Cookie Policy

1. What are cookies?

A cookie is a small text file that a website places in your browser so that the next time you visit, the site can remember something about you (that you are logged in, what language you chose, whether you have seen a particular ad). Some cookies are set by us directly. Others are set by third-party services embedded on our pages, most notably by our advertising partner.

2. Cookies we set directly (first-party)

These are "strictly necessary" cookies. Disabling them will break login, forms, or your language preference. We do not use first-party analytics cookies that track individual visitors.

3. Third-party advertising cookies (Google AdSense)

We run advertisements on some pages through Google AdSense. When an ad is served to you, Google and its partners may set and read cookies in your browser. These cookies allow Google and its partners:

• to serve advertisements to you based on your prior visits to this site and other sites on the internet;
• to measure ad performance, and to limit how many times you see the same ad;
• to detect click fraud and other invalid activity.

You can opt out of personalised advertising by Google at any time by visiting Google Ads Settings. You can also opt out of a third-party vendor's use of cookies for personalised advertising by visiting www.aboutads.info/choices (Digital Advertising Alliance) or optout.networkadvertising.org (Network Advertising Initiative). If you are in the EEA, UK, or Switzerland, refer to youronlinechoices.eu.

For a full list of the ad-tech vendors Google works with, see the Google Certified External Ad Vendors list, which Google updates as their programme changes.

4. Third-party embeds

A small number of pages embed content from third parties — for example, an election-day livestream from YouTube, or an OpenStreetMap tile layer on a village map. When these embeds load, the third party may set its own cookies under its own privacy and cookie policies. We include only embeds whose providers publish a public privacy policy.

5. Your controls

5.1 In-product

• Personalised-ad consent (EEA / UK / Switzerland / California): managed through Google Funding Choices, our IAB TCF v2.2- registered consent management platform. On your first visit from one of these regions, a consent modal explains the ad-cookie purposes and lets you accept or reject personalised advertising. You can change that decision at any time by clicking "Cookie preferences" in the site footer, which reopens the same modal. Your choice is stored in a first-party consent cookie (see the vov_consent row above) and transmitted to Google and its ad partners as a TCF v2.2 consent string on every ad request.
• Account privacy controls: Dashboard → Settings → Privacy — including data export and account deletion.

5.2 In your browser

All modern browsers let you view, block, or delete cookies. Instructions:

• Google Chrome
• Mozilla Firefox
• Apple Safari (iOS / macOS)
• Microsoft Edge

Blocking all cookies will make you appear signed-out on every visit and may break some features. Blocking only third-party cookies stops most cross-site ad tracking without affecting your VoV login.

6. Do Not Track

We honour the Global Privacy Control (GPC) header where legally required. GPC is treated as a valid opt-out signal for personalised advertising for visitors from jurisdictions that recognise it (California, Colorado, Connecticut, amongst others).

7. Changes to this policy

If we add a new advertising or analytics partner, we update the tables above and refresh the effective date at the top. Material changes are also announced in the site footer for 30 days.

8. Questions

Email privacy@voiceofvillage.com. See also the full Privacy Policy and contact page.