Transparency & Technology
Cookie & Storage Policy
How Online Safety News uses cookies and local browser storage.
You can change your consent choices or review active browser signals at any time.
1. What Technologies We Use
Unlike traditional commercial media websites that deploy dozens of third-party advertising cookies and data brokers, Online Safety News uses a strict minimum of storage technologies.
We distinguish between Essential Operations, Local Reader Preferences, and Cookieless Telemetry.
2. Storage Ledger & Categories
| Category | Key / Technology | Function & Purpose | Type & Duration |
|---|---|---|---|
| Essential | osn_consent_preferences | Stores your privacy choices and GPC recognition so the banner is not shown repeatedly. | localStorage (Persistent) |
| Preferences | reader-theme, reader-text-size | Remembers your reading theme mode (auto/light/sepia/dark) and font scale preferences. In auto mode, your device's local clock adapts the theme (daytime light, evening sepia, nighttime dark) entirely on-device without collecting or transmitting any data. | localStorage (Persistent) |
| Telemetry (Cookieless) | Vercel Web Analytics | Generates anonymous daily aggregate view counts. Does not write persistent cookies. | Cookieless / Daily Rotating Hash |
3. Global Privacy Control (GPC)
We support and respect Global Privacy Control (GPC). If you use a browser or extension that transmits the GPC signal (such as Brave, Firefox with GPC, or DuckDuckGo), we automatically lock all non-essential analytics to disabled without requiring manual adjustment.
4. Regional Analytics Choices
Visitors in the UK and European Economic Area (EEA) must actively enable optional Vercel Web Analytics and Speed Insights before either service loads. If we cannot determine a visitor's region, we use the same opt-in default. Elsewhere, our privacy-conscious aggregate telemetry is enabled by default unless you change it in Cookie Settings. Global Privacy Control always disables non-essential analytics.
5. How to Clear or Block Storage
You can clear all local storage or block cookies at any time through your browser settings. Because our publication does not require a login or account, clearing storage will only reset your reading theme and re-display the consent prompt.