Cookie policy.

This Cookie Policy explains how Highstone Media, LLC uses cookies and similar technologies on highstonemedia.com (the “Site”), what each one does, who set it, and how long it lasts. It is published as a companion to our Privacy Policy.

We update this page whenever the Site's technical stack changes. Effective date and version are shown at the top.

A cookie is a small text file a website stores on your device when you visit it. “Similar technologies” include local storage, session storage, pixels, fingerprinting libraries, and server-side identifiers. Together, they let websites remember things about you between page loads.

Cookies are typically classified by four properties: first-party vs. third-party (who set them), session vs. persistent (how long they last), strictly necessary vs. functional vs. analytics vs. advertising (why they exist), and whether they are subject to consent under GDPR, ePrivacy, and equivalent laws.

We deliberately keep our cookie footprint as small as possible. The Site uses only strictly necessary cookies and cookie-free analytics. We do not use advertising cookies, retargeting pixels, conversion pixels, fingerprinting libraries, or session-replay tools on this Site.

Strictly necessary (no consent required)

Type

First-party cookie / local storage

Purpose

Remember interface state during your visit (open/closed FAQ accordion, last-viewed legal section). Required for the Site to function correctly.

Duration

Session (deleted when you close the tab).

Legal basis

GDPR Art. 6(1)(f) legitimate interests / ePrivacy strictly necessary exemption.

Analytics (cookie-free)

Plausible Analytics

No cookies, no local storage, no cross-site tracking. Counts page views by hashing your IP with a daily-rotating salt and discarding the original. Provided by Plausible Insights OÜ (Estonia).

Vercel Analytics

No cookies, no local storage. Aggregates page-load performance metrics (LCP, INP, CLS) without identifying you. Provided by Vercel Inc. (USA).

Hosting and security

Cloudflare

May set short-lived security-only cookies (e.g. __cf_bm) for bot-management. These do not track you across sites and are not used for advertising. Cleared within 30 minutes of inactivity.

What we do not use: Google Analytics, Meta Pixel, TikTok Pixel, LinkedIn Insight Tag, Hotjar, FullStory, Microsoft Clarity, Mouseflow, retargeting pixels, conversion pixels, advertising cookies, or fingerprinting libraries — on this Site. (We may configure these in your own properties as part of a paid engagement.)

Because we set no non-essential cookies, no consent banner is displayed. There is nothing to consent to that would otherwise be blocked by your refusal.

You can nonetheless control cookies through your browser. Most browsers allow you to refuse all cookies, accept only first-party cookies, delete cookies on exit, or set per-site rules. Find your browser's instructions at:

• Google Chrome
• Mozilla Firefox
• Apple Safari
• Microsoft Edge

If you refuse strictly necessary cookies, some interactive elements (e.g. open/closed state of an FAQ) may not persist as you move between pages, but the Site will still load and you will still be able to read everything.

We honour browser-level Global Privacy Control (GPC) and Do Not Track signals as a verified opt-out of any tracking, even though we do not engage in tracking that would otherwise require an opt-out.

We do not embed third-party widgets (YouTube videos, Twitter embeds, social-share buttons) on the Site that would set additional cookies. If we link out to a third-party page from this Site, that page's own cookies and policies apply when you click through.

When we add, remove, or change a cookie or similar technology on the Site, we update this page and bump the version number above. Material changes (any net-new tracking) will trigger a banner notice on the Site for at least 30 days and an email to active clients.

Questions about cookies? Email privacy@highstonemedia.com or call +1 (360) 994-1062.