Cookie Policy

This policy explains what cookies are, which ones quantumtls.dev uses, and how to control them. It supplements our Privacy Policy, which covers how we handle data more broadly.

What Are Cookies?

A cookie is a small text file a website asks your browser to store, then reads back on later visits. Cookies are how a site recognizes your browser across requests — for a preference you set, a session you're in, or a referral that should be credited to a partner. A cookie cannot, on its own, read other files on your device or identify you by name; it stores a value your browser sends back to whichever site set it, on future requests to that same site.

Some of what's described below technically uses browser local storage rather than a cookie in the strict sense — the distinction is mostly technical (local storage doesn't get sent with every request the way a cookie does), so this policy covers both under the general term "cookies" for clarity.

Types of Cookies We Use

Essential

quantumtls_consent is set the moment you make a choice in the cookie banner — Accept All, Reject Non-Essential, or Save My Choices in the preferences panel. It is first-party (set by quantumtls.dev, not a third party), scoped to the whole site (path=/), and marked SameSite=Lax and Secure. Because this cookie exists solely to record and honor your consent choice, it is treated as strictly necessary and does not itself require consent to be set — without it, we would have no way to remember that you already made a choice.

Beyond this, essential cookies or local storage would also store interface preferences — for example, a light/dark mode selection, if and when we implement one. We do not currently offer a UI preference toggle that requires this.

Analytics

We use aggregated analytics to understand which articles get read — for instance, whether a deep-dive on lattice-based math draws more traffic than a practical Nginx configuration guide — so we can prioritize future content. Depending on which analytics provider is active, this may or may not involve a cookie:

• Vercel Analytics, where used, is cookieless — it reports aggregated page-view counts without setting a persistent identifier in your browser.
• Google Analytics, where used, sets cookies (such as _ga) to distinguish sessions and returning visitors.

See our Privacy Policy for what this data is used for.

Affiliate / Tracking

Some pages recommend third-party TLS certificate and infrastructure providers, such as Namecheap or SSL.com. When you click an outbound link to one of these providers, the affiliate network handling that referral — not quantumtls.dev directly — places a temporary cookie in your browser. That cookie's only function is attribution: if you go on to make a purchase with that provider within the network's tracking window, the referral is credited to quantumtls.dev. We do not receive any personal information through this cookie, and we do not control its content, duration, or the affiliate network's own data practices — those are governed by the destination site's and the affiliate network's own privacy policies, as described in our Privacy Policy.

Managing or Disabling Cookies

Every major browser lets you view, block, or delete cookies, generally from a privacy or security settings page. Exact menu names shift between versions, but the general path is consistent:

• Chrome: Settings → Privacy and security → Cookies and other site data.
• Firefox: Settings → Privacy & Security → Cookies and Site Data.
• Safari: Settings → Privacy → Manage Website Data (Safari also blocks most third-party cookies by default).
• Edge: Settings → Cookies and site permissions → Manage and delete cookies and site data.

Blocking cookies entirely will disable analytics tracking and affiliate referral attribution on this site, but will not affect your ability to read any article — quantumtls.dev's content does not require cookies to function, since the site itself is statically generated with no login or session state. A browser's built-in tracking protection, or a dedicated ad/tracker-blocking extension, achieves the same result without requiring manual cookie management per site. Note that blocking quantumtls_consent specifically means the cookie banner will reappear on your next visit, since we have no other way to remember a prior choice.

You can also change your analytics and marketing consent at any time using the Cookie Settings link in the site footer, which reopens the preferences panel without needing to clear cookies manually.