Cookie policy
Which cookies and similar technologies tomgoldman.ca uses, and how to manage your consent.
Effective November 2026.
1. About this policy
This policy explains how the website tomgoldman.ca (the Site) uses cookies and similar technologies. The Site is operated by Tom Goldman, a sole proprietor registered in Poland; contact details are on the Contact page. How personal information is handled more generally is described in the privacy policy.
2. What cookies are
Cookies are small text files that a browser stores on your device when you visit a website. They allow a site to recognize the device on a later visit, keep a session active, remember settings and measure traffic. Similar technologies, such as the browser's local storage and tracking pixels, work in a comparable way and are covered by this policy too.
First-party cookies are set by the Site itself; third-party cookies are set by providers of tools the Site uses. Session cookies are deleted when you close the browser, while persistent cookies remain until they expire or you delete them. The durations below are indicative, because providers may change them.
3. Legal basis and consent
Under EU rules on electronic communications and the GDPR, storing or reading information on your device requires your consent, unless it is strictly necessary to provide a service you have requested. Quebec's Law 25 likewise requires that technologies allowing a person to be identified, located or profiled be turned off by default, and PIPEDA expects meaningful consent for tracking that is not essential. For these reasons, strictly necessary cookies are always active, while analytics and marketing cookies are used only after you opt in.
4. Cookies used on the Site
Strictly necessary
| Name | Purpose | Duration |
|---|---|---|
| Consent record | Remembers your cookie choices | usually up to 12 months |
| sid | Keeps an administrator signed in to the Site's management panel; not set for ordinary visitors | up to 30 days |
| Cloudflare security cookies (for example __cf_bm) | May be set by the hosting provider to protect the Site from abuse and automated traffic | usually up to 30 minutes |
These cookies cannot be switched off in the consent settings, because the Site cannot remember your choice or stay secure without them.
Analytics (Google Analytics 4)
| Name | Purpose | Duration |
|---|---|---|
| _ga | Distinguishes visitors in statistics | usually up to 2 years |
| ga<ID> | Keeps the state of a session in statistics | usually up to 2 years |
Google Analytics shows where visitors come from and which pages are useful. The provider is Google Ireland Limited.
Marketing (Meta Pixel)
| Name | Purpose | Duration |
|---|---|---|
| _fbp | Measures advertising results and builds audiences | usually up to 90 days |
| _fbc | Stores information about a click on an ad | usually up to 90 days |
The provider is Meta Platforms Ireland Limited. The pixel helps measure whether ads on Facebook and Instagram lead to enquiries and allows ads to be shown to people who visited the Site.
Google Tag Manager
Google Tag Manager is used to manage measurement tags on the Site. It does not itself set analytics cookies, but it loads the tools described above only in line with your consent choices.
5. Consent Mode v2
The Site uses Google Consent Mode v2. Before you make a choice, the signals ad_storage, analytics_storage, ad_user_data and ad_personalization are set to denied. When you consent, only the signals related to the categories you accepted change to granted. Without consent, Google tools do not store analytics or advertising cookies on your device.
6. Managing your choices
On your first visit you can accept all cookie categories, refuse all except strictly necessary ones, or choose individual categories. You can change or withdraw your consent at any time using the cookie settings link in the Site's footer. Withdrawing consent does not affect the lawfulness of processing before the withdrawal.
You can also manage cookies in your browser settings: block them, delete them or ask to be notified before they are stored. Blocking strictly necessary cookies may cause parts of the Site, such as the consent banner, to stop working properly.
7. Third-party content
Some pages may contain links to, or embedded content from, other services such as video platforms or social networks. Those services may set their own cookies under their own policies when you interact with them. Where possible, such content is loaded only after you consent to the relevant category.
8. Changes
This policy is updated when the tools used on the Site or the applicable rules change. The current version is always available on this page. Questions about cookies can be sent using the details on the Contact page.