Cookie Policy
Last updated: 3 September 2026
This Cookie Policy explains how Adsy Media (operated by Kairen Whittock), carrying on business as Adsy Media, uses cookies and similar technologies on adsy-media.com (the “Site”), what each of them does, how long it lasts, and how you can control them. It forms part of our Privacy Policy, which explains the legal bases on which we rely and the rights available to you.
1. What cookies and similar technologies are
- Cookies are small text files that a website asks your browser to store and send back on later requests. A first-party cookie is set by the domain you are visiting; a third-party cookie is set by another domain, such as an advertising or analytics provider, whose code runs on the page. A session cookie is deleted when you close your browser; a persistent cookie has an expiry date.
- Local storage and session storage are browser storage areas that hold small amounts of data for a site. Unlike cookies they are not sent with every request, and
localStoragehas no automatic expiry — it persists until the site or you clear it. - Pixels (also called clear GIFs, web beacons or tracking pixels) are tiny transparent image or script requests embedded in a page or an email. Loading one tells the server that the page or message was rendered, and can carry a cookie identifier with it.
- Software development kits (SDKs) are third-party code libraries embedded in apps and, in a web context, in scripts such as advertising and consent tags. They can read device and app signals, including operating-system advertising identifiers.
- Fingerprinting signals are combinations of device and browser characteristics (screen size, fonts, time zone, user-agent) that can be used to recognise a browser without storage. We do not use fingerprinting to identify readers, and we require our partners not to use it in place of a declined consent.
2. Cookie categories used on this Site
The table below lists the categories we use, with example named cookies. Exact names, presence and durations vary with the plugins, themes and tag configurations in use at any time, and third parties may change their own cookies without notice. Cookies in the Preferences, Analytics and Advertising categories are not set unless and until you consent, where consent is required by the law applying to you.
| Category | Example cookie / storage key | Purpose | Type | Typical duration |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Strictly necessary | wordpress_test_cookie |
Set by WordPress to check whether the browser accepts cookies before a login or comment attempt. | First party | Session |
| Strictly necessary | wordpress_sec_*, wordpress_logged_in_* |
Authentication and session integrity for logged-in editors and administrators. Not set for ordinary readers. | First party | Session, or up to 14 days if “remember me” is used |
| Strictly necessary | PHPSESSID |
Maintains server-side session state for form submissions. | First party | Session |
| Strictly necessary | adsy_consent |
Records your cookie consent choices per category so that we do not ask again on every page and can evidence the choice. | First party | 6 months |
| Strictly necessary | Security and delivery cookies set by our content delivery network | Bot filtering, rate limiting and routing to the nearest edge location. | Third party | Session to 12 months |
| Preferences | wp-settings-{user_id} and wp-settings-time-{user_id} |
Stores interface preferences (such as layout and editor settings) for logged-in users. | First party | 12 months |
| Preferences | comment_author_*, comment_author_email_*, comment_author_url_* |
Set by WordPress after you post a comment so that your name, email and URL are pre-filled next time. Only set if you tick the box offering that convenience. | First party | 12 months |
| Preferences | adsy_theme (localStorage) |
Remembers your light or dark reading preference and text-size choice. | First party | Until cleared |
| Analytics | _ga |
Set by Google Analytics 4 to distinguish users by assigning a randomly generated client identifier. | First party (set by Google’s script) | 2 years by default |
| Analytics | _ga_<container-id> |
Set by Google Analytics 4 to persist session state for the specific GA4 property. | First party (set by Google’s script) | 2 years by default |
| Analytics | _gid |
A legacy Google Analytics cookie used to distinguish users, present where older Universal Analytics or gtag configurations are loaded. It is not part of a standard GA4-only deployment. | First party (set by Google’s script) | 24 hours |
| Analytics | _gac_gb_<container-id> |
Set where Analytics is linked to Google Ads, to attribute campaign performance. | First party (set by Google’s script) | 90 days |
| Advertising | _gcl_au |
Set by the Google tag to store and report ad conversions. | First party (set by Google’s script) | 90 days |
| Advertising | __gads, __gpi |
Set by Google publisher tags to measure ad interactions, cap frequency and prevent the same ad from being shown repeatedly. | First party (set by Google’s script) | 13 to 24 months |
| Advertising | IDE on doubleclick.net |
Used by Google advertising services to register and report your actions after viewing or clicking an ad, and, where you have permitted personalisation, to select ads. | Third party | Up to 13 months in the EEA and UK; up to 24 months elsewhere |
| Advertising | NID, AEC on google.com |
Google security, preference and ad-serving cookies encountered where Google resources load on the page. | Third party | Approximately 6 months |
| Advertising | Embedded media cookies from youtube.com / youtube-nocookie.com |
Set when you play an embedded video, to remember playback preferences and, on the standard domain, for advertising measurement. We use privacy-enhanced embeds and load them only on interaction where technically possible. | Third party | Session to 24 months |
| Advertising | Newsletter open and click pixels | Records whether an email was rendered and which links were clicked, so we can measure editions and suppress messages to inactive addresses. | Third party (email provider) | Not stored on your device |
Google publishes its own list of the cookies it uses for advertising and measurement, including domains and durations, at business.safety.google/adscookies, and its general cookie notice at policies.google.com/technologies/cookies. Google’s documented default expirations for Analytics cookies are described in its Analytics cookie usage documentation. Note that browsers cap first-party cookie lifetimes independently of these defaults: Chrome limits them to 400 days, and Safari’s tracking protection reduces script-set first-party cookies to as little as 7 days.
