitor during a single visit.

Differences between “first-party” and “third-party cookies”

All cookies contain information that provides insight into which website the owner is. The owner is the website that is specified in the cookie.

The word “party” in the name refers to the domain that is mentioned in the cookie, in other words the website that places the cookie.
For example, if you visit the website www.facebook.nl and the cookie that is placed on your website is www.facebook.nl, then there is a “first-party cookie”.

When you visit the website www.facebook.nl and the cookie that is placed on your computer is called www.google.com, then there is a “third party cookie”.

“Second-party cookies” do not exist. The “second-party” is the visitor of a website, and it does not place cookies itself.

Which cookies does Snoobi use?

Snoobi uses “first-party cookies” only to recognize returning visitors.
Note that when only session cookies are available, or no cookies are allowed by the user in the browser settings, then it is not possible to recognize returning visitors since every visitor will be unique.
The identity of the person who visits the website always remains anonymous.

When no cookie setting is present in the Snoobi tracking code, the default is only to set 1st party and session cookies.
It is also possible to completely block Snoobi from using cookies by using the cookies=block option.

With the Snoobi tracking code you can choose:

Set only first party cookies. (cookies = 1st): all the visits to a domain or site are measured but not across multiple domains.
Do not set persistent cookies. (cookies = session): only the existing session is measured and only session-specific cookies are set and destroyed.
To completely block any cookie setting or use by Snoobi, use the cookies = block setting.

Depending on the wishes of the user, this can be set per website. It is not possible to create a separate setting per page or part of the site.
If the visitor has set the DNT (Do-Not-Track) option in the browser then the behaviour is the same as if cookies are set to 'Session' meaning no cookies are stored on the visitor's browser other then the session cookies and they cannot be tracked as individual visitors.
In addition, it is also possible that Cookies = session or Cookies = Block is enforced from the administrative User interface (Privacy Manager), which overrules any setting made in the tracking code.

See full table of cookies below.

Examples of cookies used by Snoobi when cookies are set to 'session'

Note when you are also a client using the Snoobi application, several other cookies will be set that make the use of the application possible

Name	Duration	Is used for
SnoobiID	Browser session	General ID for Snoobi Analytics
Snoobisession_account	Browser session	To maintain the session, gets deleted at the end of the session
Snoobi30minute_account	Max. 30 minutes	Up to 30 minutes, to keep track of the session if the user navigates to another website or browser tab

Examples of cookies used by Snoobi when cookies are set to 'on' or '1st'

Note when you are also a client using the Snoobi application, several other cookies will be set that make the use of the application possiblee

Name	Duration	Is used for
SnoobiId	2 year	General ID for Snoobi Analytics, for future user sessions
SnoobiID	Browser session	General ID for Snoobi Analytics
Snoobisession_account	Browser session	To maintain the session, gets deleted at the end of the session
Snoobi30minute_account	Max. 30 minutes	Up to 30 minutes, to keep track of the session if the user navigates to another website or browser tab
Snoop_testi (or Snoobi-testi)	Browser session	Used to test to check if cookies are enabled in the browser; if this cookie can be set then cookies are allowed by the browser.
Snoobi_Rand	Browser Session	Random number to let the analytics server know that the Snoobi code is loaded, no user-identifyable elements.
Snoobi	2 year	Random unique number to recognize this browser for future visits

Data processing and storage

All cookies are used in Snoobi Analytics for no other purpose than for the Snoobi Analytics data collection and cannot used by other tools or the website administrator.
This also applies to any IP address. In all cases (unless otherwise agreed in the Data Processing Agreement), the last octet of an IP address is removed to anonymize the visitor.
The use of persistent cookies (cookies that remain stored in the browser) is controlled programmatically by the website administrator by means of a parameter in the Snoobi code. When no cookie setting is available, the default is cookies = session
Cookies can also be disabled by setting the cookies=block option in Snoobi or not allowing the use of cookies in the browser, or only allowing 1st party cookies.
When the cookie setting in Snoobi is set to block, analytics data gathering is fully anonymous, no cookie or any other form of data is stored on the computer of the visitor and no fingerprint of any kind is maintained to identify a visitor for future visits.
The information obtained by Snoobi Analytics is stored and processed by Snoobi on behalf of the owner of the website in the European Union or specifically in Finland. Snoobi acts as a ‘data processor’ and the Hetzer Online services are located in Finland.

Some information in this document may not relate to the latest release of Snoobi. Please consult Snoobi Support or the release notes if you are not sure.