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What are Cookies and Internet Tags and How Are They Used by AstraZeneca?

A cookie is a text file containing information about a user that is stored on a user’s device or computer hard drive. Cookies are used for a variety of purposes, including helping you log into parts of our web sites and mobile applications, to enable us to track the interests of our users to enhance their experience on our web sites and mobile applications, for market research purposes, and to deliver content specific to a user’s interests.

We may place a cookie in the web browser (e.g., Internet Explorer) file of your computer or device when you visit our web site. In addition, we or an independent advertising company or other contractor whom we engage may also deliver a uniquely-named cookie to your web browser through an AstraZeneca e-mail.

We may utilize third party cookies. Third-party cookies are created by domains that are not the website (or domain) that you are visiting. These cookies are used for our marketing efforts, as well as to understand your browsing of the website, for example, which page you visit or how long you stay on each page. These types of cookies are set by AstraZeneca affiliates and/or vendors we are working with to enhance end user experience or may be used to identify visitors to our websites.

Note that you may delete or decline the cookie using the tools in your web browser and you may still use our site; however, some parts of our site may not work properly for you.

We may also use Internet Tags such as “pixel tags,” also known as “web beacons,” which are small graphic files that allow us to monitor the use of our websites. A pixel tag can collect information such as the IP (Internet Protocol) address of the computer that downloaded the page on which the tag appears; the URL of the page on which the pixel tag appears; the time the page containing the pixel tag was viewed; the type of browser that fetched the pixel tag; and the identification number of any cookie on the computer previously placed by that server. When corresponding with you via HTML capable email, we may use "format sensing" technology, which allows pixel tags to let us know whether you received and opened our email.

How is My Information Used for Advertising?

We may use independent advertising companies to provide ads on our behalf across the Internet (“advertising company”). These advertising companies also help us analyze our advertising campaigns and the general usage patterns of visitors to our web sites. This is primarily accomplished through the use of cookies, and Internet tags (web beacons, pixel tags, clear GIF (Graphics Interchange Format) images and invisible GIFs). Such companies may place these tags on our web sites or on other web sites. Used in conjunction with cookies, Internet tags are programmed by the advertising company to collect certain non-personally identifiable information about visitors to our web site and other web sites. This information may be used to provide ads about goods and services of potential interest to you, or to improve your web site experience. The advertising company does not know the names, addresses, e-mail addresses or telephone numbers of web site visitors, and does not link online actions to an identifiable person. The advertising company reports the non-identifiable data that it collects on our behalf back to us without identifying specific web site visits (other than to our own web sites). We use this information to improve our web sites and our advertising. In order to deliver more relevant content or advertising, or to connect with you via other methods, from time to time we may link the information we receive to your personal information. If we do link such data, it is treated under AstraZeneca’s privacy notice as personal information. If you would like more information about this practice, or if you want to prevent an independent advertising company from sending and reading cookies or action tags on your computer, you can visit the advertising company’s web site and opt-out or see the AstraZeneca privacy policy for information on how to contact AstraZeneca.

AstraZeneca and/or advertising companies may use data collected on AstraZeneca’s web sites to customize ads for you on other web sites as you browse the Internet. AstraZeneca participates in a service to comply with the cross-industry Self-Regulatory Program for Online Behavioral Advertising (OBA). As part of this service, AstraZeneca online advertising and web sites are sometimes delivered with icons that help consumers understand how their data is being used and provide choice options to consumers who want more control including the ability to opt-out. If you do not want your browsing behavior used for OBA purposes you can click on the icon contained in the advertisement or website in order to opt-out. You may also access this website to exercise your choices about cookies and similar technologies: http://www.aboutads.info/choices

How Can I Contact AstraZeneca?

We welcome your questions and comments regarding the use of cookies and other similar technologies and the use of your personal information. You may also contact us to update or correct the personal information you have provided to us or to opt-out of services that you may have previously signed up for or for which you have registered. Please see the AstraZeneca Privacy Notice for information on contacting AstraZeneca.