What cookies are
Cookies are small text files stored on your device to help websites function, remember your preferences, and understand usage. This policy covers cookies and similar technologies — including local storage, session storage, and device fingerprinting — used on Aethelred Foundation websites.
Categories in use
Aethelred uses three cookie categories. Only essential cookies are active by default; analytics and marketing require explicit consent.
- Essential — required for navigation, security, and baseline functionality. Cannot be disabled.
- Analytics — privacy-preserving measurement of page performance and navigation. Disabled until you opt in.
- Marketing — attribution for outreach campaigns and events. Disabled until you opt in.
Essential cookies
Always on. Required for the site to function, respond to security events, and remember your consent choices.
What they store
- Consent state — the accept/reject/manage choices you made in the cookie banner.
- Session integrity — anti-CSRF tokens and abuse-prevention identifiers.
- UI state — remembering that you already dismissed the cookie banner on this device.
Analytics cookies
Off unless you opt in. Used to understand what content is helpful so we can improve it.
What they measure
- Aggregate page views and time on page.
- Navigation paths and internal search queries, in anonymised form.
- Device, browser, and viewport class — no IP addresses stored at rest.
Analytics tooling used by Aethelred is configured to hash identifiers and honour Do-Not-Track headers where present.
Marketing cookies
Off unless you opt in. Used to attribute outreach campaigns and measure event-driven engagement.
What they track
- Which outreach channel referred you to the site (email campaign, event, partner page).
- Whether you returned after a specific communication.
- Conversion signals for forms you completed — never the form content itself.
Retention and storage
- Session cookies — cleared automatically when you close the browser.
- Persistent cookies — stored for up to 12 months unless you clear them sooner.
- Consent records — retained for up to 24 months to evidence your preference choices.
- Local storage entries — kept until overwritten or you clear site data from the browser.
Browser-level controls
Most browsers let you block, delete, or limit cookies through their privacy settings. Disabling essential cookies may prevent parts of the site from working correctly. Analytics and marketing categories can also be disabled at the browser level if you prefer a global preference to a per-site one.
Aethelred honours the Global Privacy Control (GPC) signal by default — when GPC is detected, optional categories stay off regardless of banner state.
Manage your preferences
Use the control below to open the preference panel and adjust analytics and marketing categories on this device.
Changes to this policy
We update this policy when cookie practices change or when required by law. Check the effective date at the top of this page. Material changes are announced at least fourteen days in advance via Aethelred channels.
Questions? privacy@aethelred.org