Cookie FAQ
What is a Cookie?
A cookie is nothing more than a little bit of data that is sent by our Excalibur server to your computer's browser. The browser keeps the information in a data file located on your hard drive. Later, our Excalibur server can ask your browser for the contents of the cookie.
An Excalibur Cookie contains:
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The pages of our website at which the Cookie is valid; usually, this means an order form or an 'adult' sub-section of the website where the content should not be viewed by minors. |
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How long the Cookie is valid for: For ordering movies, etc., the Cookies are valid only for the duration of your visit to the Excalibur website; Your ID# Cookie is valid for the one week if it is the Temporary Number, or for 6 months in the case of your Permanent Number. |
| 3. |
It also stores a keyword that identifies the Cookie plus the actual bits of data needed to perform its function such as the actual movie order information or your ID number. |
It is important to understand that all of the data in a cookie comes from your activity on the Excalibur website. None of this information comes from your personal computer! Excalibur cookies cannot be used to discover anything about your computer or the files on it. They are merely a tool that lets the Excalibur server store a bit of information on your computer for later use so that you can easily traverse our website and place orders.
How long do Cookies last?
As noted in 2. above, a website may set an expiration date for a cookie it delivers. If no expiration date is specified, the cookie is deleted when you exit the browser program.
Why are Cookies needed?
Cookies help websites resolve a major problem with the way the Internet actually functions. The problem is twofold in that when you visit a website, you don't connect to that website continuously; instead, each time you need a new page, or a new graphic, your browser connects, gets the information from the server, and then disconnects. Constantly ON and OFF. Usually, all the server knows is that a computer at a particular address on the Internet wanted a particular piece of information. And, secondly, this information can't be used to identify individual visitors to the website because in most cases, a single internet address can be shared by numerous visitors.
Why does Excalibur need to know who I am?
Being able to identify individual customers to our website allows us to provide a number of advanced services to you, including our most popular features:
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1. Automated Order Forms for on-line ordering
2. Personal ID Numbers to access adult areas
3. Movies can viewed on demand on your monitor
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Our Cookies simply contain your password and the movies you may wish to order, so you don't have to go through the labor of typing each and every one of them in by hand. We do not use log file and tracking information to extract information about individual customers. While we, of course, want to know what parts of the Excalibur website are the most popular -- so that we will know to expand that section even more -- we won't look to see who went where and did what.
How do Browsers handle Cookies?
Most browsers offer the following cookie choices:
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1. Accept all cookies
2. Accept only cookies that get sent back to originating server
3. Disable all cookies
4. Warn me before accepting a cookie
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These choices are in the Edit menu, under Preferences, Advanced. Communicator 4.0 defaults to accept all cookies.
Can Cookies read information from your hard drive?
No. Cookies can only store data that is provided by the server or generated by an explicit user action.
Where are Cookies stored?
Cookie data is stored unencrypted on the user's hard drive (although during actual communication it is stored in memory). The filename is different for each platform. For example, on Windows machines, cookie data is stored in a file called COOKIE.TXT.
Can other sites read Excalibur Cookie information?
Cookies are designed to be read only by the site that provides them, not by other websites.
Why doesn't my Customer Number work?
When a valid Customer Membership Number does not work, 99.9% of the time it is a "Cookie" problem. The cookie file could be corrupted or too large.
Please try the following "Cookie Fix" procedure:
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1. Make sure you are accepting cookies.
2. Go to <http://www.excaliburfilms.com/cookie_fix.cfm
3. Close your Netscape or Internet Explorer browser.
4. Re-open your browser.
5. Return to the Excalibur page that refused entry.
6. When prompted, enter your Customer Number. |
If you still have problems, please get back to us -- We are here to help you.
Another word of caution:
When you decide to accept a Cookie, you should feel that you can trust the company (website) your are dealing with -- Please be sure to read our Mailorder Guidelines: some of the principles to which all Internet companies should follow. And, yes, be sure to check us out also!
Cookie Central is an extensive web site devoted to all of the private, political and legal issues involved in the use of cookies to track what a surfer is viewing. It contains in-depth articles on the subject. You will find it worth a visit.
To all of us at Excalibur Films, your personal privacy is our most important service -- followed closely by the lowest prices and fastest delivery available anywhere!
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