Cookies
The cookie we set, and nothing else
This page explains the banner at the bottom of the site, the single cookie it writes, and how to change your mind. Last updated: 2026.
What the banner does
The banner is visible the first time you arrive, and on later visits if the cookie is missing. It tells you that we use a single cookie to remember your choice, and that nothing else is set unless you accept. Two buttons sit on the banner: Accept and Decline. Both dismiss the bar. Both write the same cookie with a different value. The banner is in the HTML on every page; scripts hide it only when that cookie is already present.
The single cookie: sdf_consent
The cookie name is sdf_consent. Its value is either accept or decline. It is set for the path /, with a maximum age of 15552000 seconds (180 days) and SameSite=Lax. It is a first-party cookie on smartdatafinance.life. It does not contain your name, email address or the contents of a form. It exists so the banner does not return on every page view after you have answered.
What loads before you choose
No analytics cookies and no advertising cookies load before you accept. This site does not load analytics or advertising scripts after you accept either. The only extra cookie we set is sdf_consent. A “Decline” choice is recorded in that same cookie so we can honour it. Pages still work if you decline. Forms still work. The map on the contact page is a Google embed and may set cookies under Google’s own terms when that page is opened; we do not use that embed to measure you.
How to withdraw the choice
Delete the sdf_consent cookie in your browser for this site, or write to [email protected] and ask us to confirm what the banner is supposed to do. After the cookie is removed, the banner returns on the next visit and you can choose again. Clearing site data in the browser is enough; you do not need a separate account with us.
Forms and other storage
The enquiry form and the monthly note form do not set cookies of their own. Submissions are checked and then discarded by the server; they are not written to a file on the host. A short-lived session may be used to show an error message and the text you already typed, so you do not have to re-enter a long message after a validation failure. That session is not used for advertising.
Changes to this notice
If we ever add an analytics or advertising cookie, this page will say so before that cookie is allowed to load, and the banner will ask again. Until then, the only cookie we set on purpose is sdf_consent. Related reading: the privacy notice and the terms.