---
title: "Cookie Policy"
date: 2026-05-05
author: "Barry Elad"
---

# Cookie Policy

A practical inventory of the client-side data SQ Magazine stores in your browser: why it is stored, how long it persists, and how you can remove it. This document is a companion to the [Privacy Policy](https://sqmagazine.co.uk/privacy-policy/).

## Categories on This Site

Each category below maps to a specific function. Removing a category has the predictable effect listed in the “If disabled” line.

### 1. Authentication and session

- **Set by:** WordPress core
- **Examples:** wordpress\_logged\_in\_\*, wp-settings-\*
- **Persists:** session, or 14 days if “Remember me” was selected
- **Purpose:** Keep contributing authors and editors signed in across page loads
- **If disabled:** Editors cannot stay logged in; the site otherwise reads the same to anonymous visitors

### 2. Edge protection

- **Set by:** Cloudflare
- **Examples:** \_\_cf\_bm, cf\_clearance
- **Persists:** 30 minutes for \_\_cf\_bm, up to 1 year for cf\_clearance
- **Purpose:** Bot management, DDoS mitigation, challenge-response signaling
- **If disabled:** Cloudflare may serve more aggressive challenge pages because it cannot remember earlier verification

### 3. Analytics (consent-gated)

- **Set by:** Google Analytics 4
- **Examples:** \_ga, \_ga\_\*
- **Persists:** up to 2 years for \_ga
- **Purpose:** Aggregate visit counting, page-engagement measurement; IP-anonymized
- **If disabled:** The site functions identically; we lose anonymized aggregate counts for the affected visit

This category is **off by default in the EEA, UK, Switzerland, and California**, and is enabled only after you accept it on the consent banner. Elsewhere it is enabled by default and can be disabled through the same banner.

### 4. Caching layer

- **Set by:** FlyingPress
- **Persists:** session, or until cache invalidation
- **Purpose:** Identify which page variant to serve from cache; contains no personal data
- **If disabled:** Slightly slower first paint on some pages

### 5. Functional preferences

- **Set by:** Site itself, when you take a non-essential action
- **Examples:** dismissed-newsletter flag, reading-preference flag
- **Persists:** 30 days, unless you opt to remember the choice
- **Purpose:** Avoid showing the same prompt repeatedly
- **If disabled:** You may see the newsletter prompt on every visit

### 6. Embedded third-party resources

When a page loads a YouTube video, an X post, or a similar embed, the third party sets its own cookies under its own policy. We default to privacy-preserving variants (such as youtube-nocookie.com) where they exist.

### 7. Push notifications (consent-gated)

- **Set by:** OneSignal
- **Examples:** onesignal-\* keys (localStorage and IndexedDB), a push service worker
- **Persists:** until you unsubscribe or clear site data
- **Purpose:** Deliver browser push notifications for new articles and updates
- **If disabled:** You receive no push notifications; the site otherwise functions identically

This category is **consent-gated in the EEA, UK, and Switzerland**, where OneSignal stores nothing until you accept it on the consent banner; elsewhere it loads normally. The script loads only after you interact with the page, so it does not run on a plain page load. In every region, a subscription starts only after you click **Allow** on your browser’s own permission prompt, and OneSignal records a subscription ID at that point.

## Removing What We Have Stored

Three layers, in order of how surgical you want to be:

- **On-site banner:** withdraws analytics consent and clears the relevant cookies on the next page load
- **Browser site-data tools:** Chrome chrome://settings/cookies/detail?site=sqmagazine.co.uk; Firefox Settings, Privacy, Manage Data; Safari Preferences, Privacy, Manage Website Data
- **Browser-level extensions:** uBlock Origin, Privacy Badger, or NoScript can block third-party network requests before any cookie is set

## Vendor References

- Google LLC, [policies.google.com/privacy](https://policies.google.com/privacy)
- Cloudflare Inc., [cloudflare.com/cookie-policy](https://www.cloudflare.com/cookie-policy/)
- YouTube (Google LLC), covered by the Google policy above
- X Corp., [x.com/en/privacy](https://x.com/en/privacy)
- OneSignal, Inc., [onesignal.com/privacy](https://onesignal.com/privacy)

## Reviewing This Document

We revise this document whenever our analytics, edge, or caching configuration changes. The date below records the last substantive review rather than a fixed schedule, so it moves only when the policy itself does. Last reviewed: **July 1, 2026**.

## Contact

Subject line **A11y** is for accessibility, **Cookies** is for this document, **Privacy** is for the broader policy. All three reach **media@sqmagazine.co.uk**.