Cookie Policy

This page explains the cookies and similar technologies used on viveknakum.com, what each one is for, and how you stay in control of them. It sits alongside the Privacy Policy.

What cookies are

Cookies are small text files a website stores on your device. They let a site remember things between pages and visits — for example that your form submission is genuine, or that you have already made a cookie choice. Similar technologies such as local storage work the same way and are covered by this policy.

My approach

I keep cookies to a minimum. There are no advertising cookies, I do not track you across other websites, and I do not sell your data.

Essential cookies are always on, because the site and its contact form cannot work without them. Analytics cookies are off until you accept them. When you first visit, a banner asks for your choice.

This site uses Google Consent Mode. Before you accept, Google Analytics runs in a restricted, cookieless mode: it sets no cookies and receives no identifier for you or your device, sending only anonymous, aggregated signals such as the page viewed. Google uses these to estimate overall visitor numbers. Only if you select “Accept” are analytics cookies set and your visit measured in the normal way. If you select “Reject”, the restricted cookieless mode stays in place.

Cookies used

Analytics is loaded through Google Tag Manager. Before you accept, both run in the restricted cookieless mode described above.

Privacy-friendly visitor counting

Separately from Google Analytics, this site keeps a simple count of page views on its own server. It is worth being clear about what that does and does not involve, because it needs no cookie and therefore no consent:

• It sets no cookie and stores nothing at all on your device.
• It records only the page path, the referring website's domain (not the full address), your country, your browser and operating system family (for example “Chrome” and “macOS”, never version numbers), whether the device is a phone, and the date.
• It does not store your IP address or your browser's user-agent string. Your country is looked up from your IP address using a database held on my own server, and the address is discarded immediately afterwards — it is never saved and never sent anywhere else.
• To avoid counting the same person twice in a day, it stores a one-way hash built from a secret that changes every day. The hash cannot be turned back into an IP address, and the same visitor on two different days produces two unrelated values — so you cannot be followed over time.
• Known bots and crawlers are excluded, as are my own admin sessions.

This exists so I can see which pages are actually useful even though most visitors, quite reasonably, do not accept analytics cookies. The lawful basis is legitimate interests, and because no information is stored on or read from your device, the cookie consent rules do not apply to it.

IP-to-country data by DB-IP, licensed under CC BY 4.0.

Changing your choice

You can change your mind at any time. Your choice is remembered for 12 months, after which you will be asked again.

Review cookie settings

Managing cookies in your browser

You can also block or delete cookies through your browser settings. Every major browser lets you clear cookies and local storage, and block them for specific sites. Blocking essential cookies will stop the contact form from working.

Changes to this policy

If the cookies used on this site change, this page is updated and the date at the top changes with it.

Contact

Any question about cookies on this site, email me at contact@viveknakum.com.