Local Storage

In December 2019 we updated our tracking library to use local storage where available, with a fallback to use cookies in the event that the visitor's browser does not support local storage.

Local storage uses the same names and collects the same data as described in the Cookies section below for the first party cookies.

Cookie Storage

We use a mixture of First and Third party cookies in order to ascertain where a visitor came from and what number to display to them. Many of these cookies are stored on a per-installation basis and so will be suffixed with the Installation ID (denoted by ).

For example, if you have an installation with an ID of 1, ictf_in becomes ictf_in1

Below is an outline of each cookie stored, and what it is used for:

Name	Functional Description	What does each Cookie store	First party / Third party
ictf_master	Unique Visitor Ref	Stores the unique Visitor Reference	First Party
ictf_il	Tracking Source cache	Contains per installation tracking source cache	First Party
ictf_in	Number Replacement Source cache	Contains per installation number replacement source cache	First Party
ict_0	Third Party Source cache	Contains third party tracking and number replacement source cache	Third Party
ict_master	Unique Visitor Ref	Stores the unique Visitor Reference	Third Party

First-party Cookies

First-party cookies are cookies that belong to the same domain that is shown in the browser's address bar (or that belong to the sub domain of the domain in the address bar).

It is important to understand what type of cookies your website relies on when it comes to call tracking as this may affect the way your tracking works.

Third-party Cookies

Third-party cookies are cookies that belong to domains different from the one shown in the address bar. Web pages can feature content from third-party domains (such as banner ads), which opens up the potential for tracking the user's browsing history. Privacy setting options in most modern browsers allow the blocking of third-party tracking cookies, therefore you may need to consider our Disable Land Detection article, if your website is using this type of structure.

Growth of third party cookie rejection

Reports and research on the subject of website tracking tell us that the rejection of third-party cookies is growing. Increasing numbers of people are either manually blocking third-party cookies, or deleting them regularly.

The number of people who block third-party cookies has been given numbers as high as 40%. If you count that many anti-spyware applications and default privacy settings also block third-party cookies, then it is possible that a high percentage of cookies are being blocked.

We have a solution for ensuring that third-party cookies are carried during a visitor session, which is detailed in our External Domains article.

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