Last updated: [LAUNCH DATE]
1. The short version
We use a small number of cookies to make the Site work, to remember whether you prefer it light or dark, and — only if you agree — to understand which articles people actually read.
We do not use advertising cookies, and we do not allow third parties to track you across other websites from here.
You can change your mind at any time: change your cookie settings.
2. What cookies are
A cookie is a small text file that a website puts on your device when you visit. It lets the site recognise your device on a later page or a later visit.
We also use similar technologies — local storage, and small tracking pixels in our emails. Where this policy says “cookies”, it covers those too.
3. The law
Standpoint is published by Briarwood International LLC, a company formed in Belize, but our readers are largely in the United Kingdom and Europe and the rules that protect them apply to us.
Under the UK Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations 2003, we may only store or read information on your device without consent where it is strictly necessary to provide the service you have asked for. Everything else needs your consent, given before the cookie is set. The EU ePrivacy Directive works the same way for readers in the EEA.
That is why our consent banner appears before analytics runs, rather than after. Continuing to scroll is not consent, and neither is a banner that only tells you cookies are in use. You have to actually agree, and you have to be able to refuse as easily as you can agree.
We apply this standard to every reader, wherever you are.
4. How we manage consent
We use Cookiebot, a consent management platform operated by Usercentrics, to ask for your consent, to record it, and to make sure nothing non-essential loads until you have given it.
Cookiebot scans this site every month and generates the list at clause 6 automatically. That list is therefore a description of what is actually running, not a note of what we last remembered to write down. Given that our archive runs to several thousand pages published over more than a decade, this is the only honest way to keep the list accurate.
Cookiebot sets one cookie of its own, CookieConsent, which records what you chose so that we do not ask again on every page. It is a necessary cookie and lasts 12 months.
5. The categories
Cookiebot sorts cookies into four categories. These are the same names you will see on the consent banner.
Necessary
These make the Site work and cannot be switched off. They do not require your consent.
They include the cookie that remembers your consent choice, the session cookie that keeps track of you as you move between pages, and — if you are a member of editorial staff with a login — the cookies that keep you signed in.
Preferences
These remember choices you have made, so the Site behaves the way you left it. On this Site that means one thing: whether you chose the light or the dark version.
Statistics
These tell us, in aggregate, how the Site is used — which articles are read, how people arrive, where they give up. They help us commission better and fix what is broken. We use Google Analytics for this, loaded through Google Tag Manager.
Nothing in this category loads unless you consent to it. Where we can, we configure analytics to anonymise IP addresses and to disable data sharing with Google for advertising or product improvement.
Marketing
We do not currently use marketing or cross-site tracking cookies.
You will still see the category on the banner, because it is part of the standard set. It will simply be empty. If that ever changes, this policy will be updated, the category will be populated, and you will be asked again before anything is set. We will not quietly slip new tracking into an existing consent.
Embedded content
Some articles embed material from other services — video, audio, social media posts. Where they do, that service may set its own cookies once the embed loads, and its own privacy policy applies to it. Cookiebot holds these back until you consent. Where an embed cannot be held back, treat it as a visit to that third party’s site.
6. The full, current list
Everything Cookiebot found when it last scanned this site, with what each cookie does and how long it lasts. It updates automatically after each monthly scan.
[ EMBED: Cookiebot Cookie Declaration script here — see implementation notes ]
7. Email
Our newsletters contain a small invisible image that tells us whether the email was opened, and our links are tagged so we can see which articles readers click through to.
We use this to see what is working and to stop sending to addresses that never open anything. If you would rather we did not, most email clients let you block remote images by default, which prevents open-tracking. You can also unsubscribe entirely — every email has a link.
Email tracking sits outside the cookie banner, because it happens in your email client rather than on this site.
8. Your choices
8.1 On this site
The banner appears on your first visit. You can accept all, allow only selected categories, or decline everything that is not necessary.
To change your mind later:
- Change your cookie settings — reopens the banner so you can adjust which categories you allow.
- Withdraw your consent — removes it entirely.
Both links are also in the footer of every page. Withdrawing is as easy as giving, and takes effect immediately.
8.2 In your browser
You can also block or delete cookies in your browser settings. Instructions are in each browser’s help pages — look for “cookies” under privacy or site settings.
Blocking all cookies will stop parts of the Site working properly, including your light and dark preference.
8.3 Opting out of Google Analytics everywhere
Google publishes a browser add-on that opts you out of Google Analytics on every site, not just this one: tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout.
9. Changes
We will update this policy when our use of cookies changes. The list at clause 6 updates itself monthly. Where a change means new non-essential cookies, we will ask for your consent again rather than assuming the old one still covers it.
10. Contact
Questions about cookies, or about anything else we do with data:
See also our Privacy Policy, which includes the contact details of our UK representative.