Information about Cookies

Cookies are:

Small text files stored on your computer, enabling an analysis of your website use. The information stored by cookies can be read by the website when you visit it again at a later date. On the one hand cookies are necessary to ensure that all processes on the site work smoothly. On the other hand cookies can make the re-use of the site easier for the user: Information stored by cookies at the first visit, e. g. language settings or user names, do not need to be entered again. Hence, the website adjusts itself to a certain extent to your individual needs under the condition that the same device will be used.

That’s why GLS uses cookies:

To provide you an optimal service, adapted to your customer needs. For instance, some information you have already received at the first visit, will not be displayed once more.

Activities such as the login and logout process can be facilitated, information you already searched for will be displayed faster. The performance of the website can be increased.

Of course, GLS makes organisational and technical provisions to protect your personal data and to avoid loss of information and illegal conduct.

Please find more information in our Privacy Policy.

Go to Privacy Policy

GLS uses the following cookies:

Google Analytics

• “_ga”, “_gat” and “_gid” (for Google Analytics, for detailed explanation see https://developers.google.com/analytics/devguides/collection/analyticsjs/cookie-usage )

• “BIGIP“ (used for GLS website internal load balancing)

• “gls-cookie-policy“ (used to store acceptance of this Cookie Policy)

• “glsCountryURL” (used to store the selected country on gls-group.eu)

• “JSESSIONID“ (session id of your website user session)

• “feature_release” (gradually provides new features to users which is required for an unrestricted use of the website)

Piano Analytics

We use cookies and user IDs to analyze user behavior on our website:

Cookie: PianoSessionID

Description: Used to identify an active user session. Helps track activities during a single visit to the site. Contains data about the session, but not about the user in a persistent way.

Cookie: PianoVisitorID

Description: Used to identify returning users, allowing tracking their behavior between different sessions. Helps collect data about user preferences and customize content.

Cookie: PianoAnalytics

Description: Used to collect general analytics data, such as the number of visits, time spent on the site, user navigation path. This data helps analyze the site's effectiveness and generate reports.

Cookie: PianoExp

Description: Used as part of A/B testing or other experiments to track user reactions to different versions of pages and site elements.

Cookie: PianoPreferences

Description: May contain information about user preferences, such as language selection, content personalization settings, etc.

Hotjar

List of cookies set by the Hotjar Tracking Code

The following cookies, local and session storage items apply when the Hotjar Tracking Code has been loaded and ensure the Hotjar Tracking Code functions correctly.

Mentions of site_id refer to the unique ID allocated to an individual site when it is created in Hotjar.

Relating to the user
Name	Data storage type	Description
_hjSessionUser_{site_id}	Cookie	Set when a user first lands on a page. Persists the Hotjar User ID which is unique to that site. Hotjar does not track users across different sites. Ensures data from subsequent visits to the same site are attributed to the same user ID. 365 days duration. JSON data type.
_hjid	Cookie	This is an old cookie that we do not set anymore, but if a user has it unexpired in their browser, we will reuse its value and migrate to _hjSessionUser_{site_id}. Set when a user first lands on a page. Persists the Hotjar User ID which is unique to that site. Ensures data from subsequent visits to the same site are attributed to the same user ID. 365 days duration. UUID data type.
_hjFirstSeen	Cookie	Identifies a new user’s first session. Used by Recording filters to identify new user sessions. 30 minutes duration, extended on user activity. Boolean true/false data type.
_hjHasCachedUserAttributes	Cookie	Enables us to know whether the data set in _hjUserAttributes Local Storage item is up to date or not. Session duration. Boolean true/false data type.
_hjUserAttributesHash	Cookie	Enables us to know when any User Attribute has changed and needs to be updated. 2 minutes duration, extended every 30 seconds. Content hash data type.
_hjUserAttributes	Local storage item	Stores User Attributes sent through the Hotjar Identify API. No explicit expiration. Base64 encoded JSON data type.
hjViewportId	Session storage item	Stores user viewport details such as size and dimensions. Session duration. UUID data type.
hjActiveViewportIds	Local storage item	Stores user active viewports IDs. Stores an expirationTimestamp that is used to validate active viewports on script initialization. JSON data type.

