Cookie policy

Cookie notice

This policy explains what cookies are, what kinds exist, exactly what this site stores in your browser and how you can delete or block it from that same browser. The short answer, set out in full below: this site stores only what it needs to work, and it measures which pages get read only if you accept.

What are cookies?

Cookies are small text files that websites transfer to the hard disk of your computer or other device through the browser when you visit their pages. They serve, for example, to improve navigation, to remember a visitor’s preferences or to manage login processes.

They may also serve to monitor performance, collect information about the way in which a website is used and carry out the appropriate analyses. That is what cookies do in general; what this website does specifically is explained below.

What types of cookies are there?

Depending on the entity that manages the domain from which the cookies are sent and that processes the data obtained, two types can be distinguished: own cookies (used only by the owner of this website) and third-party cookies (also used by the service provider).

There is also a second classification according to the length of time for which they remain stored in the client’s browser, and they may be session cookies (which are deleted from the device on leaving the website) or persistent cookies (which remain on the device for a certain time or until the user deletes them manually).

Finally, there is another classification with five types of cookies according to the purpose for which the data obtained is processed: technical cookies, personalisation cookies, analysis cookies, advertising cookies and behavioural advertising cookies.

Technical cookies

These are those that allow the user to navigate through a web page, platform or application and to use the different options or services that exist on it such as, for example, controlling traffic and data communication, identifying the session, accessing restricted-access areas, making the request for registration or participation in an event, using security features during navigation, storing contents for the broadcasting of videos or sound or sharing contents through social networks.

Personalisation cookies

These are those that allow the user to access the service with some general characteristics predefined on the basis of a series of criteria in the user’s terminal such as, for example, the language, the type of browser through which the service is accessed, the regional configuration from which the service is accessed, etc.

Analysis cookies

These are those that allow the party responsible for them to monitor and analyse the behaviour of the users of the websites to which they are linked. The information collected by means of this type of cookie is used in the measurement of the activity of the websites, application or platform and for the creation of browsing profiles of the users of those sites, applications and platforms, with the aim of introducing improvements on the basis of the analysis of the usage data generated by the users of the service.

Advertising cookies

These are those that, whether processed by us or by third parties, allow us to manage in the most efficient way possible the offering of the advertising spaces that there are on the web page, adapting the content of the advertisement to the content of the requested service or to the use that you make of our web page. To this end we may analyse your Internet browsing habits and we may show you advertising related to your browsing profile.

Behavioural advertising cookies

These are those that allow the management, in the most efficient way possible, of the advertising spaces included on the website. These cookies store information about the behaviour of users obtained through the continuous observation of their browsing habits, which makes it possible to develop a specific profile in order to display advertising on the basis of it.

Exactly what this website stores

What this site stores falls into two groups, and the difference is the point: on one side what it needs to work, which is always stored because without it there is no site; on the other the measurement of visits, which does not start until you say yes. Until you do — or if you say no — opening a page makes no request to any server outside this site.

The first group is four things, all of them needed for the site to work and to remember how you were using it. Article 22.2 of the Spanish LSSI exempts this kind of storage from consent, but still requires that it be disclosed, so here they are, one by one:

NEXT_LOCALE — our own cookie, session only. It stores the language you are reading in, so that moving between pages does not send you back to Spanish. It is deleted when you close the browser.

iris-visita — not a cookie: a value kept in the browser’s local storage. It counts how many times you have watched the demonstration, so as not to show you the same scene or the same closing line every time. It is a number, nothing more. It stays until you clear the browser’s data.

iris-zona — also in local storage. It remembers the last zone of the virtual world you were looking at, so that a different one can be offered next time. It stores the name of the zone, not who you are. It stays until you clear the browser’s data.

iris-tema — also in local storage. It remembers which demonstration you chose, so that you pick up where you left off when you come back. It stays until you clear the browser’s data.

Of the four, only the language one travels: it is sent to our server with every page, because that is how it knows which language to serve you. The other three never leave your browser and nobody but you sees them. None of the four identifies a person, none is combined with other data and none is shared with anyone. You can delete them whenever you like from your browser settings; the site will still work, it will simply start over.

The second group, the measurement of visits, is the part that does need your permission. That is why this site asks before doing anything, and why there is a notice the first time you arrive. The next section explains it in full.

Measuring visits, and your permission

If you accept, this site measures which pages get read using Google Analytics 4, a service of Google Ireland Limited. It exists to tell us which content is worth keeping and which is not; not to tell us who you are. Until you accept, Google’s program is not even downloaded: no request to Google, no cookie of theirs, no data sent.

If you accept, two Google cookies are stored in your browser:

_ga — tells one browser from another so the same person is not counted twice. It carries no name, no email address, nothing that points to you. It expires after two years.

_ga_YC3HCPSGG4 — keeps the measurement state for this particular site, so it knows whether you are still on the same visit or have come back another day. It expires after two years.

What is sent to Google is which pages you looked at, when, from what kind of device and from roughly what country. We have deliberately switched off Analytics’ advertising features — Google signals and ad personalisation: this site does not advertise, and it is not asking your permission to.

Google may process this data in the United States. By its adequacy decision of 10 July 2023, the European Commission found that the EU-US Data Privacy Framework provides an adequate level of protection, and Google is certified under that framework. That is the safeguard the transfer relies on. If you do not accept the measurement, there is no transfer at all.

You can change your mind whenever you like, and just as easily as you said yes: at the foot of any page there is a link, «Change cookies», that brings the question back. If you say no, whatever Google cookies were there are deleted and nothing further is sent. Your answer is remembered for two years; after those two years, you are asked again.

About the browser’s «do not track» signal: there is still no common way of interpreting it across browsers, so this site does not treat it as an answer. What we do instead is measure nobody who has not expressly said yes.

Server logs

Our server log files may collect information about the way in which users use the websites (usage data). This data may include the user’s domain name, the language, the type of browser and operating system, the Internet service provider, the IP address (Internet protocol), the website or the link through which the user has arrived at our website, as well as the site visited after leaving it and the length of time the visit to our pages has lasted. We may monitor and use the usage data to measure the performance and the activity of the website, improve the design and the functionality of its pages or for security purposes.

How to delete or block this storage from your browser

The procedure is different in each browser; the ‘Help’ function will show you how to do it:

Chrome

Firefox

Safari

Edge

If you would rather your browser stored none of this, change its settings accordingly. Please bear in mind that some elements of this website might not work as they should: without the language cookie, for example, every page would revert to the default language.

Linked sites

It is possible that our website may include links to third-party websites (“linked sites”). We do not necessarily review, control or examine such sites. Each linked site may have its own terms of use and privacy statements, and users must be aware of and comply with such terms when they enter their pages. We are not responsible for the policies and practices of any linked site, or for the possible links that they may contain. The use of links on our sites does not imply our endorsement of the linked sites or of any particular company or service, and we encourage users to read the terms of use and the statements of the linked sites before using them.

Minors

Our websites are not aimed at a child audience and we do not use them to knowingly request personal data from minors or to market products to them. If we find out that a minor has supplied his or her personal data through our website, we will delete it from our system.