Cookie Policy

Last updated: October 20, 2020

This Cookie Policy explains how we use cookies and similar tracking methods (such as pixels, SDKs, JavaScript, device identifiers, etc., which we refer to as “trackers”) when you visit our site. “Our site” means our websites, emails, apps and other services that link to this Cookie Policy. This policy explains what various tracking methods are, and why they are used. It also explains your right to control their use.

We may change this Cookie Policy at any time. Check the “last revised” date at the top of this page to see when this Cookie Policy was last revised. Any change becomes effective when we post the revised Cookie Policy on or through our site.

If you have any questions, please contact us by email at support@herm.is

The terms used in this Privacy Policy have the same meanings as in our Terms of Service, unless otherwise defined in this Privacy Policy.

1) What is a tracker?

We use a variety of tracker methods; six of the main types are explained below.

A) Cookies

A cookie is a small string of text that a website (or online service) stores on a user’s browser. It saves data on your browser about your visit to our site or other sites. It often includes a unique identifier (e.g., cookie #123).

“First-party cookies” are cookies set by us (or on our behalf) on our site. “Third-party cookies” are cookies set by other companies whose functionality is embedded into our site (e.g., google.com).

“Session cookies” are temporary cookies stored on your device while you visit our site. They expire when you close your browser. “Persistent cookies” are stored on your browser for a period of time after you leave our site. Persistent cookies expire on a set expiration date, or when they are deleted manually.

You can choose whether to accept cookies by editing your browser settings. However, if cookies are refused, your experience on our site may be worse, and some features may not work as intended.

B) Pixels

Pixels (also known as “web beacons,” “GIFs” or “bugs”) are one-pixel transparent images located on web pages or messages. They track whether you have opened these web pages or messages. Upon firing, a pixel logs a visit to the current page or message and may read or set cookies.

Pixels often rely on cookies to work, so turning off cookies can impair them. But even if you turn off cookies, pixels can still detect a web page visit.

C) Javascript

JavaScript is a programming language. It can be used to write trackers that, when embedded into a page, allow us to measure how you interact with our site and other sites.

D) Software Development Kits (or SDKs)

SDKs are pieces of code provided by our digital vendors (e.g., third-party advertising companies, ad networks and analytics providers) in our mobile apps to collect and analyze certain device and user data.

E) Device Identifiers

Device identifiers are user-resettable identifiers comprised of numbers and letters. They are unique to a specific device. They are stored directly on the device. These include Apple’s ID For Advertisers (IDFA) and Google’s Android Advertising ID (AAID). They are used to recognize you and/or your devices(s) on, off and across different apps and devices for marketing and advertising purposes.

F) ID Synching

In order to decide what type of ad might interest you, our digital and marketing vendors sometimes link data — inferred from your browsing of other sites or collected from other sources — using a method knowns as “ID synching” or “cookie synching.” To do this, they match the tracker ID they have assigned to you with one or more tracker IDs that are held in another company’s database and that are likely also associated with you. Any of the linked trackers may have certain interests and other demographic information attributed to it. That information is then used to determine which ad to show you

2) What trackers do we use?

Below is a list of the types of trackers that appear on our site.

Essential Trackers

Essential trackers are required for our site to operate. They allow you to navigate our site and use its services and features (e.g., cookies that help you stay logged in). Without essential trackers, our site will not run smoothly; in fact, our site (or certain services or features) might not even be available to you simply because of technical limitations.

Preference Trackers

Preference trackers allow us to store information about your choices, settings and preferences. They also help us recognize you when you return to our site, remember your language settings (among others) and customize our site accordingly. They are not essential to the functioning of our site.

Analytics Trackers

Analytics trackers collect or use information about your site use, which helps us improve our site. Among the uses of analytics trackers are to show us which pages are most frequently visited, help us record difficulties you have with our site, track subscription purchases and behaviors leading to subscription purchases, and measure how well ads perform.

These trackers add up our readers’ visits to show us larger patterns in our audience. We look at these larger patterns to analyze site traffic.

Advertising Trackers

Advertising trackers help us determine which ads from third parties are selected for you. Some of these trackers collect or use information about your behavior on various sites to aid this targeting. These trackers sometimes limit the number of times you see an ad, make an ad more relevant to you or measure the effectiveness of an ad campaign.

In the European Economic Area (E.E.A.), advertising is not personalized or targeted by third parties through personal data given to them. Instead, the ads you see are either not personalized, or personalized using only information that we have about you and that is not shared with third parties.

We work with advertisers, ad agencies and other vendors to serve these ads. The ads served can include additional trackers.

3) How Do I Manage Trackers?

When you first come to our site, you may receive a notification that trackers are present. By registering, you agree to the use of these trackers as described here.

You can manage your tracker settings by opting out of specific (or all) trackers.

In addition to the options above, you can refuse or accept trackers from our site (or any other site) in your browser’s settings. If you refuse trackers, you might not be able to sign in or use other tracker-dependent features of our site.

Most browsers automatically accept cookies, but this is typically something you can adjust. Information for each browser can be found in the links below:

• Safari on desktop and Safari Mobile (iPhone and iPads): Note that, by default, Safari is engineered to protect you from being tracked from site to site unless you disable Intelligent Tracking Prevention (ITP).
• Firefox: By default, Firefox protects you from cross-site tracking so long as you have not disabled Enhanced Tracking Protection (ETP). There is therefore less need to manage cookies to protect your privacy.
• Chrome
• Microsoft Edge: Enabling tracking prevention with Edge will protect you from being tracked between sites, such that there will be less of a need to manage your cookies in order to protect your privacy.
• Samsung Internet Browser
• Brave: Brave has several mechanisms to keep you from being tracked online, but you can change your privacy settings if you wish to have greater control over its decisions.

For more information about other browsers, please refer to this “All About Cookies” guide.

To opt out of Google Analytics data collection, follow these Google instructions.

To reset your device identifier, follow Google instructions and Apple instructions.