Last updated: 9 November 2026 · Version 2026-11-09
This page explains which cookies and similar tools the SurfCamItalia website uses, what they are for and how long they remain in your browser.
In short: we use only technical tools, necessary to make the service you request work; we do not use profiling, advertising or analytics cookies, nor third-party tools to track you. For this reason the website does not show a consent banner.
This page complements the Privacy Policy. Who the Provider is and how to contact them is indicated in the “Service provider and contacts” section of the “Legal information” page.
1. What cookies and similar tools are
Cookies are small files that a website saves in your browser to recognise you from one page to the next. Similar tools are the browser’s local storage and session storage. Technical cookies and tools serve to provide the service you request and do not require consent (art. 122 Italian Privacy Code (Codice privacy); Italian Data Protection Authority (Garante) cookie guidelines of 10 June 2021).
2. Technical cookies
They are all first-party cookies, set by SurfCamItalia; those needed for signing in cannot be read by the page’s scripts and travel only over an encrypted connection.
| Name | What it is for | Duration |
|---|---|---|
| __Host-sci_session | Keeps you signed in after you sign in | Until the end of the session: at most 90 days, or 30 days without activity (staff: 7 days, or 12 hours without activity). It is deleted when you sign out |
| __Host-sci_device | Recognises this browser as one of your authorised devices, to protect the account from sharing | 400 days; it remains even after you sign out, so that the same computer stays the same device |
| __Host-sci_mfa_trust | Staff only: remembers a trusted device for two-step verification | 30 days (or the period set, from 1 to 90 days) |
| sci_join_partner | Remembers the partner you chose while you register for a Partner agreement | 2 hours |
| sci_upcoming_picks | Remembers the webcams you chose on the “Upcoming webcams” page before signing in | 7 days |
3. Browser storage
| Key | Type | What it is for | Duration |
|---|---|---|---|
| surfcamitalia.freeLiveBanner.dismissed | Local storage | Remembers that you closed the free LIVE notice | Until the end of that free period |
| sci-kai-snoozed-at | Local storage | Remembers when you chose «Not now» on the suggestion of the video analysis app, so it is not shown again for some hours (24 hours unless the service sets otherwise, at most 30 days); it never leaves your browser | Until you clear the site data |
| surfcam:clip-ready-seen | Local storage | Remembers the last 50 Clips for which we have already shown you the “Clip ready” notice | Until you delete the site data |
| surfcam:recording-rate | Session storage | Remembers the speed chosen in Replay and Archive | Until you close the tab |
| surfcam:community-autoplay | Local storage | Remembers whether you switched on or off, on this device, the autoplay of Clips in the Community feed | Until you delete the site data |
This data stays in your browser and is not sent to our servers.
4. Push notifications
If you turn on push notifications, the browser installs a small program of the website (service worker) that serves only to receive and display notifications: it does not save content and does not act on the pages you visit. If you turn notifications off it stops receiving them; you can remove it completely by deleting the site data from the browser.
5. Statistics without cookies
To count daily visits to Spots and webcams we do not use cookies: the server calculates a pseudonymous identifier, different every day, which is deleted after 3 days.
6. Invitations
The “Invite a friend” programme does not use cookies or other tools in the browser: the invitation works only through the personal invitation link, which contains the invitation code. The code is read when you register from that link and is not saved in your browser.
7. Third-party services
- Stripe: when you pay or manage your subscription you go to Stripe’s pages, which use their own cookies according to their own privacy notice.
- OpenFreeMap: the Spot map loads the map images from OpenFreeMap’s servers; your browser connects to those servers, which receive the IP address and the technical data of the request (see Privacy Policy).
No other third-party service is loaded in our pages.
8. How to manage cookies
You can delete or block cookies from your browser settings. If you block technical cookies you will not be able to sign in to your account and some functions will not work.
9. Changes
If we add a cookie or a similar tool we update this page before using it. If we should ever use tools that require consent, we will ask you before activating them.