Cookies Notice

The European Space Agency (herein the “Agency” or “ESA”) is an intergovernmental organisation established by its Convention opened for signature in Paris on 30 May 1975 having its headquarters located at 24 rue du Général Bertrand, CS 30798, 75345 Paris Cedex 07, France.

Protection of Personal Data is of great importance for ESA, therefore this Cookie Notice aims to ensure lawfulness and transparency by explaining the cookies and similar technologies that we use in the ESA – Earth Observation Directorate website of the ɸ-Department , what they do, what your choices regarding their use are and how you can contact us.

What is a cookie?

A cookie is a small text file that a website may save on your device, for instance mobile device or computer, upon your visit to the website. Cookies may allow a website to recognise an individual’s device and store some information about the user.

What are the different types of cookies?

A cookie can be classified by its lifespan and the domain to which it belongs. By lifespan, a cookie is either a:

session cookie, which is erased when the user closes the browser or;
persistent cookie which remains on the user’s computer/device for a pre-defined period of time;

As for the domain to which it belongs, there are either:

first-party cookies, which are set by the web server of the visited page and share the same domain;
third-party cookies stored by a different domain to the visited page’s domain. This can happen when the webpage references a file, such as JavaScript, located outside its domain.

Which cookies do we use?

Strictly Necessary or Essential Cookies: These cookies are strictly necessary for the website to provide the services that you requested and/or for the solely purpose of the transmission of the services and/or the website. Without these cookies, you would not be able to access the services or the website, and therefore, this category cannot be disabled.

Source https://esa-cin.super.site/

First Party or Third Party cookie?

First Party

Cookie Name

complianceCookie

Session or Persistent cookie?

Persistent

Type of personal data collected

NP

Purpose

👉

This is used to remember the preference given by the user regarding the registration of cookies. It also allows to manage the cookies' pop-up advice.

Expires

2 Years

Source https://esa-cin.super.site/

First Party or Third Party cookie?

First Party

Cookie Name

wp-settings

Session or Persistent cookie?

Persistent

Type of personal data collected

NP

Purpose

👉

WordPress also sets a few wp-settings-[UID] cookies.The number on the end is your individual user ID from the users database table. This is used to customize your view of admin interface, and possibly also the main site interface.

Expires

1 Year

Functional Cookies: These cookies are not strictly necessary, but allow you to have a with a better experience by provide enhanced and more personal features. We only place these cookies if you have provided your prior consent.

Source https://esa-cin.super.site/

First Party or Third Party cookie?

First Party

Cookie Name

wp-settings-time-[UID]

Session or Persistent cookie?

Persistent

Type of personal data collected

NP

Purpose

👉

WordPress also sets a few wp-settings-{time}-[UID] cookies. The number on the end is your individual user ID from the users database table. This is used to customize your view of admin interface, and possibly also the main site interface.

Expires

Session

Source https://esa-cin.super.site/

First Party or Third Party cookie?

First Party

Cookie Name

wordpress_test_cookie

Session or Persistent cookie?

Session

Type of personal data collected

NP

Purpose

👉

Check if the cookies are enabled on the browser to provide appropriate user experience to the users. This cookie is used on the front-end, even if you are not logged in.

Expires

Session

Source https://esa-cin.super.site/

First Party or Third Party cookie?

First Party

Cookie Name

wordpress_logged_in_[hash];wordpress_sec_[hash]

Session or Persistent cookie?

Session

Type of personal data collected

NP

Purpose

👉

Is used to indicate when you are logged in, and who you are. This cookie is maintained on the front-end of the website as well when logged in.

Expires

Session

Source https://esa-cin.super.site/

First Party or Third Party cookie?

First Party

Cookie Name

wordpress_[hash]

Session or Persistent cookie?

Session

Type of personal data collected

username
double hashed copy of the password

Purpose

👉

Store the authentication details on login. The authentication details include the username and double hashed copy of the password. However, this usage of the cookie is limited to the admin console area, the backend dashboard of the website.

Expires

Session

Source https://esa-cin.super.site/

First Party or Third Party cookie?

