Cookie Policy

Last updated July 27, 2020

This Cookie Policy explains how the Active Archives Initiative at MIT (“we”, “us”, or “our”) uses cookies and similar technologies to recognize you when you visit one of our websites such as Annotation Studio at https://annotationstudio.org, ("Websites"). It explains what these technologies are and why we use them, as well as your rights to control our use of them.

In some cases, we may use cookies to collect personal information, or that becomes personal information if we combine it with other information.

What are cookies?

Cookies are small data files that are placed on your computer or mobile device when you visit a website. Cookies are widely used by website owners in order to make their websites work, or to work more efficiently, as well as to provide reporting information.

Cookies set by the website owner (in this case, Active Archives Initiative at MIT) are called "first-party cookies". Cookies set by parties other than the website owner are called "third-party cookies". Third-party cookies enable third-party features or functionality to be provided on or through the website (e.g. interactive content and analytics). The parties that set these third-party cookies can recognize your computer both when it visits the website in question and also when it visits certain other websites.

Why do we use cookies?

We use first- and third-party cookies for several reasons. Some cookies are required for technical reasons in order for our Websites to operate, and we refer to these as "essential" or "strictly necessary" cookies. Third parties serve cookies through our Websites for analytics and other purposes. This is described in more detail below.

The specific types of first- and third-party cookies served through our Websites and the purposes they perform are described below (please note that the specific cookies served may vary depending on the specific Online Properties you visit).

How can I control cookies?

You have the right to decide whether to accept or reject cookies. You can exercise your cookie rights by setting your preferences in the Cookie Consent Manager. The Cookie Consent Manager allows you to select which categories of cookies you accept or reject. Essential cookies cannot be rejected as they are strictly necessary to provide you with services.

The Cookie Consent Manager can be found in the notification banner and on our website. If you choose to reject cookies, you may still use our website though your access to some functionality and areas of our website may be restricted. You may also set or amend your web browser controls to accept or refuse cookies. As the means by which you can refuse cookies through your web browser controls vary from browser-to-browser, you should visit your browser's help menu for more information.

The specific types of first- and third-party cookies served through our Websites and the purposes they perform are described in the table below (please note that the specific cookies served may vary depending on the specific Online Properties you visit):

Essential website cookies:

These cookies are strictly necessary to provide you with services available through our Websites and to use some of its features, such as access to secure areas.

Name: _AnnotationStudio_session
Purpose: Used to preserve visitors' user configurations.
Provider: *.annotationstudio.org
Service: Annotation Studio
Country: United States
Type: server_cookie
Expires in: session
Name: klaro
Purpose: Used to record the cookie consent preferences of visitors.
Provider: *.annotationstudio.org
Service: Annotation Studio)
Country: United States
Type: http_cookie
Expires in: 1 year

Analytics and customization cookies:

These cookies collect information that is used in aggregate form to help us understand how our Websites are being used or to help us customize our Websites for you.

Name: __utmb#
Purpose: Used by Google analytics to compute the duration a website is visited using the exact time that a user accesses a website. This is a HTTP cookie that expires after the session.
Provider: *.annotationstudio.org
Service: Google Analytics (view service privacy policy)
Country: United States
Type: http_cookie
Expires in: 30 minutes
Name: __utmt#
Purpose: Used to control the speed of requests to the website’s server. Expires after the session and is a HTTP type cookie.
Provider: *.annotationstudio.org
Service: Google Analytics (view service privacy policy)
Country: United States
Type: http_cookie
Expires in: 10 minutes
Name: __utmc#
Purpose: The cookie registers the timestamp a user leaves a website to help calculate the duration of time spent on it using Google Analytics. The cookie activity lasts during the browsing session. It is a HTTP cookie type.
Provider: *.annotationstudio.org
Service: Google Analytics (view service privacy policy)
Country: United States
Type: http_cookie
Expires in: session
Name: #__utm.gif
Purpose: Logs the details about the visitor’s computer and browser using Google Analytics Tracking Code. The cookie is a pixel tracker type and is only active during the browsing session.
Provider: *.annotationstudio.org
Service: Google Analytics (view service privacy policy)
Country: United States
Type: http_cookie
Expires in: session
Name: __utma#
Purpose: Used by Google Analytics to record the number of times a visitor accessed the website as well as the dates for the first and recent visit. It is a HTTP cookie and expires in 2 years.
Provider: *.annotationstudio.org
Service: Google Analytics (view service privacy policy)
Country: United States
Type: http_cookie
Expires in: 1 year 12 months 4 days
Name: __utmz#
Purpose: Uses Google Analytics to gather location details for the website visitors, the clicked link, the search term, and the search engine that was used. This cookie is a HTTP type that lasts for 6 months.
Provider: *.annotationstudio.org
Service: Google Analytics (view service privacy policy)
Country: United States
Type: http_cookie
Expires in: 6 months 2 days

What about other tracking technologies, like web beacons?

Cookies are not the only way to recognize or track visitors to a website. We may use other, similar technologies from time to time, like web beacons (sometimes called "tracking pixels" or "clear gifs"). These are tiny graphics files that contain a unique identifier that enable us to recognize when someone has visited our Websites or opened an e-mail including them. This allows us, for example, to monitor the traffic patterns of users from one page within a website to another, to deliver or communicate with cookies, to understand whether you have come to the website from a third-party website, and to improve site performance. In many instances, these technologies are reliant on cookies to function properly, and so declining cookies will impair their functioning.

Do you serve targeted advertising?

We do not serve advertising through our Services.

How often will you update this Cookie Policy?

We may update this Cookie Policy from time to time in order to reflect, for example, changes to the cookies we use or for other operational, legal or regulatory reasons. Please therefore re-visit this Cookie Policy regularly to stay informed about our use of cookies and related technologies.

The date at the top of this Cookie Policy indicates when it was last updated.

Where can I get further information?

If you have any questions about our use of cookies or other technologies, please email us at [email protected] or reach us by mail to:

Active Archives Initiative at MIT
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 14N-421
77 Massachusetts Ave.
Cambridge, MA 02139
United States
Phone: (617) 258-6512


Note: This cookie policy was created with the help of Termly’s Cookie Policy Generator.