Last updated: 3 September 2026
This page explains the cookies and similar technologies NextTechBlog uses at https://nexttechblog.com/, what each kind is for, and how to switch them off. It sits alongside our Privacy Policy, which covers what we do with personal information generally.
This page is general information, not legal advice. It is a template. If you are reusing it for your own site, have a qualified lawyer in your jurisdiction review it before publishing.
What cookies and similar technologies are
A cookie is a small text file a website asks your browser to store, and which your browser sends back on later requests. It typically holds a short identifier, not your name. Cookies are how a site remembers that you dismissed a banner, or that two pageviews came from the same browser.
Local storage and session storage do a similar job with more room. They are set by JavaScript, are not sent automatically with every request, and persist until cleared. We use them for interface preferences.
A pixel — also called a web beacon or tracking pixel — is a tiny image or script embedded in a page or an email. Loading it tells the server that the page was viewed or the email was opened, and can set or read a cookie at the same time. Our email provider uses pixels to count opens.
Device and browser fingerprinting combines characteristics your browser reveals — screen size, fonts, time zone — into a probabilistic identifier without storing anything. We do not fingerprint. Some advertising partners may; the controls below cover that.
Cookie categories we use
| Category | What it does | Examples | Typical duration |
|---|---|---|---|
| Strictly necessary | Makes the site work: load balancing, security, spam and abuse prevention, remembering your cookie choices, and letting you post a comment. The site cannot function properly without these, so they are set without consent. | Session identifier, CSRF token, consent record, comment author fields | Session to 12 months |
| Preferences | Remembers choices you make: light or dark theme, text size, region or language, and dismissed notices. Optional; the site works without them, it just forgets you. | Theme setting, dismissed-banner flags (usually local storage) | Up to 12 months |
| Analytics | Counts visits and tells us which articles are read, how people arrive, and where pages fail. Aggregated. We use it to decide what to write, not to profile individuals. | Google Analytics identifiers and session cookies | Session to 24 months |
| Advertising | Set by advertising and affiliate partners to select ads, cap how often you see the same one, measure clicks, and attribute a purchase to a referral. These can build a profile of your browsing across sites. | Ad network and affiliate network identifiers, conversion cookies | Session to 24 months |
Durations are typical maximums set by the technology, not promises; a partner may set a shorter or longer lifetime, and you can delete any of them at any time.
First-party and third-party cookies
A first-party cookie is set by nexttechblog.com itself. Ours are strictly necessary or preference cookies, and they never leave our own systems.
A third-party cookie is set by another domain whose code runs on our pages — an analytics provider, an advertising network, an affiliate network, or an embedded video or social widget. We do not control those cookies, we cannot read them, and the third party’s own privacy policy governs what it collects. Embedded content is the usual surprise here: a video player or a comment widget can set cookies as soon as the page loads.
Major browsers have been restricting or blocking third-party cookies for years. That mostly affects the analytics and advertising rows above; it does not break the site.
Consent: what applies where you are
EU, EEA and UK
The ePrivacy rules — the EU ePrivacy Directive as implemented nationally, and in the UK the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations — require your prior, informed consent before anything non-essential is stored on or read from your device. Consent must meet the GDPR standard: freely given, specific, informed, unambiguous and given by a clear affirmative act. Pre-ticked boxes, silence and continued scrolling are not consent. Strictly necessary cookies are exempt.
So if you are in the EEA or UK, our banner asks before any analytics or advertising cookie is set, refusing is as easy as accepting, and nothing non-essential loads until you choose.
Canada
PIPEDA and British Columbia’s Personal Information Protection Act (BC PIPA) take a different route. Consent is still required, but it can be express or implied depending on the sensitivity of the information and the reasonableness of your expectations. For routine analytics cookies, clear up-front notice plus an accessible opt-out is generally treated as implied consent. Uses people would not reasonably expect — building an advertising profile across sites — call for express, opt-in consent. Consent must also be meaningful: you have to be able to understand what you are agreeing to, which is what this page is for.
California
California law does not require opt-in consent for cookies, but it gives you the right to opt out of the sale or sharing of personal information, including sharing for cross-context behavioural advertising. Advertising cookies can fall within that. See the opt-out options below and the California section of our Privacy Policy.
Withdrawing consent
You can change your mind at any time and it is no harder than giving consent in the first place. Reopen the cookie preferences link in the site footer and change your selection; clear cookies for nexttechblog.com in your browser, which resets your stored choice; or use the browser and industry controls below. Withdrawal takes effect immediately for future processing and does not make earlier processing unlawful. Refusing analytics and advertising cookies does not restrict any content on the site.
We also honour the Global Privacy Control signal. If your browser or extension sends GPC, we treat it as a withdrawal of consent to advertising cookies and an opt-out of sale and sharing for that browser. We do not act on the older Do Not Track header, because no agreed standard for honouring it ever emerged.
Controlling cookies in your browser
Every major browser lets you block cookies, block third-party cookies only, delete what is stored, and clear everything when you close the window. Blocking all cookies will break parts of many sites, including comment posting here. The vendors’ own instructions:
- Google Chrome — Delete, allow, and manage cookies in Chrome
- Apple Safari — Clear your cache and cookies in Safari on Mac (Safari also has Intelligent Tracking Prevention on by default)
- Mozilla Firefox — Enhanced Tracking Protection in Firefox for desktop
- Microsoft Edge — Manage cookies in Microsoft Edge: view, allow, block, delete and use
On phones and tablets, the same settings live under Settings for the browser app, and both iOS and Android have a separate device-level advertising identifier you can reset or switch off.
Opting out of advertising cookies
Industry programmes let you opt out of interest-based advertising from many companies at once. These set their own opt-out cookies, so they are per-browser and per-device, and clearing your cookies clears them too:
- Digital Advertising Alliance (YourAdChoices / WebChoices) — https://optout.aboutads.info/
- Digital Advertising Alliance of Canada (AdChoices) — https://youradchoices.ca/en/tools
- Network Advertising Initiative — https://thenai.org/how-to-opt-out/
- Google personalised ads — turn them off in My Ad Center; instructions at Google’s My Ad Center Help
- Google Analytics — the Google Analytics Opt-out Browser Add-on stops Analytics collecting data from your browser on any site
Opting out does not remove advertising. You will see the same number of ads; they will just be chosen without a profile of your browsing. The DAA also offers a browser extension that preserves your opt-out choices when you clear cookies.
Cookies in our emails
Our newsletter contains a tracking pixel and tagged links, so we can see delivery, open and click rates in aggregate. If you would rather not be counted, set your email client to block remote images — most block them by default — and open links by copying the address rather than clicking. You can unsubscribe from any message; we action it immediately, well inside the 10 business days CASL allows.
Changes and questions
We update this page when the technologies on the site change, and the date at the top tells you when. Questions, or a request for a list of the specific cookies live on the site today: [email protected]. We reply within 5 business days.