What Are Cookies Anyway?

Cookies are tiny text files that websites place on your computer or phone. Think of them as digital bookmarks that help websites remember things about you. They can store your language preference, keep you logged in, or track which pages you visit most often.

Most websites use them. They've been around since the mid-90s and remain one of the most reliable ways to make browsing smoother. Without cookies, you'd need to re-enter your preferences every single time you visited a page.

We use both session cookies (which disappear when you close your browser) and persistent cookies (which stick around for a set period). Each serves a different purpose in making zironatava.world work better for you.

Types of Tracking We Use

Specific Technologies We Deploy

We also use local storage and session storage in your browser. These work similarly to cookies but can hold more information and don't get sent to our servers with every request. They're faster and more efficient for storing things like your course progress or worksheet data.

How Tracking Improves Your Experience

• We can recommend relevant financial analysis courses based on what you've already studied
• Your learning dashboard shows accurate progress across all enrolled programs
• Video lessons resume exactly where you left off, even on different devices
• We identify which teaching methods work best and adjust content accordingly
• Technical issues get spotted and fixed before they affect many students
• Registration forms remember your details for faster enrollment
• Search results improve based on what people actually find helpful
• We can send you updates about courses you've shown interest in

Real example: we noticed many students were dropping off halfway through a particular financial ratio module. The analytics showed people spent ages on one confusing section. We rewrote that section with clearer examples from South African companies, and completion rates jumped significantly.

Managing Your Cookie Preferences

You have control over which cookies you accept. Most browsers let you block or delete cookies through their settings. Just know that blocking essential cookies will probably break parts of the website.

Browser-Specific Instructions

If you're using private or incognito browsing mode, most cookies automatically get deleted when you close the window. This is useful if you're accessing zironatava.world from a shared computer at a library or internet café.

Third-Party Services

We use a few external services that set their own cookies. These include video hosting platforms for our course content and analytics tools that help us understand site performance. Each has its own privacy policy.

When you watch an embedded video or interact with certain features, those third parties might place cookies on your device. We only work with reputable services that meet privacy standards, but we can't control their tracking practices directly.

You can typically opt out of third-party tracking through industry initiatives like the Digital Advertising Alliance or by adjusting your device's privacy settings to limit tracking across sites.

Data Retention and Your Rights

Cookie data doesn't live on our servers forever. Analytics data gets aggregated and anonymized after a few months. Personal identifiers in cookies expire based on the durations listed in the table above.

Under South African data protection principles, you have the right to access information we hold about you, request corrections, or ask us to delete your data. For cookie-related requests, this means we can clear your tracking history or export what we have on file.

• Request a copy of your stored preferences and tracking data
• Ask us to delete cookies associated with your account
• Opt out of non-essential tracking while keeping functional cookies
• Update your contact preferences for cookie-based communications
• Question how specific data points are being used in our systems

To exercise these rights, contact our team through the details below. We'll respond within a reasonable timeframe, usually within two weeks for straightforward requests.

Updates to This Policy

Web technology changes constantly, and so do privacy regulations. We update this policy when we add new tracking methods or change how we use existing ones. The date at the top shows when we last revised it.

Major changes get announced through email to registered students and a notice on the homepage. Minor clarifications or formatting updates happen without fanfare. We keep previous versions archived if you ever want to see what changed.

If new regulations affect how we handle cookies in South Africa or internationally, we'll adjust our practices accordingly and update this document to reflect those changes.