Cookies and browser storage

What is actually stored by this build

The cookie page is intended to describe browser behaviour that can be verified in the delivered code, not a generic list copied from another site. There are two relevant pieces of browser state.

First, the consultation form can start a PHP session called “osint_session” so the page can create and validate an anti-CSRF token. Second, when the reader presses “Accept and close”, the browser stores “osint_cookie_choice=accepted” so the information banner is not shown again on every page.

• osint_session — technical session for the consultation form; session lifetime
• osint_cookie_choice — remembers that the banner was acknowledged; maximum 180 days
• localStorage: osint_cookie_choice — fallback copy of the same banner preference

What “Accept and close” means

The button does not grant permission for behavioural advertising because this build does not contain behavioural-advertising technology. It simply stores the acknowledgement of this essential-only notice and closes the banner.

If non-essential analytics, embedded marketing technology or profiling tools are added later, an acknowledgement-only button would not be enough. The consent interface would need to be redesigned so optional technologies are not loaded before the appropriate choice is made.

No analytics, pixels or remarketing in the delivered code

The build does not include Google Analytics, Google Tag Manager, Google Ads remarketing, Meta Pixel, TikTok Pixel, Hotjar, affiliate tracking cookies, fingerprinting scripts or a third-party consent-management platform.

That statement applies to the files delivered in this archive. Hosting panels, CDN products or future code changes can introduce additional technologies, so the deployed site should be checked again after any integration.

The “o” parameter is not a cookie

Campaigns can pass a keyword in the URL as “?o=…”. The server cleans the value and uses it as visible research context. It can be preserved on internal Cronaca Faro links so the user does not have to type the subject again.

The code intentionally does not append that parameter to links that leave Cronaca Faro for the Central Bank, CRO, CCPC, An Garda Síochána, Citizens Information or the Data Protection Commission.

Irish Data Protection Commission guidance

The Data Protection Commission publishes guidance on cookies and other tracking technologies. Its guidance explains the distinction between technologies that are strictly necessary for a service requested by a user and non-essential tracking for other purposes.

Cronaca Faro links to the DPC directly so readers and the operator can check the current guidance rather than relying on a summary written here.

How to remove the preference

You can remove cookies and site data using your browser settings. Deleting “osint_cookie_choice” or the localStorage value for this domain will make the notice appear again. Deleting the technical session can invalidate an open consultation form, in which case reload the form before submitting it.

External websites have their own rules

Official-source links open the destination organisation’s own website. Once you follow that link, its cookie and privacy practices apply. Cronaca Faro does not embed those sites in an iframe and does not use their cookies as part of the local research interface.

When this policy must be updated

This page should be revised before deploying analytics, advertising conversion tags that store/read non-essential identifiers, embedded video or map services that set cookies, chat widgets, fingerprinting technology or any new browser storage with a different purpose.

A useful cookie policy should match what the browser does today, not what the site did when the policy was first written.