Our use of cookies

Findmypast places your privacy as our top priority. We are fully dedicated to always looking after your Personal Information in a way you feel is 100% safe and secure, handling it in a responsible manner and complying with data protection laws. This website www.findmypast.com is owned and operated by Findmypast Limited (FMP), a company registered in England and Wales no. 04369607, having its registered offices at The Glebe, 6 Chapel Place, Rivington Street, London, EC2A 3DQ.

What are cookies

Cookies are small text files that are placed on your computer or mobile device by websites that you visit. They are widely used in order to make websites work, or work more efficiently, as well as to provide information to the owners of the site. We use cookies to store certain information such as searches and presenting personalised content.

How can I control my cookies?

Browser settings

Most web browsers automatically accept cookies and similar technologies, but if you prefer, you can change your browser settings to do the following:

• Delete all cookies;
• Block all cookies;
• Allow all cookies;
• Block third-party cookies;
• Clear all cookies when you close the browser;
• Open a 'private browsing' / 'incognito' session, which allows you to browse the internet without storing local data; and
• Install add-ons and plug-ins to extend browser functionality.

For more information on controlling cookies using different browsers, see Browser Controls below.

Useful information

• A number of websites provide detailed information on cookies, including AboutCookies.org and AllAboutCookies.org.
• The Internet Advertising Bureau website Your Online Choices allows you to install opt-out cookies across different advertising networks.
• Google has developed a browser add-on to allow users to opt-out of Google Analytics across all websites which use this popular analytics product.
• New technologies such as Mozilla's Do Not Track allow you to tell websites not to track you.
• Internet Explorer has a feature called Tracking Protection Lists which allows you to import a list of websites you want to block.

Type of Cookies

We use the following types of cookies on our website:

Necessary - These are cookies which are essential for the running of our websites. They include for example, cookies that allow you to remain logged into our website. Without these cookies, parts of our websites would not function. These cookies do not track where you have been on the internet and do not gather information about you that could be used for marketing purposes.

Functionality – These cookies are used to remember your preferences on our websites and to provide enhanced, more personal features. Functional cookies do not track your internet usage or gather information which could be used for selling advertising, but they do help with serving advertising.

Analytics - Analytical performance cookies are used to monitor the performance of our websites, for example, to determine the number of page views and the number of unique users a website has. Web analytics services may be designed and operated by third parties. The information provided by these cookies allows us to analyse patterns of user behaviour and we use that information to enhance user experience or identify areas of the website which may require maintenance. The information may include your member key which is an internal identifier for all users. The information is used only for statistical purposes and will be transmitted to and stored by Google on servers in the United States.

Google will use this information for the purpose of evaluating your use of the website, compiling reports on website activity for website operators and providing other services relating to website activity and internet usage. Google may also transfer this information to third parties where required to do so by law, or where such third parties process the information on Google's behalf. Google will not associate your IP address with any other data held by Google.

Advertising - These cookies, which may be placed on your device by us or our trusted third party service providers, remember that you have visited a website and use that information to provide you with advertising which is tailored to your interests. This is often called online behavioural advertising (OBA) and is done by grouping together shared interests based upon web browsing history. Your web browsing history can be used to infer things about you (e.g. your age, gender etc.), and this information may also be used to make advertising on websites more relevant to you. Without these cookies, online advertisements you encounter will be less relevant to you and your interests. If you would like more information about OBA, including how to opt-out of these cookies, see the section above ‘How can I control my cookies’.

Where we associate personal information with cookies, we process this information for the purpose of our legitimate interest in the case of necessary cookies and in all other cases on the basis of your consent. For more information on how we use cookies, see our Privacy Policy.

Browser Controls

The effect of disabling cookies depends on which cookies you disable but, in general, the website may not operate properly if all cookies are switched off. If you only disable third party cookies, you will not be prevented from making purchases of subscriptions on our website. If you disable all cookies, you will be unable to complete a purchase of a subscription on our website.

If you want to disable cookies on our site, you need to change your website browser settings to reject cookies. How you can do this will depend on the browser you use. Further details on how to disable cookies for the most popular browsers are set out below:

>For Microsoft Internet Explorer:

1. Choose the menu “tools” then “Internet Options”

2. Click on the “privacy” tab

3. Select the setting the appropriate setting

>For Google Chrome:

1. Choose Settings> Advanced

2. Under "Privacy and security," click “Content settings”.

3. Click “Cookies”

>For Safari:

1. Choose Preferences > Privacy

2. Click on “Remove all Website Data”

>For Mozilla firefox:

1. Choose the menu “tools” then “Options”

2. Click on the icon “privacy”

3. Find the menu “cookie” and select the relevant options

>For Opera 6.0 and further:

1. Choose the menu Files”> “Preferences”

2. Privacy

Where you have not set your permissions, we may also separately prompt you regarding our use of cookies on the Site.

Except for necessary cookies, all cookies used on our site will expire after 10 years.

Findmypast Cookies

You can find more information about the individual cookies we use and the purposes for which we use them here:

Contact us

If you have any question or concerns, you can email support@findmypast.com.au, or call Customer Support on +44(0)20 3326 6300 [UK, IE, AU] Findmypast’s full privacy statement is available here.

Policy statement updated 8 May 2018.

Policy statement updated 13 August 2018.