Cookie Policy — CogniCloud

1. What Are Cookies?

Cookies are small text files placed on your device when you visit a website. They are widely used to make websites work, or work more efficiently, and to provide information to the site owner. Alongside traditional cookies, we may also use local storage, session storage, and similar technologies (collectively referred to as "cookies" in this policy).

Cookies may be "first-party" (set by cognicloud.net directly) or "third-party" (set by a service provider on our behalf). They may be "session" cookies that expire when you close your browser, or "persistent" cookies that remain on your device until they expire or you delete them.

2. Cookies We Use

We aim to use as few cookies as possible. We never sell data collected via cookies to third parties.

2.1 Strictly necessary cookies

These cookies are essential for the Website to function. They cannot be switched off without seriously affecting your experience. No personal data is stored beyond what is necessary.

Name	cogni_consent
Purpose	Stores your cookie consent choice (accepted / rejected / essential-only)
Type	First-party, persistent
Duration	12 months
Data stored	Your consent preference as a single string — no personal identifiers

Name	__cf_bm
Purpose	Cloudflare bot management — protects the site from automated abuse
Type	First-party (set by Cloudflare on our behalf), session
Duration	30 minutes
Data stored	Anonymised bot score

2.2 Functional cookies

These cookies enable enhanced functionality such as remembering your preferences. Disabling them may reduce the quality of your experience.

Name	cogni_theme
Purpose	Remembers your colour scheme preference (currently: dark mode only)
Type	First-party, persistent
Duration	12 months
Data stored	Theme string ('dark' or 'light')

2.3 Analytics cookies

These cookies help us understand how visitors interact with the Website by collecting anonymised data about page views, session duration, and referral sources. This information is used solely to improve the Website. We only activate these cookies with your consent.

Provider	Vercel Analytics (self-hosted)
Purpose	Aggregate, anonymised page view and Web Vitals metrics
Type	First-party
Duration	Session
Data stored	Hashed path, viewport size, connection speed — no user IDs or IP addresses

2.4 Marketing & targeting cookies

We do not currently use marketing, retargeting, or advertising cookies. If this changes, we will update this policy and ask for your consent before placing any such cookies.

3. Third-Party Cookies

Some features of the Website may load content from third-party services that set their own cookies. We take steps to minimise third-party cookie usage, but cannot fully control what third-party scripts set on your device.

Cloudflare — network performance and security (essential; set automatically)
Vercel — hosting and performance monitoring (anonymised analytics only, with consent)
Future: We may integrate additional services (e.g. live chat, event tracking) — these will be disclosed here before activation and will require your consent

4. Your Consent

When you first visit cognicloud.net, we display a cookie consent banner at the bottom of the screen. You may choose one of three options:

Accept All — enables strictly necessary, functional, and analytics cookies
Essential Only / Reject — only strictly necessary cookies are placed; analytics cookies are blocked
Manage Preferences — lets you granularly enable or disable each category

Your preference is stored in a first-party cookie and in your browser's local storage. You may change your preferences at any time by clicking "Cookie Settings" in the footer or clearing your browser's cookies for cognicloud.net.

Under the UK Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations (PECR), we do not require consent for strictly necessary cookies.

5. Managing Cookies in Your Browser

Most browsers allow you to control cookies through their settings. Below are links to the cookie management guides for common browsers:

Chrome: Settings → Privacy and Security → Cookies and other site data
Safari: Settings → Privacy → Manage Website Data
Firefox: Settings → Privacy & Security → Cookies and Site Data
Edge: Settings → Privacy, search, and services → Cookies and site permissions

Note that blocking all cookies may prevent certain parts of cognicloud.net from functioning correctly.

For information about opting out of analytics and interest-based advertising across websites, you can also visit youronlinechoices.eu (EU/UK) or optout.aboutads.info (US).

6. Policy Updates

We may update this Cookie Policy from time to time as we add new features or service providers. When we do, we will update the "Last updated" date and, where cookies are materially changed, re-display the consent banner so you can review and update your preferences.

7. Contact

Questions about our use of cookies? Contact us at privacy@cognicloud.net or CogniCloud Ltd, 50 Princes Street, Ipswich, IP1 1RJ, United Kingdom.