3. Advertising and personalisation
The Site carries advertising served through Google AdSense and associated Google publisher services. As Google requires publishers to disclose:
- third-party vendors, including Google, use cookies to serve ads based on your prior visits to this Site or to other websites;
- Google’s use of advertising cookies enables it and its partners to serve ads to you based on your visit to this Site and/or other sites on the internet;
- you may opt out of personalised advertising by visiting Google My Ad Center (formerly Ads Settings, also reachable at adssettings.google.com).
How Google uses the information it collects from sites that use its services is described in How Google uses information from sites or apps that use our services. If we introduce additional advertising vendors, we will name them here with links to their policies and opt-outs.
Where the EU or UK GDPR, or Google’s EU User Consent Policy, applies to a reader, non-essential advertising and analytics cookies are set only after that reader has given consent through our consent banner, and consent signals are passed to Google’s tags. Turning off personalisation does not remove advertising; it means the advertising you see is contextual rather than based on a profile.
4. Controlling cookies in your browser
Every major browser lets you see, block and delete cookies, and to block third-party cookies specifically. Official instructions:
- Google Chrome
- Mozilla Firefox
- Apple Safari (macOS) and Safari on iPhone and iPad
- Microsoft Edge
- Opera
- Brave
You can also use your browser’s private or incognito mode, which discards cookies at the end of the session, and clear site data for adsy-media.com specifically without affecting other sites. On mobile operating systems you can additionally reset or withhold the advertising identifier in your device settings — on iOS through App Tracking Transparency, and on Android by deleting the advertising ID.
5. Opt-out and choice tools
- Google Analytics. Install the Google Analytics Opt-out Browser Add-on to prevent Analytics JavaScript from sending measurement data from any site.
- Google advertising. Manage or switch off ad personalisation in Google My Ad Center.
- Industry choice tools (Canada). The Digital Advertising Alliance of Canada operates the AdChoices programme. Its tools are at youradchoices.ca/en/tools, including WebChoices 2.0 for browser-based interest-based advertising, AppChoices for mobile advertising identifiers, and a token-based opt-out for hashed email and phone identifiers.
- Industry choice tools (United States). The Digital Advertising Alliance operates equivalent tools at youradchoices.com/control.
- Industry choice tools (Europe). Your Online Choices, operated by EDAA.
- Network Advertising Initiative. The NAI retired its legacy cookie-based opt-out tool on 15 September 2025. It now directs consumers to member companies’ own controls, to browser and device settings, and to the DAA tools; its current guidance is at thenai.org/how-to-opt-out. If you have seen an older NAI opt-out link in a privacy notice elsewhere, it no longer functions.
Opt-outs recorded in cookies are themselves stored in a cookie. If you clear your cookies, or use a different browser or device, you will normally need to opt out again.
6. Do Not Track and Global Privacy Control
The browser Do Not Track header was never standardised into an agreed set of obligations, and most publishers and vendors do not act on it. We therefore do not represent that we respond to DNT signals. We do honour the Global Privacy Control signal, which is a machine-readable opt-out recognised under the California Consumer Privacy Act and several other United States state privacy statutes as a valid request to stop the sale or sharing of personal information and cross-context behavioural advertising. Where your browser or extension sends GPC, we treat it as a withdrawal of consent to advertising cookies and pass the signal on to our advertising tags.
7. What happens if you disable cookies
- Blocking strictly necessary cookies may prevent login, break comment submission, cause our consent banner to reappear on every page load, and interfere with bot protection.
- Blocking preference cookies means your reading-mode and comment-form conveniences will not be remembered.
- Blocking analytics cookies has no effect on what you can read. It means your visit is not counted in our measurement, which makes it slightly harder for us to know which coverage is useful.
- Blocking advertising cookies does not remove advertising. Ads become contextual rather than personalised, frequency capping works less well, and you may see the same creative repeatedly. Because advertising funds this publication, disabling it entirely reduces the revenue that supports the reporting.
8. Changes to this Cookie Policy
We review this Policy at least annually and whenever we add, remove or reconfigure a tag, plugin or advertising partner. Material changes will be reflected in the “Last updated” date above and, where the change affects the categories to which you consented, we will ask for your consent again.
9. Contact
Questions about cookies, or requests to change or withdraw a consent choice: [email protected]. General enquiries: [email protected]. Legal notices: [email protected]. Telephone: +1 604-850-8125. Post: Adsy Media (operated by Kairen Whittock), 2090 Lonsdale Cres, Abbotsford, British Columbia, V2T 1C4, Canada.