Third party (Wordfence - https://www.wordfence.com/)

Cookie Name

wfwaf-authcookie-[hash]

Session or Persistent cookie?

Persistent

Type of personal data collected

NP

Purpose

👉

This cookie allows the Wordfence firewall to detect logged in users and allow them increased access. It also allows Wordfence to detect non-logged in users and restrict their access to secure areas. The cookie also lets the firewall know what level of access a visitor has to help the firewall make smart decisions about who to allow and who to block.

Expires

12 hours

Analytics Cookies: These cookies help us to improve and measure the performance of our website by collecting and reporting information on how you use it. These cookies are launched automatically when you enter the website but you can disabled them.

The cookies placed on your device by the ɸ-Department website are generated by an open source web analytics platform called Matomo. The cookies are used to measure the effectiveness and efficiency of ɸ-Department website. They are first party persistent cookies which help ESA to know which pages are visited most often and to ensure that the ɸ-Department website responds effectively to users’ needs. The cookies also enable ESA to monitor repeat visits. Using a random unique visitor ID, the software is able to distinguish between the first visit and subsequent visits made by the user, to improve the accuracy of the statistics.

Matomo complies with the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation of 27 April 2016 (GDPR). It seeks to protect end-user personal data, thanks to features such as source data anonymization and opt-out mechanisms for users. All analytics data communication is encrypted via SSL protocol. The cookie data is collected in an anonymised form, so it contains no personal information and cannot be used to identify a particular visitor. For instance, Matomo uses an internet protocol (IP) anonymisation mechanism which automatically masks a portion of the IP address which you are using, effectively making it impossible to identify a particular visitor from the remaining information.

Matomo generates analytical reports on the basis of the anonymised data which are distributed only internally in ESA for statistics purposes.

Matomo and ESA do not use information generated by these cookies either for promotion or marketing purposes, and they will not share the information with any third party. The cookies will not be used for any purpose other than those stated in this cookie notice.

All persistent cookies have an expiration date of 36 months, following which they are automatically removed from the user’s device.

Matomo automatically deletes visitors’ logs after 12 months. The anonymised statistics reports are stored for an indefinite period by ESA, for analysis purposes.

How to control cookies

You can control and/or delete cookies as you wish – for details, see…

You can delete all cookies that are already on your computer and you can set most browsers to prevent them from being placed. If you do this, however, you may have to manually adjust some preferences every time you visit a site and some services and functionalities may not work.

You can easily accept or reject the cookies on this site by choosing one of the following links:

I ACCEPT COOKIES

I REFUSE COOKIES

If you do not wish to receive cookies from the ɸ-Department website, or if you wish your browser to notify you when you receive a cookie, you may use the option on your web browser to disable cookies or you can opt out using the ‘’Opt-out’’ option below. However, please note that if you disable all cookies you may not be able to take advantage of all of the features available on this website. Moreover, if you opt out, it will not be possible for ESA to take your use of the website into account when it improves the user experience of the ɸ-Department website.

If you change your mind about opting out, you can choose to opt back in and be tracked again by Matomo (opt-in).

‘Opt-out / Opt-in cookie’

Your current status is displayed below.

Note that if you clear your cookies, delete the opt-out cookie, or if you change computer or Web browser, you will need to perform the opt-out procedure again.

How do you withdraw your consent and/or delete the cookies?

Cookies Preferences: You can withdraw your consent for each cookie category (except strictly necessary or essential cookies) at any time by selecting your preferences in the “Cookie Preference”. When you revoke consent, the Cookies will be deleted.
Using Your Browser: All the cookies used on our website can be disabled through your browser. To disable cookies through your browser, follow your browser instructions. Normally within the “Help,” “Tools” or “Edit” menus in your browser. Please note that blocking or deleting cookies may lead to reduced functionality of some features on the website. Therefore, the website may not function optimally without enabled cookies, in particular strictly necessary and essential cookies.

Changes to our Cookies Notice

All future changes we make to our Cookie Notice will be posted on this website.

Contact

In case of any question, you can contact ESA DPO, as first point of contact, by sending an email to: dpo@esa.int