This page explains the cookies and similar storage or access technologies that may be used when you visit The Useful Site.
What counts as a cookie or similar technology?
A cookie is a small piece of information stored by a website in your browser. Similar rules can also apply to local storage, pixels, identifiers and scripts that store information on a device or gain access to it.
Calculator inputs
The calculators are not designed to place the numbers you enter into advertising cookies or a personal calculation history. The calculation normally runs in the page itself.
Strictly necessary technologies
Some storage or access may be necessary for security, consent choices, load balancing or basic website operation. These are limited to what the requested service actually needs.
Advertising technologies
Advertising here is served by Google AdSense. Where you agree to it, Google and the advertising partners on its list may store information on your device and read information back from it, and may use that information for personalised advertising and content, for measuring how advertising and content perform, for audience research and for developing services. Some partners may also use precise location data.
That list is not a handful of companies. It runs to roughly two hundred of them, and it changes as Google's vendor list changes, so no exact figure is quoted here that could quietly go out of date. The consent message shows the current number and lets you read every name on the list before you decide.
Non-personalised advertising may still use limited storage or information for functions such as frequency capping, aggregated reporting, fraud prevention and contextual ad selection.
Consent
Where consent is required, non-essential storage and access are not used until you have made that choice. Continued browsing is not treated as agreement.
Some partners rely on legitimate interest rather than consent for certain purposes. You can object to that in the same message, under the options for managing your choices.
For visitors in the UK, the European Economic Area and Switzerland, a Google-certified consent message appears before personalised advertising technologies are used.
Changing your choices
A Privacy and cookie settings link appears at the foot of every page. Selecting it reopens the consent message, where you can accept, reject, change individual purposes, object to processing based on legitimate interest, or withdraw consent altogether. A choice made once is not permanent.
You can also use your browser's privacy settings to block or delete cookies for this site at any time. Clearing them removes any saved consent choice along with everything else, so the message will appear again on your next visit.
Third parties
Third-party providers control their own cookies and data practices. Google's privacy and advertising pages explain its use of information in more detail.
How to find out what is stored
Modern browsers include developer or privacy tools that show cookies, local storage and permissions for the current website. Browser help pages explain how to inspect and remove them.
Updates
The technologies used can change as hosting, consent or advertising services are updated. This policy will be reviewed when material changes are made.