Cookies
Cookies are small files that are placed in your browser by websites that you visit. They are widely used to do things like store preferences and to enable shopping carts and log-in areas.
For further privacy information, see our privacy page.
The cookies we use
1. Squarespace cookies
The BioCommons public website (https://www.biocommons.org.au/) was created using Squarespace. Squarespace based websites use a number of necessary ‘Functional and Required’ cookies because they allow visitors to navigate and use key features on the site. A list of these cookies and their duration is available here. We cannot identify you from the information gathered, or track your web browsing outside of the site. Note that Squarespace ‘Analytics and Performance’ Cookies (see list here) have been disabled on the BioCommons public website.
See also the Squarespace Cookie Policy for more information.
2. GitHub cookies
The BioCommons GitHub Repository (https://github.com/AustralianBioCommons) was created using GitHub, GitHub Desktop and GitHub Pages. GitHub use a number of essential cookies because they allow visitors to navigate and use key features. A list of these cookies and their duration is available here. We cannot identify you from the information gathered, or track your web browsing outside of the site.
See also the GitHub Privacy Statement around Cookies for more information.
3. Google Analytics cookies
Google Analytics is a program that sets cookies so that a site owner can see the patterns of activity on their site. We use Google Analytics on both the Australian BioCommons public website (https://www.biocommons.org.au/) and the Australian BioCommons Technical Documentation site (https://australianbiocommons.github.io/) so that we can generate reports about these sites, such as about how popular parts of the sites are, which browsers people are using, and which countries they are viewing the sites from. This helps us improve the sites and ensures we design the sites for the browsers and devices that most people are using.
The three cookies Google Analytics uses are: _ga, _git and _gid. These work together to give us information about how people use these sites. This information is collected in an anonymous form. We cannot identify you from the information gathered, or track your web browsing outside of either site.
See the Google Analytics cookies information and Google's Safeguarding your data article for more information.
Checking your cookies
For common web browsers, you can:
See which cookies are active in your browser’s settings.
Clear cookies from your browser or device, either globally or from a specific website.
For help locating cookies on your device, visit your browser's documentation:
Opting out
Google Analytics cookies are not essential to the operation of either the Australian BioCommons public website (https://www.biocommons.org.au/) or the Australian BioCommons Technical Documentation site (https://australianbiocommons.github.io/). If you would like to opt-out then you install the Google Analytics Opt-out Browser Add-on.
Squarespace Functional and Required cookies are important for the Australian BioCommons public website (https://www.biocommons.org.au/) to function and GitHub cookies are important for the Australian BioCommons GitHub Repository (https://github.com/AustralianBioCommons) and Australian BioCommons Technical Documentation website (https://australianbiocommons.github.io/) to function. You can disable them but the sites may not behave as intended. This How-to Geek article tells you how to disable all cookies.