Cookies Policy

Effective date: 2026-05-13
Last reviewed on: 2026-05-13

What a cookie is

A cookie is a small text file that a website asks your browser to save. When you return, the browser sends the cookie back, which lets the site recognise that it is the same browser as before. Browsers store cookies separately for each website and can be configured to refuse them or to delete them on a schedule.

Modern web tracking also relies on related technologies — localStorage, session storage, browser fingerprinting — that aren't technically cookies. The same opt-out controls described below also cover those uses where they are operated by Google.

Categories of cookies used on this site

LinuxToday.net itself sets very few cookies directly. Most of the cookies you'll see on the site are set by the third-party services it relies on, primarily Google.

1. Strictly necessary

No strictly-necessary cookies are set by the website itself. The site does not have user accounts, sessions, shopping carts or any feature that requires the site itself to remember you.

2. Analytics (Google Analytics)

Google Analytics uses first-party cookies on your browser to distinguish between users and to measure aggregate site usage. Typical cookies set by Google Analytics include:

  • _ga — assigns a pseudonymous identifier to your browser. Retention: up to two years.
  • _ga_<container-id> — used by Google Analytics 4 to maintain session state. Retention: up to two years.
  • _gid, _gat — short-lived session and rate-limiting cookies, where used.

The current authoritative list and retention periods are published by Google in the Google Analytics cookie usage documentation.

3. Advertising (Google AdSense and Google partners)

Google AdSense, and the third-party advertising vendors Google works with, may set cookies for the following purposes:

  • Selecting which advertisements to display, including personalised advertising based on your interests where applicable consent has been given.
  • Measuring ad performance (impressions, viewability, clicks).
  • Detecting and preventing fraud.
  • Limiting the number of times you see the same ad.

Common cookies in this category include __gads, __gpi and various NID and IDE cookies. The current full list is described in the Google cookies and similar technologies overview. The list of Google's certified ad partners (which may set their own cookies) is published at Google's certified ad partners.

How to control cookies

Opt out of personalised advertising

The most useful single control is Google's own ad-settings page, which lets you turn off personalised advertising across all sites that use Google's advertising:

  • Google Ad Settings — control personalisation across Google services.
  • aboutads.info — the Digital Advertising Alliance's opt-out for participating vendors (mainly US).
  • youronlinechoices.com — the European Interactive Digital Advertising Alliance's opt-out (EU).

Opt out of Google Analytics

Google publishes the Google Analytics Opt-out Browser Add-on, which prevents the analytics scripts on this and other sites from sending data about your browser.

Browser-level controls

Every modern browser can block or delete cookies. Where you find the controls depends on the browser:

  • Firefox: Settings → Privacy & Security → Cookies and Site Data.
  • Chrome / Chromium: Settings → Privacy and security → Cookies and other site data.
  • Safari: Settings → Privacy → Manage Website Data.
  • Edge: Settings → Cookies and site permissions → Cookies and site data.

Blocking cookies entirely will not break the editorial content of this site; some advertising may then be served as non-personalised, and analytics will not record your visit.

Do Not Track and Global Privacy Control

Most browsers support a "Do Not Track" header and/or the newer Global Privacy Control (GPC) signal. We pass these signals through to Google's consent and personalisation controls, which interpret them according to Google's documented behaviour.

Consent prompts

If you are visiting from a region where prior consent is required for non-essential cookies (for example, the EU/EEA, the UK, Switzerland), Google's consent management mechanism may show you a prompt on first visit asking whether to allow personalised advertising. Refusing consent does not prevent you from reading the site; non-personalised ads may be shown instead.

Changes to this policy

We may update this Cookies Policy as the third-party services we use change. The "Last reviewed on" date at the top of the page indicates when it was most recently revised.

More information

The Privacy Policy covers the broader context of data processed by the site. For questions about cookies specifically, write to [email protected].