The following information is intended to provide the visitor/user with more details about the placement, use and management of cookies used by the autocar.ro website. There are also some useful links related to this topic.

This website uses cookies to provide visitors with a much better browsing experience and services tailored to their needs and interests.

The role of a cookie

In what we call “web 2.0”, “cookies” play an important role in facilitating access to and delivery of the many services users enjoy on the Internet, such as:

– Customisation of certain settings such as: the language in which a site is viewed, the currency in which certain prices or tariffs are expressed, keeping options for various products (measurements, other details, etc.), user authentication to the server (using cookies the server remembers that the user has logged in and will allow specific actions for those logged in), settings that the user has made specifically.

– Cookies provide site owners with valuable feedback on how their sites are being used by users, so they can make them even more effective and accessible to users.

– Cookies allow multimedia or other applications from other sites to be embedded on a particular site to create a more valuable, useful and enjoyable browsing experience.

– They improve the effectiveness of online advertising.

What is a cookie?

An “Internet cookie” (also known as a “browser cookie” or “HTTP cookie” or simply “cookie”) is a small file of letters and numbers that will be stored on a user’s computer, mobile device or other equipment from which the Internet is accessed.

The cookie is installed by a request issued by a web-server to a browser (e.g. Internet Explorer, Google Chrome) and is completely “passive” (contains no software, viruses or spyware and cannot access information on the user’s hard drive).

Cookies are used by almost all websites and do not harm your system.

Composition of a cookie

A cookie consists of 2 parts: the name and the content or value of the cookie. Furthermore, the lifetime of a cookie is determined; technically, only the web-server that sent the cookie can access it again when 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.

Categories of cookies

There are 2 broad categories of cookies:

Session cookies – these are temporarily stored in the web browser’s cookie folder for the browser to remember until the user exits the website or closes the browser window (e.g. when logging in/out of a webmail or social media account).

Persistent cookies – These are stored on the hard drive of a computer or device (and generally depend on the default lifetime of the cookie). Persistent cookies also include those placed by a website other than the one the user is currently visiting – known as “third party cookies” (cookies placed by third parties and not by the owner of that website) – which can be used anonymously to remember a user’s interests so that the most relevant advertising can be delivered to users. Third party providers must also comply with applicable law and the site owner’s privacy policies.

Please note that third parties advertising on our site (including, for example, advertising networks and external service providers such as web traffic analysis services) may also use cookies, over which we have no control. These cookies may be analytics/performance cookies or targeting cookies.

Cookies can also be classified as follows:

Strictly necessary cookies – these cookies are essential to enable you to use the site effectively, such as when you purchase a product and/or service and therefore cannot be turned off. Without these cookies, the services available on our website cannot be provided. These cookies do not collect information about you that could be used for marketing or remembering where you have been on the internet.

Preference cookies – Preference cookies allow a site to remember information that changes based on how the site behaves or looks, such as your preferred language or the region you are in.

Performance and statistics cookies – these cookies allow our site to understand how visitors interact with the sites by collecting and reporting information anonymously, allowing us to monitor and improve the performance of our site.

Marketing cookies – these cookies are used to track users from site to site and display relevant and engaging ads to individual users.

Cookies used:

Category: Necessary

Necessary cookies help to create a user-friendly website, allowing basic functions such as navigation between pages and secure access to certain areas of the website. The website cannot function properly without these cookies.

Category: Statistics

Cookies in the statistics category help website administrators understand how users interact with the website by anonymously collecting and reporting information.

Category: Marketing

Cookies in the marketing category are used to track the sites visited by the user. Their purpose is to display advertisements that are relevant and engaging to the user, so they are more valuable to those who post ads or third parties who post ads.

Why are cookies important for the Internet?

Cookies are at the heart of the efficient functioning of the Internet, helping to generate a user-friendly browsing experience tailored to each user’s preferences and interests. Refusing or disabling cookies may make some sites unusable.

