Cookies, local storage and visitor analytics.

Cookies are small files stored by a browser. CoNest also uses browser technologies such as local storage and session storage. UK rules can apply to these technologies in the same way as cookies when information is stored on, or accessed from, a visitor's device.

CoNest may use essential technologies without switching off important website features. They help us to:

• Keep a user signed in and protect authenticated sessions.
• Remember registration, security and requested checkout state.
• Protect the service against fraud, abuse and malicious requests.
• Remember a visitor's cookie/privacy choice.
• Open Stripe Checkout or the Stripe billing portal and process requested payments.
• Maintain service availability and requested account functionality.

These technologies are used where they are necessary for a service the user requests, for security, or to remember the privacy choice the visitor has made. Rejecting optional analytics does not disable normal CoNest website, account, payment or Administration Centre features.

CoNest operates a protected first-party visitor telemetry system to understand how the public website is reached and used. Because this system can connect a persistent visitor identifier with individual page activity, CoNest treats it as optional and does not start it until the visitor chooses Accept analytics.

When analytics is accepted, CoNest may create or use:

• conest:visitor-id in local storage to distinguish a returning browser.
• conest:first-seen-at in local storage to identify first and returning visits.
• conest:session-id and session-state values in session storage for the current browser session.
• The current page, landing page, previous page, page title, referrer and campaign parameters.
• Browser, operating system, device class, screen/viewport size, locale and timezone information.
• Coarse country, region or city information supplied by the hosting/network layer where available.

Visitor events are sent through a protected CoNest Supabase relay. Consented events may be stored for up to 180 days in an Owner-restricted analytics dataset and may also be relayed to the CoNest Operations system. Browser visitor/session identifiers are HMAC-hashed before storage in that analytics dataset, and raw IP addresses are not stored there. The analytics system is designed not to interrupt or change the public website experience if that relay is unavailable.

On a first visit, CoNest offers Accept analytics, Reject non-essentialand Manage preferences. Essential technologies remain available either way. If you reject or later switch analytics off, CoNest removes its visitor/session analytics identifiers from browser storage and stops sending new visitor analytics events from that browser.

You can change the choice at any time using the permanent Cookie settings control on the website.

• Supabase provides authentication, database and protected Edge Function infrastructure used by CoNest.
• Cloudflare Turnstile may use browser, device and network signals to help prevent automated abuse.
• Stripe may use cookies and similar technologies on hosted payment and billing pages for fraud prevention, payment processing and service operation.

Those suppliers may provide their own privacy or cookie information for the services they operate.

CoNest does not treat advertising or remarketing tracking as essential. If advertising pixels, conversion tags or similar marketing technologies are introduced in future, they will remain disabled until the consent required by UK law has been obtained and this policy has been updated.

Most browsers allow cookies and site data to be viewed, blocked or deleted. Browser controls cannot always distinguish necessary from optional storage, and deleting essential session data may sign you out or reset a requested process. CoNest's own Cookie settings control is the recommended way to turn optional visitor analytics on or off.

Questions can be sent to info@conest.org.uk. We may update this policy when our technology or legal obligations change. Material changes will be made clear.