This Cookie Notice explains how Confluent, Inc. and its subsidiaries (collectively, “Confluent”, “we”, “us”, and “ours”) use cookies and similar technologies to recognize you when you visit, interact with or use any of Confluent domains and/or any of Confluent websites which make reference to this Cookie Notice, including and https://kafka-summit.org (“Websites”), as well as in the course of business, such as in connection with our events, sales and marketing activities (collectively, “Business Activities”). 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?
Cookies are small data files that are placed on your computer or mobile device when you access a website. Cookies allow websites to recognize your device next time you visit, and track your use of the digital property, browsing history, personal preferences, and interests, and improve and customise your browsing experience. Cookies may contain or transmit unique identifiers that are considered personal information under certain data protection laws, such as IP address, device information, and website usage.
Cookies set by the website owner (in this case, Confluent) 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., advertising, interactive content, and analytics). The parties that set these third party cookies can recognize your device both when it visits the website in question and also when it visits certain other websites.
2. What kind of cookies does Confluent use and what do they do?
The types of cookies served through our Websites and the purposes they perform are described in the table below:
| Types of cookie | Who serves these cookies |
| Strictly necessary cookies: They are necessary for the Website to function and cannot be switched off in our systems. They are usually only set in response to actions made by you which amount to a request for services, such as setting your privacy preferences, logging in or filling in forms. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the Website will not then work. | |
| Performance and functionality cookies: These cookies are used to enhance the performance and functionality of our Websites and services but are non-essential to their use. However without these cookies, certain functionality (like chat) may become unavailable or may not function properly. These cookies may be set by us or by third party providers whose services we have added to our Websites. | |
| Analytics and customization cookies: These cookies collect information that is used either in aggregate form to count visits and traffic sources to measure and improve the performance of our Websites, understand how our Websites and services are being used, evaluate how effective our marketing campaigns are, or to customize our Websites and services for you. If you do not allow these cookies we will not know when you have visited our site, and we will not be able to monitor its performance. | |
| Targeting cookies: These cookies are set through our site by our advertising partners and 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. If you do not allow these cookies, the advertisements you see may be less relevant to your interests. |
3. What about other tracking technologies?
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”) or JavaScript (placed within the code of our Websites, which activate when you request an HTML page with JavaScript in it). Web beacons are tiny graphics files that contain a unique identifier that enable us to recognize when someone has visited our Websites, clicked certain links, or opened an e-mail that we have sent them in connection with a Business Activity. These technologies allow us, for example, to monitor the traffic patterns of users from one page within our Websites to another, to deliver or communicate with cookies, to understand whether you have come to our Websites from an online advertisement displayed on a third party website, to improve site performance, and to measure the success of email marketing campaigns, as Web beacons tell if an email has been opened and acted upon. Unlike cookies, which are stored on the user’s hard drive, web beacons are typically embedded invisibly on web pages (or in an email). In many instances, these technologies are reliant on cookies to function properly, and so declining cookies will impair their functioning.
We may also use “device fingerprinting” or “browser fingerprinting”. This technology is used to identify particular machines or browsers in order to detect and prevent fraud and for information and network security. Declining cookies may not affect device or browser fingerprinting.
4. Do you serve targeted advertising?
Third parties may serve cookies on your computer or mobile device to serve advertising through our Websites and/or other websites. These companies may use information about your visits to our Websites 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 using cookies or web beacons to collect information about 5 your visits to our Websites and other sites in order to provide relevant advertisements about goods and services of potential interest to you.
Information collected may be used, alone or in combination with information about you we obtain from other sources (like our data partners and offline customer data), to among other things, deliver advertising targeted to your interests, including to serve ads related to our products or services when you access and use other websites and to better understand the usage of the Websites tracked by these third parties. This Cookie Notice does not apply to, and we are not responsible for, cookies or clear gifs in third party ads, and we encourage you to check the privacy policies of advertisers and/or ad services to learn about their use of cookies and other technology. If you would like more information about this practice and to know your choices about not having this information used by these companies, please visit www.aboutads.info/choices or www.youronlinechoices.eu.
5. How can I accept or reject cookies?
You have the right to decide whether to accept or reject cookies. When you visit our Websites, depending on where you are located, we may show you a notice which tells you how and why we use certain cookies and provide you the ability to opt out of certain cookie use (other than Strictly Necessary Cookies). You can also control cookies by changing the setting for each category via the Cookie Settings at the footer of Confluent’s website or by setting or amending your web browser controls to accept or refuse all cookies. As the means by which you can refuse cookies through your web browser controls vary from browser-tobrowser, you should visit your browser’s help menu for more information. 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.
The third-party advertising partners with which we work may be members of the Network Advertising Initiative or the Digital Advertising Alliance. For more information about cookies, and how to disable interest-based advertising cookies from participating companies, please visit About Ads. For more information about how targeted advertising works, you can visit the Network Advertising Initiative to learn more and opt-out of interest-based advertising.
To find out more about cookies, including how to see what cookies have been set and how to manage and delete them, visit www.aboutcookies.org or www.allaboutcookies.org.
Finally, some Internet browsers include the ability to transmit “Do Not Track” signals. The Websites do not currently process or respond to “Do Not Track” signals. To learn more about “Do Not Track”, please visit “All About Do Not Track”.
6. Where can I get further information?
If you have any questions about our use of cookies or other technologies, please email us at privacy@confluent.io.