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.
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
- Cloudflare Inc., cloudflare.com/cookie-policy
- YouTube (Google LLC), covered by the Google policy above
- X Corp., x.com/en/privacy
- OneSignal, Inc., 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.
