Cookies are text files containing small amounts of information which are downloaded to your device when you visit a website. Cookies are then sent back to the originating website on each subsequent visit, or to another website that recognises that cookie. Cookies are useful because they allow a website to recognise a user's device.
Cookies do lots of different jobs, like letting you navigate between pages efficiently, remembering your preferences, and generally improve the user experience. They can also help to ensure that adverts you see online are more relevant to you and your interests.
How to control cookies
You can find more information about cookies and how to disable them at allaboutcookies.org and youronlinechoices.eu.
Disabling cookies may result in some features on our websites, and some of our online services, not functioning correctly or as intended.
Cookies used on LSBU domain and sub domains
The cookies used on the LSBU website have been categorised based on the four categories found in the ICC UK Cookie guide. These categories are:
Category 1 – 'Strictly necessary cookies'
These cookies are essential in order for you to move around the website and use its features. Usage examples are accessing secure areas of a site and adding items to a shopping basket. Essentially, they enable services you have specifically asked for.
Category 2 – 'Performance cookies'
These cookies collect information about how visitors use a website, for instance, which pages a visitor goes to most often. They do not identify a visitor and are only used to improve how a website works. Analytics cookies fall into this category. Essentially, they collect anonymous information on the pages visited.
Category 3 – 'Functionality cookies'
These cookies remember choices made by a user to personalise a site, such as area you are in or language. Essentially, they remember choices you have made to improve your experience.
Category 4 – 'Targeting or advertising cookies'
These cookies are used to deliver ads more relevant to the users. Essentially, they collect information on your browsing habits to make advertising relevant to you and your interests.
The table below describes exactly which cookies are used across our site including detailed information on their type, content, expiry time, where they are used and why.
| Name | Cat. | Typical content | Expires | Use |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| __utma | 2 | Randomly generated numbers | 2 years from set/update | Used by Google Analytics to determine if a visitor to the site has visited before, for statistical purposes |
| __utmb | 2 | Randomly generated numbers | 30 minutes from set/update | Used by Google Analytics to determine which pages visitors view for statistical purposes |
| __utmc | 2 | Randomly generated numbers | When the user exits the browser | Used by Google Analytics to determine whether or not to establish a new session for the user |
| __utmv | 2 | Randomly generated numbers | 30 minutes from set/update | Used by Google Analytics to determine which pages visitors view for statistical purposes |
| __utmz | 2 | Randomly generated numbers and letters | 6 months from set/update | Used by Google Analytics to calculate search engine traffic, advertisement campaigns and page navigation within the site |
| ns_cookietest | 2 | 'true' or 'false' | When the user exits the browser | Used by ComScore analytics to determine if your browser is able to accept cookies |
| ns_session | 2 | 'true' or 'false' | When the user exits the browser | Used by ComScore analytics to determine if your browser is able to accept cookies |
|
ASP.NET_ SessionId | 2 | Randomly generated numbers and letters | When the user exits the browser | Used by the ASP.NET driven MyLSBU student portal to store a unique identifier for your session |
| .ASPXAUTH | 1 | Randomly generated numbers and letters | When the user exits the browser | Used by the ASP.NET driven MyLSBU student portal to determine if a user is authenticated |
| googtrans | 3 | Language identifiers eg. '/en/er' or '/en/esp' | When the user exits the browser | Used in the International section of our website to remember which language was picked in our translator tool and translates other pages visited thereafter |
| JSESSION | 2 | Randomly generated numbers and letters | When the user exits the browser | Used by Blackboard to keep information about the current user session so that the user does not need to identify themselves repeatedly |
| Session_id | 2 | Randomly generated numbers and letters | When the user exits the browser | Used by Blackboard to store the session ID for non-secure requests |
| S_session_id | 2 | Randomly generated numbers and letters | When the user exits the browser | Used by Blackboard to store the session ID for secure requests |
|
Guest.session. locale | 2 | Randomly generated numbers and letters | When the user exits the browser | Used by Blackboard to store the locale information for someone logged in as a guest |
| MTMCookie | 2 | Randomly generated numbers and letters | When the user exits the browser | Used by Blackboard SCORM player to track if cookies can be used |
| *_selnd,tree_* | 2 | Randomly generated numbers and letters | When the user exits the browser | Used by the Blackboard tree viewer javascript to store node information (selected, expanded etc) |
|
SQ_SYSTEM_ SESSION | 1 | Randomly generated numbers and letters | When the user exits the browser | Used by the Squiz Matrix CMS to authenticate and enable logged in users to edit the LSBU website. |
| course_comparison_ids | 1 | Randomly generated numbers and letters | When the user exits the browser | Temporarily stores information to enable functionality of the LSBU course comparison feature. |
mahara | 1 | Randomly generated numbers and letters | When the user exits the browser | This is a session cookie that is set when the user visits https://eportfolio.lsbu.ac.uk/ |
Moodle Session | 1 | Randomly generated numbers and letters | When the user exits the browser | This is a session cookie that is set when a user visits the Moodle VLE at https://vle.lsbu.ac.uk/ |
| MoodleID | 1 | Randomly generated numbers and letters | When the user exits the browser | This cookie is used by the Moodle VLE to remember the logged in username. |
Captblflt | 1 | Randomly generated numbers and letters | After 1 hour | This cookie holds context data for the Moodle VLE. |
|
TinyMCE_id _summary _editor_size | 1 | Randomly generated numbers and letters | When the user exits the browser | This cookie is used by the HTML editor in the Moodle VLE to store user preferences such as the width and height of the editor. |
| __ar_v4 | 4 | Randomly generated numbers and letters | 540 days from set | We use AdRoll to provide interest-based advertisements to show our ads on other websites. The whole process is entirely anonymised. |
| Jsessionid | 1 | Randomly generated numbers and letters | When the user exits the browser | Session Id used by MyLSBU Student Portal |
| PD_Stateful_* | 1 | Randomly generated numbers and letters | When the user exits the browser | Ensures stateful traffic persists to application server instance |
| PD-S-SESSION-ID | 1 | Randomly generated numbers and letters | When the user exits the browser | SSL Session Cookie; domain type session cookie; long unique random number |
| PD-ID | 1 | Randomly generated numbers and letters | When the user exits the browser | Fail-over Cookie; domain type session cookie; encrypted userid to allow fail-over to server replica; only consumable by server with shared secret key; limited time to live |
| acceptsCookies | Yes | When the user exits the browser | Set to yes; determine if browser accepts cookies from site; warn user if not accepting cookies | |
| ISAMOriginalURL | 1 | Url | When the user exits the browser | URL that was requested by user, allow redirect after authentication (e.g. work-around for URL Fragments - Connections) |
| cpsviewer_authstate | 1 | Randomly generated numbers and letters | When the user exits the browser | Used by the Slideshow in the MyLSBU Student portal to hold the current state. |
| CRN | 1 | Randomly generated numbers and letters | When the user exits the browser | Used by Cognos Reports |
| Caf | 1 | Randomly generated numbers and letters | When the user exits the browser | Used by Cognos Reports |
| cam_passport | 1 | Name value pairs | When the user exits the browser | Used by Cognos Reports |
| cc_session | 1 | Randomly generated numbers and letters | When the user exits the browser | Used by Cognos Reports |
| Cea-ssa | 1 | True or false | When the user exits the browser | Used by Cognos Reports |
| UserCapabilities | 1 | Randomly generated numbers and letters | When the user exits the browser | Used by Cognos Reports |
| Usersessionid | 1 | Randomly generated numbers and letters | When the user exits the browser | Used by Cognos Reports |