How HP uses automatic data collection tools

The following sections provide additional information about commonly-used web technology tools.


Cookies

A “cookie” is a small data file transferred by a website to your computer’s hard drive. HP or its service providers send cookies when you surf our site or sites where our ads appear, make purchases, request or personalize information, or register yourself for certain services. Accepting the cookies used on our site, sites that are “powered by” another company on HP’s behalf, or sites where our ads appear may give us access to information about your browsing behavior, which we may use to personalize your experience. Cookies are typically classified as either “session” cookies or “persistent” cookies.

  • Session cookies do not stay on your computer after you close your browser. 

  • Persistent cookies remain on your computer until you delete them or they expire. Most browsers automatically accept cookies by default, but you can usually refuse cookies or selectively accept cookies by adjusting the preferences in your browser. If you turn off cookies, there may be some features of our site that will not be available to you and some Web pages may not display properly.

You can find information on popular browsers and how to adjust your cookie preferences at the following websites:

From time to time, HP will use Flash local shared objects (LSOs) to store Flash content information and preferences. LSOs perform similar functions to HTML browser cookies and deposit small files on your computer, which are commonly called Flash cookies. Flash cookies are different from browser cookies and cookie management tools provided by your browser will not remove Flash cookies. To learn more about Flash Cookies and how to manage the related privacy and storage settings, please visit the Adobe Systems website


Web beacons

Some HP.com and third-party Web pages and HTML-formatted email use Web beacons alone or in conjunction with cookies to compile information about your website usage and your interaction with email, as well as to measure performance on hp.com and websites “powered by” another company on HP’s behalf. A Web beacon is an electronic image, called a single-pixel (1x1) or clear GIF. Web beacons can recognize certain types of information on your computer such as cookies, the time and date of a page viewed, and a description of the page where the Web beacon is placed. Depending on the context, web beacons may also refer to content on a third-party server, and may be used by service providers to deliver relevant advertising to you.  

You may be able to disable Web beacons in email messages by not downloading images contained in the message you receive (this feature varies depending on the email software used on your personal computer). However, doing this may not always disable a Web beacon or other automatic data collection tools in the email message due to specific email software capabilities. For more information about this, please refer to the information provided by your email software or service provider.

If you choose to receive marketing emails or newsletters from HP as specified in Your choices and selecting your privacy preferences, HP may automatically collect personal information about you. For example, through Web beacons and personalized URLs embedded in these emails or newsletters, HP can track whether you’ve opened those messages and whether you’ve clicked on links contained within those messages. For more information on embedded Web links, see below.


Embedded Web links

Emails from HP, Internet keyboard keys preconfigured by HP, and promotional icons preinstalled on your PC desktop often use links designed to lead you to a relevant area on the Web, after redirection through HP’s servers. The redirection system allows HP to change the destination URL of these links, if necessary, and to determine the effectiveness of our marketing initiatives.

In emails, such web links may also allow HP to determine whether you have clicked a link in an email, and this information about the interaction may be connected to your personal identity. If you do not want HP to collect information about the links that you click, you can:

  • change your choice about how you receive communications from HP (i.e. choose a text-based version of the message where available) or choose not to click links in an email that HP sends

  • delete the promotional icons preinstalled by HP on your PC desktop or choose not to click on those

  • reconfigure the Internet keyboard keys on certain PC models to launch a destination URL of your choice by using the instructions provided with your PC


HP ads and offerings on third-party websites

HP contracts with service providers to place ads on websites owned by third parties. In addition, some websites may be “powered by” a service provider to provide HP offers on HP’s behalf. These service providers may send cookies from and use Web beacons on these third-party websites and on hp.com. The cookies and Web beacons may enable HP to collect information about the pages you viewed and the links you clicked. The cookies and Web beacons may enable HP to collect information about the pages you viewed and the links you clicked.

You can learn more about network advertising and how to manage this process by visiting the Network Advertising Initiative site


Information-gathering tools

HP may use tools to collect information about your experience on some HP websites. These tools do not involve the use of Web beacons or cookies, but record your interaction with an HP website as captured by an HP server. Certain tools, used in some countries, may enable HP to replay customer web sessions. These tools are used primarily for troubleshooting purposes; information collected by these tools will be stored for a limited period of time.