Legal
Cookie Policy
What gets stored on your device, which category it belongs to, and how to shut it off.
Last updated August 24, 2026
How Consent Works Here
Nothing optional loads before you choose. Analytics and advertising tags are held back until you allow their category, so rejecting them means no request is made to those vendors at all. Your choice is stored with the version of this policy it was made against, and a new version asks you again rather than assuming.
What Cookies Are
A cookie is a small file a site stores in your browser. Related technologies do the same job by other means: local storage keeps values in the browser, and a pixel is a tiny request that reports an event back to a vendor. This policy covers all of them.
Categories
| Category | Consent | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Strictly necessary | Always on | Security, load balancing, form submission, session handling, and remembering your cookie choice. These cannot be switched off because the site does not function without them. |
| Functional | Off until you allow it | Stores things like whether you already dismissed a newsletter prompt or which options you picked on a form, so the site stops asking you the same question. |
| Analytics | Off until you allow it | Page views, referrers, scroll depth, clicks, hovers on interactive elements, return visits, and form completion. Used to decide what to write next and to find broken paths. No analytics tag loads until you allow this category. |
| Marketing | Off until you allow it | Conversion and audience pixels from advertising platforms. These can be used to measure ad performance and to build audiences on those platforms. No pixel loads until you allow this category. |
Cookies and Pixels in Use
Names can vary slightly as vendors update their tooling. Anything set on this site falls into one of the categories above, and advertising and analytics entries appear only after you allow them.
| Name | Provider | Category | Purpose | Duration |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| bm_cookie_consent | benmcgary.com | Strictly necessary | Stores your cookie choice and the policy version it was made against. | 12 months |
| bm_attribution | benmcgary.com | Strictly necessary | Holds first-touch referrer and campaign values so a form submission can be credited to the page that sent you. | Session to 90 days |
| sb-*-auth-token | Supabase (backend) | Strictly necessary | Signed-in session for admin areas of this site. Not set for ordinary visitors. | Session |
| bm_prefs | benmcgary.com | Functional | Remembers dismissed prompts and small interface preferences. | 12 months |
| _ga, _ga_* | Google Analytics | Analytics | Distinguishes visitors and sessions to produce aggregate usage reports. | Up to 24 months |
| _clck, _clsk | Microsoft Clarity | Analytics | Session replay and heatmap measurement, including clicks, hovers, and scroll depth. | Up to 12 months |
| raek_id | Raek | Analytics | Visitor identification and behavior tracking for content and conversion measurement. | Up to 12 months |
| cebs | Crazy Egg | Analytics | Heatmaps, scroll maps, and click tracking across pages. | Up to 12 months |
| bm_anon_id | Behavioral analytics pixel | Analytics | Pseudonymous interaction tracking to understand page and element engagement. | Up to 12 months |
| _fbp | Meta | Marketing | Advertising conversion measurement and audience building. | Up to 3 months |
| li_sugr, bcookie | Marketing | Advertising conversion measurement and audience building. | Up to 6 months | |
| MUID, _uetsid, _uetvid | Microsoft Advertising (Bing) | Marketing | Advertising conversion measurement and audience building. | Up to 13 months |
Third-Party Cookies
Analytics and advertising cookies are set by the vendors themselves under their own policies. Each of those vendors is named on the subprocessor page with what it receives and where it operates.
Global Privacy Control and Do Not Track
If your browser or an extension sends a Global Privacy Control or Do Not Track signal, I treat it as an opt-out. Analytics and marketing stay off automatically and the banner does not nag you. You can still open preferences and turn something on deliberately.
Managing Cookies in Your Browser
- Every major browser lets you block or delete cookies in its privacy settings.
- Blocking strictly necessary cookies will break forms, sign-in, and the memory of your cookie choice itself.
- Clearing your browser storage erases your stored consent, so the banner will ask again on your next visit.
Changes
This policy changes whenever the vendors or categories change. The current version is posted here with the date it took effect, and a material change bumps the consent version so you get asked again. Related reading: the privacy policy covers everything collected outside cookies.