Last updated: September 4, 2026
This page explains what cookies and similar technologies GeekBlog.net uses, what each type is for, and how you can control them. It forms part of our Privacy Policy, which describes in full how we handle personal information.
1. What a cookie is
A cookie is a small text file that a website asks your browser to store on your device. On your next visit, the browser sends it back, which lets the site recognise the device and remember settings. Related technologies do similar jobs: local storage keeps data in the browser, a tracking pixel is a tiny invisible image whose loading records that a page or an email was opened, and a software development kit inside an embedded player can read identifiers of its own.
Cookies set by geekblog.net are called first party cookies. Cookies set by another company whose code runs on our pages, such as an analytics or advertising provider, are third party cookies.
2. The categories we use
| Category | What it does | Can you refuse it? |
|---|---|---|
| Strictly necessary | Serves the pages, keeps the site secure, balances load, blocks attacks, remembers that you answered the cookie notice, and keeps an editor logged in to the administration area. | No. The site cannot work without these. |
| Preferences | Remembers choices such as your comment details, so you do not retype them, and any display preference you set. | Yes. |
| Analytics | Counts visits and page views and shows which articles are read, how people arrive and where they leave. Used in aggregate to decide what to write. | Yes. |
| Advertising | Selects the ads shown to you, limits how often you see the same one, measures whether an ad worked, and detects invalid traffic. May be used to build an advertising profile across sites. | Yes. |
3. Typical cookies on this site
| Set by | Purpose | Category | Typical lifetime |
|---|---|---|---|
| geekblog.net | Security, caching and load balancing of the page you requested | Strictly necessary | Session to 12 months |
| geekblog.net | Remembers the name, email and website you entered on a comment form | Preferences | Up to 12 months |
| geekblog.net | Login and screen options for editors in the administration area | Strictly necessary | Session to 14 days |
| Google Analytics | Distinguishes visitors and sessions for audience measurement | Analytics | Session to 24 months |
| Google and other advertising partners | Ad selection, frequency capping, measurement and fraud detection | Advertising | Session to 24 months |
| Affiliate networks, including Amazon Associates | Attributes a purchase to a referral from this site | Advertising | Typically 24 hours to 30 days |
| Embedded players and social widgets | Playback, preferences and measurement inside the embed | Advertising, preferences | Set by the provider |
Exact cookie names and lifetimes are set by the providers and change without notice on their side. The table describes what runs on the site in practice rather than promising a fixed list.
4. Controlling cookies in your browser
Every major browser lets you see the cookies stored for a site, delete them, block third party cookies or block all cookies. The controls sit under Privacy and security in Chrome and Edge, Privacy and security in Firefox, and Privacy in Safari. Blocking strictly necessary cookies will break parts of the site, including comment forms.
Browsers also offer private or incognito windows, which discard cookies when the window is closed, and most now block third party advertising cookies by default.
5. Opting out of personalised advertising
- Google. Turn off ad personalisation in your Google account ad settings at myadcenter.google.com.
- Multiple vendors at once. Use the Digital Advertising Alliance tool at optout.aboutads.info or the Network Advertising Initiative tool at optout.networkadvertising.org.
- In Europe. Use youronlinechoices.eu.
- On a phone. Reset or limit the advertising identifier in the privacy settings of iOS or Android.
These tools stop advertising from being personalised. They do not remove advertising, and they store their own opt out cookie, so clearing your cookies will undo them.
6. Global Privacy Control
If your browser or an extension sends a Global Privacy Control signal, we treat it as an instruction to opt out of the sharing of personal information for targeted advertising. Because there is still no agreed industry standard for the older Do Not Track header, we do not act on it separately.
7. Consent, and where it applies
Where the law requires consent before non essential cookies are set, notably in the European Economic Area and the United Kingdom, we ask for it before those cookies are placed and you can change your answer at any time by clearing site data and reloading the page. Strictly necessary cookies do not require consent and are always set.
8. Changes to this policy
We update this page when the technologies on the site change. The date at the top records the last revision.
Questions about cookies: contact@geekblog.net. See also our Privacy Policy and Terms and Conditions.