This page lists every cookie sanjaysokal.com sets itself, plus the third-party cookies it may allow, what each one is for, how long it lasts, and exactly how to turn the optional ones off.
1. What cookies are
A cookie is a small text file a website asks your browser to store. On your next visit the browser sends it back, which lets the site recognise the same browser. Cookies cannot run programs, cannot read your hard drive, and cannot carry viruses.
Two distinctions matter for this policy:
- First-party cookies are set by sanjaysokal.com itself. Third-party cookies are set by another domain whose content is embedded in a page — an advertiser, for example.
- Session cookies are erased when you close the browser. Persistent cookies survive until their expiry date or until you delete them.
Similar technologies — local storage, pixels and web beacons — are covered by this policy too, wherever they are used for the same purposes.
2. Cookies this site sets
Exactly one, and it is strictly necessary:
| Name | Purpose | Type | Expires |
|---|---|---|---|
BLOGPHPSESS |
Holds the PHP session identifier. It keeps the site owner signed in to the admin area, carries the anti-CSRF token that protects form submissions, preserves one-off status messages between page loads, and lets the site's own analytics distinguish one visitor from another without any cross-site tracking. | First-party, essential | 7 days |
This cookie is flagged HttpOnly (unreadable by JavaScript) and
SameSite=Lax (not sent on cross-site requests). It contains a random identifier
only — no name, email or browsing history is stored inside it. Because it is strictly necessary
for the site to function securely, it cannot be switched off from within the site; you can still
block or delete it in your browser, but the admin area will not work without it.
3. Analytics
3.1 The site's own analytics
sanjaysokal.com measures its own traffic using a self-hosted, first-party system. It sets no additional cookie — it reuses the session identifier above to tell repeat page views apart from separate visitors. Nothing is sent to a third party, no profile is built, and no attempt is made to follow you across other websites. The data recorded is listed in section 2.2 of the Privacy Policy.
3.2 Google Analytics
If Google Analytics is enabled on this site, Google sets its own cookies to measure traffic. Typical examples:
| Name | Purpose | Expires |
|---|---|---|
_ga | Distinguishes one browser from another for visit statistics | 2 years |
_ga_<ID> | Maintains session state for Google Analytics 4 | 2 years |
_gid | Distinguishes users over a short window | 24 hours |
You can prevent Google Analytics entirely with Google's official browser opt-out add-on.
4. Advertising cookies
This site may display advertisements through Google AdSense. When ads are shown, Google and its partners set cookies on your browser in order to serve and measure them. Commonly seen examples include:
| Name | Set by | Purpose |
|---|---|---|
__gads, __gpi | Ad selection, frequency capping and measuring ad performance | |
IDE, DSID | doubleclick.net | Measuring ad interactions and attributing conversions |
NID, ANID | Storing ad and personalisation preferences | |
test_cookie | doubleclick.net | Checking whether the browser supports cookies |
These cookies are set and read by Google, not by Sanjay Sokal, who has no access to their contents. Names and lifetimes are set by Google and may change without notice. Google explains its own practices in How Google uses cookies in advertising.
5. Other third-party requests
This site loads fonts and interface libraries from Google Fonts and public CDNs (jsDelivr, unpkg). These are not used to set tracking cookies, but because your browser must request the files, those providers do receive your IP address and basic request headers. See section 6 of the Privacy Policy.
Embedded third-party content within an article — a video player or a code sandbox, for example — may set its own cookies when present. Those are governed by the policy of the provider concerned.
6. How to control cookies
6.1 In your browser
Every major browser lets you view, block or delete cookies:
Blocking all cookies will not break your ability to read this site, but the admin area will not function and some embedded third-party content may stop working.
6.2 Opting out of personalised advertising
- Google Ads Settings — turn off ad personalisation across Google's services
- YourAdChoices (DAA) — opt out of many US-based ad networks at once
- Your Online Choices (EDAA) — the European equivalent
- Network Advertising Initiative
Opting out does not remove advertising — it means the ads you see are less relevant to you.
6.3 Do Not Track
There is still no industry consensus on how websites should respond to the browser “Do Not Track” signal, so this site does not currently change its behaviour based on it. The site's own analytics remain first-party and non-cross-site regardless of the setting.
7. Your consent
Continuing to use sanjaysokal.com with cookies enabled in your browser indicates your consent to the cookies described here. You can withdraw that consent at any time by clearing the cookies and applying the browser controls above. Where the law requires prior consent for non-essential cookies, advertising and analytics cookies are only used where such consent has been given.
8. Changes to this policy
Third parties change their cookies from time to time, and this page is updated to match. The revision date at the top of this page reflects the latest version. Please revisit it occasionally.
9. Contact
Questions about cookies on this site:
Sanjay Sokal
Email: sokalsanjay@gmail.com
See also the Privacy Policy for the full picture of what data this site handles.