Relating to the session
Name	Data storage type	Description
_hjSession_{site_id}	Cookie	Holds current session data. Ensures subsequent requests in the session window are attributed to the same session. 30 minutes duration, extended on user activity. JSON data type.
_hjSessionTooLarge	Cookie	Causes Hotjar to stop collecting data if a session becomes too large. Determined automatically by a signal from the server if the session size exceeds the limit. Session duration. Boolean true/false data type.
_hjSessionResumed	Cookie	Set when a session/recording is reconnected to Hotjar servers after a break in connection. Session duration. Boolean true/false data type.
_hjCookieTest	Cookie	Checks to see if the Hotjar Tracking Code can use cookies. If it can, a value of 1 is set. Deleted almost immediately after it is created. Under 100ms duration, cookie expiration time set to session duration. Boolean true/false data type.
_hjLocalStorageTest	Cookie	Checks if the Hotjar Tracking Code can use Local Storage. If it can, a value of 1 is set. Data stored in _hjLocalStorageTest has no expiration time, but it is deleted almost immediately after it is created. Under 100ms duration. Boolean true/false data type.
_hjSessionStorageTest	Cookie	Checks if the Hotjar Tracking Code can use Session Storage. If it can, a value of 1 is set. Data stored in _hjSessionStorageTest has no expiration time, but it is deleted almost immediately after it is created. Under 100ms duration. Boolean true/false data type.
_hjIncludedInPageviewSample	Cookie	Set to determine if a user is included in the data sampling defined by your site's pageview limit. 2 minutes duration, extended every 30 seconds. Boolean true/false data type.
_hjIncludedInSessionSample_{site_id}	Cookie	Set to determine if a user is included in the data sampling defined by your site's daily session limit. 2 minutes duration, extended every 30 seconds. Boolean true/false data type.
_hjAbsoluteSessionInProgress	Cookie	Used to detect the first pageview session of a user. 30 minutes duration, extended on user activity. Boolean true/false data type.
_hjTLDTest	Cookie	We try to store the _hjTLDTest cookie for different URL substring alternatives until it fails. Enables us to try to determine the most generic cookie path to use, instead of page hostname. It means that cookies can be shared across subdomains (where applicable). After this check, the cookie is removed. Session duration. Boolean true/false data type.

Relating to Recordings
Name	Data storage type	Description
_hjRecordingEnabled	Session storage item	Set when a Recording starts. Read when the Recording module is initialized to see if the user is already in a recording in a particular session. Session duration. Boolean true/false data type.
_hjRecordingLastActivity	Session storage item	Updated when a user recording starts and when data is sent to the server (the user performs an action that Hotjar records). Session duration. Numerical value (timestamp) data type.

How you can disable cookies:

Browser settings can be adapted easily. Thus, you can also disable cookies without much effort. Please note the following: If you disable cookies, your user name and password for login into the closed area of the website cannot be saved.

Please find a short introduction, how to deactivate cookies for your browser.

Mozilla Firefox:

1. Open the Firefox browser.

2. Click on the menu button and choose “Options”. Select the Privacy panel.

3. Set “Firefox will:” to “Use customs settings for history"

4. Remove the check mark from “Accept cookies from sites“ to enable cookies, and uncheck to disable them.

5. Close the about:preferences page. Any changes you’ve made will automatically be saved.

Internet Explorer:

1. Open the Internet Explorer.

2. Click the “Tools” button and then click “Internet Options”. Click the Privacy tab. In “Settings” choose “Advanced” and click the corresponding option to either allow or block the cookies.

3. Click on ”OK“.

Google Chrome:

1. Open Google Chrome.

2. Select the Chrome menu icon.

3. Select “Settings”.

4. Near the bottom of the page, click “Advanced”. In the Privacy and security section, select ”Content settings“ and then “Cookies”. Change “Allow sites to save and read cookie data (recommended)” to “Blocked”.

Safari:

1. Open Safari.
2. Choose ”Preferences” and click on ”Privacy“.
3. Select the option “Always block”.