Refusing or disabling cookies does not mean that you will no longer receive online advertising – it just means that it will no longer be able to take into account your preferences and interests as evidenced by your browsing behaviour.

Security and privacy issues

Cookies are NOT viruses!

They use plain text formats. They are not made up of pieces of code so they cannot be executed or autorun. Consequently, they cannot be duplicated or replicated on other networks to run or replicate again. Since they cannot perform these functions, they cannot be considered viruses.

Cookies can however be used for negative purposes. Because they store information about users’ preferences and browsing history, 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 consistently flag cookies for deletion as part of anti-virus/anti-spyware deletion/scanning procedures.

In general, browsers have built-in privacy settings that provide different levels of cookie acceptance, validity period and automatic deletion after the user has visited a particular site.

Other issues related to cookie security

In addition to the above, as identity protection is very important and is the right of every internet user, it is advisable to know what possible problems cookies can create.

Because cookies constantly transmit information back and forth between the browser and the website, if an attacker or unauthorised person intervenes in the data transmission path, the information contained in the cookie can be intercepted. Although very rare, this can happen if the browser connects to the server using an unencrypted network (e.g. an unsecured WiFi network).

Other cookie-based attacks involve wrong cookie settings on servers. If a website does not require the browser to use only encrypted channels, attackers can use this vulnerability to “trick” browsers into sending information through unsecured channels. Attackers then use the information to gain unauthorised access to certain websites. It is very important to be careful in choosing the most appropriate method of protecting personal information.

Guidelines, following the use of cookies, to ensure safe and informed browsing.

Due to the flexibility of cookies and the fact that most of the most visited sites use cookies, they are almost unavoidable. Disabling cookies will not allow the user access to the most popular and used sites, including Youtube, Gmail, Yahoo and others.

Here are some guidelines (which you can ignore if you don’t find them useful for you) that can ensure that you browse worry-free but still use cookies:

– Customise your browser settings, in terms of cookies, to reflect a level of cookie security that is comfortable for you;

– If you don’t mind cookies and you are the only person using your computer, you can set long expiry times for storing browsing history and personal access data;

– If you share access to your computer, you can consider setting your browser to delete individual browsing data each time you close the browser. This is a variant of accessing sites that place cookies and deleting any visit data when you close your browsing session;

– Install and constantly update anti-spyware applications. Many spyware detection and prevention applications include detecting attacks on websites;

– Make sure your browser is always up to date. Many cookie-based attacks are carried out by exploiting weaknesses in older browser versions.

The possibility and how to stop cookies

In advance, we warn you that disabling and refusing to receive cookies may make certain sites impractical or difficult to visit and use. Also, refusing to accept cookies does not mean that you will no longer receive/see online advertising.

It is possible to set your browser not to accept cookies or you can set your browser to accept cookies from a specific site. But, for example, if you are not registered using cookies, you will not be able to leave comments.

All modern browsers offer the possibility to change cookie settings. These settings are usually found in the “options” or “preferences” menu of your browser.

To understand these settings, the following links may be useful, or you can use your browser’s “help” option for more details.

1. 1. Cookie settings in Internet Explorer (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/196955 )
   2. Cookie settings in Firefox (http://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/cookies-information-websites-store-on-your-computer?redirectlocale=en-US&redirectslug=Cookies )
   3. Cookie settings in Chrome (http://support.google.com /chrome/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer= 95647 )
   4. Cookie settings in Safari (http://support.apple.com/kb/PH5042 )

For third-party cookie settings, you can also consult the website:

http://www.youronlinechoices.com/ro/

Useful links

If you want to find out more about cookies and what they are used for, we recommend the following links:

• • Microsoft Cookies guide (http://www.microsoft.com/info/cookies.mspx )

• • All About Cookies (http://www.allaboutcookies.org/ )

The IAB Romania Association provides the following website to provide more information on privacy related to online advertising:

http://www.youronlinechoices.com/ro/

We wish you pleasant browsing!