Cookie Policy

Updated: May 20, 2019

This Cookie Policy explains how Dow Smith Company, Inc. and our affiliates use cookies and similar technologies to recognize you when you visit our website. It explains what these technologies are and why we use them, as well as your rights to control our use of them.

1. What Are Cookies?
2. Why Do We Use Cookies?
3. What Types of Cookies Do We Use and How Do We Use Them?
4. How Can I Control Cookies?
5. What About Other Tracking Technologies Such As Web Beacons?
6. Do You Use Flash Cookies or Local Shared Objects?
7. Do You Serve Targeted Advertising?
8. How Often Will You Update This Cookie Policy?
9. Where Can I Get Further Information? 

1. What Are Cookies?

A cookie is a small file containing a string of characters that is sent to your computer when you visit a website. When you visit the site again, the cookie allows that site to recognize your browser. Cookies may store user preferences and other information.  

Cookies provide a convenience feature to save you time, or tell the web server that you have returned to a specific page. For example, if you have completed a form on our website to subscribe to our blog or to download premium content a cookie helps us to recall your specific information on subsequent visits and will preload the form with that personal information. When you return to the website, the information you previously provided can be retrieved, so you can easily use the customized time-saving features.

Cookies set by the website owner (in this case, Dow Smith Company, Inc.) 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. like advertising, 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.

2. Why Do We Use Cookies?

We use first party and third party cookies for several reasons. Some cookies are required for technical reasons in order for our website to operate, and we refer to these as “essential” or “strictly necessary” cookies.

Other cookies enable us to track and target the interests of our users to enhance the experience on our website. For example, Dow Smith Company, Inc. keeps track of the websites and pages you visit within our website, in order to determine what portion of our website is the most popular or most used. This data is used to deliver customized content and promotions within our website to customers whose behavior indicates that they are interested in a particular subject area. Third parties serve cookies through our website for advertising, analytics and other purposes. This is described in more detail below.

3. What Types of Cookies Do We Use and How Do We Use Them?

The specific types of first and third party cookies served through our website and the purposes they perform include:

• Essential website cookies: These cookies are strictly necessary to provide you with services available through our website to use some of its features, such as access to secure areas (e.g. customer portals, subcontractor portals, employee portals, etc.)

• Performance and functionality cookies: These cookies are used to enhance the performance and functionality of our website, but are non-essential to their use. However, without these cookies, certain functionality may become unavailable.

• Analytics and customization cookies: These cookies collect information that is used either in aggregate form to help us understand how our website is being used or how effective our marketing campaigns are, or to help us customize our website for you.

• Advertising cookies: These cookies are used to make advertising messages more relevant to you. They perform functions like preventing the same ad from continuously reappearing, ensuring that ads are properly displayed for advertisers, and in some cases selecting advertisements that are based on your interests.

• Social networking cookies: These cookies are used to enable you to share pages and content that you find interesting on our website through third-party social networking and other websites. These cookies may also be used for advertising purposes, too.

4. How Can I Control Cookies?

You have the right to decide whether to accept or reject cookies. You can exercise your cookie preferences by clicking on the appropriate opt-out links provided below.

You can set or amend your web browser controls to accept or refuse cookies. 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. 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.

In addition, most advertising networks offer you a way to opt-out of targeted advertising. If you would like to find out more information, please visit http://www.aboutads.info/choices/ or http://www.youronlinechoices.com. You may opt out by clicking here: http://preferences.truste.com/ (or if located in the European Union, by clicking here: http://www.youronlinechoices.eu/). Please note this does not opt you out of being served advertising. You will continue to receive generic advertisements.

Essential website cookies: Because these cookies are strictly necessary to deliver the website to you, you cannot refuse them. You can block or delete them by changing your browser settings however, as described above.

5. What About Other Tracking Technologies Such As Web Beacons?

Cookies are not the only way to recognize or track visitors to a website. We employ a software technology called clear gifs (a.k.a. Web Beacons/Web Bugs), that help us better manage the website by informing us what content is effective. Clear gifs are tiny graphics with a unique identifier, similar in function to cookies, and are used to track the online movements of web users. In contrast to cookies, which are stored on a user's computer hard drive, clear gifs are embedded invisibly on web pages or in emails and are about the size of the period at the end of this sentence. We use clear gifs or pixels in our HTML-based emails to let us know which emails have been opened by recipients. This allows us to gauge the effectiveness of certain communications and the effectiveness of our marketing campaigns. We tie the information gathered by clear gifs in emails to our customers' personal information.

6. Do You Use Flash Cookies or Local Shared Objects?

The Adobe Flash Player (and similar applications) use technology to remember settings, preferences and usage similar to browser cookies, but these are managed through a different interface than the one provided by your web browser. This technology creates locally stored objects that are often referred to as “Flash cookies.” Dow Smith Company, Inc. does not use Flash cookies. However, service providers of our software platform may create pages that employ Adobe Flash cookies. Dow Smith Company, Inc. does not have access or control over our customers' Flash cookies, but you may access your Flash management tools from Adobe's website directly here.

Similarly, our service providers may create pages using technology from tracking utility companies, such as cookies and web beacons. The use of these technologies by our service providers is not covered by our Cookie Policy or Privacy Notice.  We do not have control over third party cookies or trackers our service providers use, if any.

7. Do You Serve Targeted Advertising?

Third parties or service providers may serve cookies on your computer or mobile device to serve advertising through our website. These companies may use information about your visits to this and other websites in order to provide relevant advertisements about goods and services that you may be interested in. They may also employ technology that is used to measure the effectiveness of advertisements. This can be accomplished by their use of cookies or web beacons to collect information about your visits to this and other websites in order to provide relevant advertisements about goods and services of potential interest to you. The information collected through this process does not enable us or them to identify your name, contact details or other personally identifying information unless you choose to provide these.

8. 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, revisit 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.

9. Where Can I Get Further Information?

If you have any questions about our use of cookies or other technologies, please email us at dow.smith@dowsmith.com.

Contact us at:
Dow Smith Company, Inc.
205 Sam Hager Street
Smyrna, TN 37167
USA

Attention: Privacy Policy
dow.smith@dowsmith.com