WATERS CORPORATION COOKIE POLICY
Effective Date: May 25, 2018
Last Updated: May 25, 2018
We are Waters Corporation and its affiliated companies (collectively, “Waters”). This Cookie Policy explains how we and our business partners and service providers use cookies and similar technologies in the course of managing and providing our Services. It explains what these technologies are and why we use them, as well as your rights to control our use of them. This Cookie Policy is and will be treated as part of our Privacy Notice, and is automatically incorporated therein, and any capitalized terms used and not otherwise defined in this Cookie Policy have the meanings given to those terms in the Privacy Notice.
In some cases we may use cookies and other tracking technologies described in this Cookie Policy to collect Personal Data, or to collect information that becomes Personal Data if we combine it with other information. For more information about how we process your Personal Data, please review our Privacy Notice.
What are cookies?
Cookies are small data files that are placed on your computer or mobile device that allow us to collect certain information whenever you visit or interact with our Services. Cookies are widely used in order to, for example, make websites work properly, or work more efficiently, as well as to provide information to the owners of a website or online service. There are several types of cookies:
- Session cookies expire at the end of your browser session and allow us to link your actions during that particular browser session
- Persistent cookies are stored on your device between browser sessions, allowing us to remember your preferences or actions across multiple sites
- First-party cookies are set by the site you are visiting
- Third-party cookies are set by a third party site separate from the site you are visiting
Why do we use cookies and other tracking technologies?
We use first-party and third-party cookies for several reasons. Some cookies are required for technical reasons in order for our Services to operate, and we refer to these as “essential” or “strictly necessary” cookies. Other cookies enable us and the third parties we work with to track and target the interests of visitors to our Services, and we refer to these as “performance” or “functionality” cookies. For example, we use cookies to tailor content and information that we may send or display to you and otherwise personalize your experience while interacting with our Services and to otherwise improve the functionality of the Services we provide. Finally, third parties serve cookies through our Services for advertising, analytics, and other purposes. This is described in more detail below.
Cookies served through our Services
The specific types of first- and third-party cookies served through our Services and the purposes they perform are described in further detail below:
Essential Cookies
These cookies are strictly necessary to provide you with services available through our Services and to use some of their features, such as access to secure areas. Because these cookies are strictly necessary to deliver the Services, you cannot refuse them without impacting how our Services function.
Performance and Functionality Cookies
These cookies are used to enhance the performance and functionality of our Services but are non-essential to their use. However, without these cookies, certain functionality may become unavailable.
Analytics and Customization Cookies
These cookies collect information that is used to help us understand how our Services are being used or how effective our marketing campaigns are, or to help us customize our Services for you in order to enhance your experience.
Advertising (Targeting) Cookies
These cookies are used to make advertising messages more relevant to you and your interests. They also perform functions like preventing the same ad from continuously reappearing, ensuring that ads are properly displayed, and in some cases selecting advertisements that are based on your interests. For more information, see the Targeted online advertising section below.
Other tracking technologies
We and our third-party partners may use other, similar technologies from time to time, like web beacons, pixels (or “clear gifs”) and other tracking technologies. These are tiny graphics files that contain a unique identifier that enable us to recognize when someone has visited our Services, or in the case of web beacons, opened an email that we have sent them. This allows us, for example, to monitor the traffic patterns of users from one page within our Services to another, to deliver or communicate with cookies, to understand whether you have reached our Services from an online advertisement displayed on a third-party website, to serve targeted advertisements to you and others like you, to improve site performance, and to measure the success of marketing campaigns. While you may not have the ability to specifically reject or disable these tracking technologies, in many instances, these technologies are reliant on cookies to function properly; accordingly, in those instances, declining cookies will impair functioning of these technologies.
Targeted online advertising by Ad Partners
We work with a variety of advertisers, advertising networks, advertising servers and analytics companies (“Ad Partners”) that use technologies to collect data about your use of our Services (such as pages visited, ads viewed or clicked on) as well as your IP address, device identifier or mobile advertising identifier, in order to deliver relevant advertising.
These technologies may include the placement on our Services of cookies or web beacons, and other tracking technologies (as described in the Data We Automatically Collect section of our Privacy Notice) by these Ad Partners to track how our Services are being used, to track where users go and what they do after they leave our Services, and to link various devices you may use, and to serve you more relevant ads. These advertisements may appear on other services that you visit.
In addition, our Ad Partners use the information collected by the technologies on our Services for purposes such as (a) in conjunction with advertising that appears on other websites, (b) to report website traffic, statistics, advertisement data and other interaction with ads and the websites on which they are served, and (c) to measure the effectiveness of web-based and email ads. Please note that our Privacy Notice and this Cookie Policy do not cover the practices of our Ad Partners.
For more information about how Ad Partners use the information collected by the technologies on our Services and your options to opt out of such collection, please visit https://www.aboutads.info/choices/ and https://optout.networkadvertising.org.
The opt-outs described above are device- and browser-specific and may not work on all devices. If you choose to opt-out through any of these opt-out tools, this does not mean you will cease to see advertising. Rather, the ads you see will just not be based on your interests.
How can you control cookies and similar technologies?
Browser Controls: Most web browsers allow some control of most cookies through the browser settings. For more information about how to reject, disable or delete cookies, please review your browser’s help menu or visit www.aboutcookies.org or www.allaboutcookies.org. If you choose to reject cookies, you may not be able to take advantage of certain features, services, applications or tools available through the Services that are only available through the use of these technologies.
Disabling Most Targeted Online Advertising: As discussed above, advertising networks offer you a way to opt out of targeted online advertising. If you would like to find out more information, please visit https://www.youronlinechoices.com. You can opt out of having your mobile advertising identifiers used for certain types of targeted online advertising, including those performed by us or on our behalf, by accessing the settings in your mobile device and following the instructions.
Do Not Track: Some Internet browsers, such as Internet Explorer, Firefox, and Safari, include the ability to transmit “Do Not Track” or “DNT” signals. Since uniform standards for “DNT” signals have not been adopted, our Services do not currently process or respond to “DNT” signals. We take privacy and meaningful choice seriously and will make efforts to continue to monitor developments around DNT browser technology and the implementation of a standard. To learn more about “DNT”, please visit All About Do Not Track.
If you are a resident of the European Economic Area, please also see our EEA Privacy Disclosures for more information about Your Rights.
How often will we update this Cookie Policy?
This Policy will be revised as required. If we make any changes to this Cookie Policy, we will post notice of the changes on our Services. The updated Policy will be effective as of the Effective Date listed at the start of the Cookie Policy. You can determine when this Cookie Policy was last revised by checking the Last Updated date at the start of the Policy.
Where can you get further information?
If you have any questions about our use of cookies or other technologies, please contact us as set forth in the How to Contact Us section of our Privacy Notice.
