LMS & Third-Party Cookies – Locatrix

Third-Party Cookies. What are they?

When browsing the web, most websites will use these things called cookies, which websites use to store small bits of data on your computer. This could be anything from whether you wanted to use light or dark mode on a website to how long you're staying logged in for, to what items you had in your cart on that Amazon spending spree before you closed your browser. These cookies are incredibly versatile and are used in countless different ways to ensure that you get a streamlined experience relevant to you.

Third-party cookies specifically refer to cookies that are created by other websites that have elements on the website you're visiting. For instance, if you're visiting your favourite social media platform and that platform has some ads from Google on the page, Google can set third-party cookies containing data about what products you were interested in and what ads you interacted with while on someone else's website that is using their ads. It will then use the data in those cookies to suggest similar products to the ones you showed an interest in.

Well that sounds cool, why do I need them?

Because PlanSafe is being loaded in another website, your LMS, we need to utilise these cookies to ensure data about your training is passed back and forth correctly between your LMS and PlanSafe. We rely on these cookies to communicate data such as assessment progress, training status, information about your current session, and more. As such, without these cookies enabled, the LMS integration will not work correctly.

But wait, why are they blocked?

In a world where digital privacy is becoming more in the view of the every-day consumer, people are beginning to protest the use of this data being used to track interactions across different websites to offer these personalised experience. Many feel that this is a violation of their privacy and are conscious of how this data is used. This is a valid concern and many browsers are aiming to address this with different methods, the most popular being an opt-in permissions systems for websites to store and distribute data in this way. However due to this still being a ways off for some browser, there is still a reliance on third-party cookies in situations such as these.

If you have any concerns about what data we collect, how that data is stored or used, or how we ensure the security of your data, we recommend checking out the below resources.