Cookie Policy
What this website stores on your device, why, and how to change your mind. We build tracking systems for a living, so it would be a poor look to be vague about our own.
Last updated: 2 October 2026.
Table of Contents
What cookies are
Cookies are small text files a website stores on your device. They let a site remember things between pages and visits — that you are signed in, what you put in a cart, or which options you chose.
This policy also covers similar technologies with the same effect: local storage, session storage, pixels and tracking scripts. Where we say “cookies”, we mean all of these.
The categories we use
Every cookie on this site falls into one of four categories.
Strictly necessary
Required for the site to function — security and abuse prevention on forms. These cannot be switched off and do not require consent, because the site cannot work without them.
Functional
Remember preferences such as language or previously submitted form details, to save you repeating yourself. Switching these off degrades convenience but not function.
Analytics
Help us understand how the site is used in aggregate — which pages are read, where people arrive from, where they leave. We use this to improve the site, not to identify you individually.
Marketing
Set by advertising platforms to measure whether our campaigns work and, in some cases, to show you our advertising elsewhere. On this site that is Google Ads (Google LLC): it measures whether a click on one of our ads leads to an enquiry, and it can show our ads to people who have visited the site before. You can turn off personalised ads at Google Ads Settings, and Google explains how it uses this data at policies.google.com/technologies/ads.
The specific cookies on this site
The table below lists what we set. It is maintained from an actual scan of the site rather than a generic template, and is reviewed when we change our tooling.
| Cookie / technology | Set by | Category | Purpose | Retention |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| _GRECAPTCHA | Google reCAPTCHA (Google LLC) | Strictly necessary | Security and abuse prevention on forms. | 6 months |
| _ga, _ga_* | Google Analytics | Analytics | Distinguishes visitors and sessions to produce aggregate usage reporting. | Up to 2 years |
| _fbp | Meta | Marketing | Measures whether our advertising leads to enquiries, and supports advertising elsewhere. | Up to 3 months |
| _gcl_au | Google Ads (Google LLC) | Marketing | Links a click on one of our ads to a later enquiry, so we can measure the ads. | 90 days |
| test_cookie | Google Ads (Google LLC), on doubleclick.net | Marketing | Checks that your browser accepts cookies before ads are measured. | 15 minutes |
How to opt out
You can opt out of personalised advertising from Google at Google Ads Settings, and out of Google Analytics with Google’s opt-out browser add-on. Opting out stops further collection; it does not retroactively delete data already collected, though you can request deletion under our Privacy Policy.
You can also block or delete cookies in your browser settings. Blocking strictly necessary cookies will break parts of the site.
Browser privacy signals
How this site treats browser privacy signals:
- Global Privacy Control (GPC) and Do Not Track — this site does not read either signal automatically yet. To opt out of the sale or sharing of your personal information, email contact@aqsashahzad.com.
Third parties and international transfers
Some cookies are set by third parties who act as independent controllers of the data they collect — notably Google and Meta. Their own privacy policies govern that processing and we do not control it.
These providers may process data outside your country, including in the United States. Where required, transfers rely on appropriate safeguards such as the EU Standard Contractual Clauses or an applicable adequacy decision.
Changes and contact
We update this policy when our tooling changes. The “last updated” date at the top shows when it last changed, and material changes will be noted here.
Questions about cookies or a request relating to your data: contact@aqsashahzad.com. See also our Privacy Policy and Data Processing Agreement.
